ABSTRACT Objective:

To characterize drug hypersensitivity associated with dental treatments.

Material and Methods:

Data from 5,302 dental patients extracted from the Faculty of Dental Medicine were used to investigate drug use history, drug hypersensitivity, and associations with oral health outcomes. The chi-square test was used, and values of p ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results:

The frequency of patients' self-reported drug hypersensitivity was 26.42% (n = 1,401). The highest frequencies were for opioid/narcotic analgesics (20.84%, n = 292), antibiotics (18.13%, n = 961), and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (10.46%, n = 141). Most of the patients (68.65%, n = 3,640) reported using medications, mostly for cardiovascular disease (43.1%, n = 1,569), for psychiatric/neurological disorders (39.75%, n = 1,447), drugs that affect the endocrine system (32.55%, n= 1,185), and drugs for pain (24.92%, n = 907). Higher drug hypersensitivity frequencies were associated with older White female subjects (p<0.0001).

Associations were also identified between drug hypersensitivity and history of the following dental procedures:

tooth extractions (p=0.003), root canal treatment (p=0.0004), prosthodontic treatments (p<0.0001), and orthodontic treatments (p=0.007).

Conclusion:

A high frequency of self-reported drug hypersensitivity in dental patients was found, with a higher occurrence in older White women and those with a history of more extensive and invasive dental care.