Medical Screening/Assessment in the Dental Office

Biomedical assessments and investigations are performed for different reasons, and in order to select a correct screening test it is important to be clear about the purpose of the screening. Screening tests are primarily conducted to assess the risk of developing disease among individuals who may present with no clinical signs or symptoms of disease. This chapter discusses screening to assess the risk of developing disease among asymptomatic dental patients who are unaware of being at risk. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are increasingly important public health concerns. Recent data even suggest a cost benefit to the health-care system if dentists were better integrated into public health. Sensitivity and specificity quantify how well a test performs. Several studies have assessed the accuracy of the CardioChek PA analyzer and A1C Now+ diabetes test meter, and shown them to be accurate.