Capturing and storing patient medical history in a dental office is critical to the dentist. The dentist needs to know if there are any precautionary measures that are required before treatment. If the patient medical history is not current and accurate there could be complications during procedures. An example would be if the patient has had a joint replacement and this was not captures in the patient medical history; the patient would not have taken antibiotics prior to the procedure; thus allowing the bacteria from the patients teeth to cause an infection, the dentist could be liable for the over site. With the most accurate medical history, the patient would have been pre-medicated and precautions taken before teeth cleaning.
