Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: dental considerations

For the medical management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), see Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Dental treatment for patients with COPD may need to be modified according to the patient’s condition. Patients with severe COPD do not tolerate being placed in a horizontal position.

Patients with severe COPD are at increased risk of adverse outcomes from sedation and general anaesthesia. Dental procedures requiring sedation or general anaesthesia in a patient with severe COPD should be undertaken in a hospital with an anaesthetist present.

Patients with COPD are sometimes prescribed a short course of systemic corticosteroids following an exacerbation of COPD—consider delaying elective dental treatment until the course is complete.

Patients with COPD can develop oral candidiasis secondary to the use of inhaled corticosteroids. For treatment of oral candidiasis, see here; to prevent recurrence, advise patients to rinse their mouth and throat with water and spit out after inhalation.

In some patients with COPD, supplemental oxygen is contraindicated—consult the patient’s COPD action plan.