Diabetes, blood pressure, blood thinners: can I be treated?
Hurting now, or swollen? Call, and until you get here: Toothache: what to do right now. Swollen gum or cheek: Dental emergencies and abscesses.
Usually, yes, and in pregnancy too: with questions and planning first, and sometimes with your own doctor. Mention it on the first call.
Hours: Sat–Wed 10–6 · Thu 10–4 · Fri closed
Before your appointment, get one thing ready
A list of your medicines
Every medicine you take, not just the ones for one condition, written down on paper or on your phone. If you don't know their names, just bring the boxes, that is completely fine. And if your medicines were prescribed outside Jordan, bring the boxes or the leaflets anyway, because the same medicine can go by a different name here.
The list is useful with any doctor, not just with us, and it saves you trying to remember while you are in the chair, or while you are in pain.
Do not stop any medicine on your own, and tell the doctor what you take.
Condition by condition: what changes with each
Each condition is covered on its own below. Anything else is decided at the examination, in coordination with your GP or specialist when needed.
Diabetes
Well-controlled diabetes doesn't rule treatment out. High blood sugar slows healing and makes infection more likely, so an extraction or an implant that can wait, waits until your blood sugar is under control with your diabetes doctor, and urgent treatment is arranged around your case. On the day, do not change your eating or medicine routine on your own: skipping food while on diabetes medicine can drop your sugar while you are in the chair, so keep something sweet in your pocket, just in case. If anything needs arranging, the doctor tells you beforehand, together with your own doctor.
Diabetes and gum disease run in both directions: high sugar makes the gums inflame faster, and inflamed gums make sugar harder to control. So treating your gums is part of looking after your condition, not a luxury: Gum inflammation, bleeding and recession. If an implant is on your mind: Dental implants when you have diabetes.
High blood pressure
Mention it on the first call, with your medicines. On the day, do not change your medicine routine on your own; if anything needs arranging, the doctor tells you beforehand, together with your own doctor. If you have checked your blood pressure and it is higher than your usual, or you feel unwell, call us before you leave home, and the doctor decides whether we carry on with your dental appointment that day or book another one.
Blood thinners
Not a closed door in many cases, but the plan changes: arrangements for bleeding, and sometimes coordination with your own doctor beforehand. Do not stop any medicine on your own, and tell the doctor what you take.
If your gums or an extraction site bleed and it won't stop with pressure, call us today; if it is heavy, comes with dizziness, or the clinic is closed, go to the nearest hospital emergency department. If you have bruising on your body or bleeding from anywhere else, speak today to the doctor who prescribed your blood thinner.
Pregnancy
Mention it on the first call, and how far along you are. What does not wait: the examination, cleaning your teeth and gums, and any pain or infection. An abscess or a painful infection doesn't clear on its own, and in pregnancy we don't wait on it: urgent treatment is done in coordination with your obstetrician, not postponed. What can wait, such as planned or cosmetic work, usually waits for a suitable time the doctor decides.
X-rays and anaesthetic are talked through at the examination: an x-ray that can wait, waits, and one that is needed for a diagnosis is taken with the precautions the doctor decides for your case; the local anaesthetic and any painkiller are decided for your case and how far along you are; and laughing gas is postponed during pregnancy. The same rule is explained in Braces during pregnancy: what waits and what doesn't.
Heart and kidney conditions, and bone medicines or cancer treatment
Some medicines given for osteoporosis or alongside cancer treatment, and radiotherapy to the jaw area, change how bone heals, which matters if the treatment involves an extraction or an implant. That doesn't necessarily rule treatment out, but the doctor may need to speak with the physician treating you for it before deciding.
The same goes for heart and kidney conditions, and any condition a doctor follows you for. Mention all of these straight away, with their medicines. Sometimes a letter from your doctor is needed before treatment, and the examination decides.
And if it has to wait?
In these cases the answer is usually not “no”. It is “not now”, or “with a different arrangement”, and you hear what has to happen first.
How your appointment works
- 1
Tell us your condition and your medicines when you callWhat the condition is, which medicines you take, and whether you are pregnant and how far along. It changes the order of the steps, and the doctor can't know unless you tell him.
- 2
Bring the list and any reportYour list of medicines, your latest test results or report if you have one, and your doctor's contact details, here or back home, in case we need to coordinate.
- 3
The doctor asks, then decidesBefore starting anything, he asks about your condition and your medicines, and decides whether the plan needs coordination with your GP or specialist.
- 4
Treatment in an order that suits your caseYou hear what the steps are, and why in that order, before anything starts. Sometimes one step comes before another, such as the gums first; sometimes the follow-up is closer; and sometimes we coordinate with your doctor first.
Drag and see: your list before the appointment
If you are only in Amman for a while, say so at the first visit, so the order of the visits is built around your dates, as far as your case allows.
If fear is part of the story too, say so from the first moment, and we go at your pace: When the visit is hard. Dr. Adnan's qualifications: The doctor and the clinic.
When to call, and when to go to hospital
Call today if you have:
- Swelling in the gum or the cheek.
- A bump on the gum that leaks pus, or a salty taste in your mouth.
- A throbbing pain.
- A broken tooth with strong pain.
- Bleeding that does not stop with pressure.
This doesn't wait
Go to the nearest hospital emergency department now, not an appointment:
- Difficulty breathing or swallowing.
- Swelling that has reached the eye or the neck.
And let us know afterwards.
Call now:
- Swelling under the jaw.
- Fever with the pain.
- Difficulty opening your mouth.
If the clinic is closed or you can't reach us: go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Don't wait. The details: Dental emergencies and abscesses.
If you are not in Jordan and it is urgent, go to the nearest emergency service where you are.
With diabetes, swelling or a fever does not wait: call now, and if the clinic is closed or you can't reach us, go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Don't wait.
Call and we will find you the earliest slot, and tell you what to do until you arrive. Mention your condition and medicines when you call.
Questions people ask
Do I have to stop my blood thinner before an extraction?
Do not stop any medicine on your own, and tell the doctor what you take. In many cases an extraction on blood thinners goes ahead, but the plan changes: arrangements for bleeding, and sometimes coordination with your own doctor before the extraction. The details: Extractions and wisdom teeth.
Can I have dental implants if I have diabetes?
Often, yes. Diabetes on its own is not a closed door; uncontrolled sugar is, because it slows healing and makes infection easier. If your sugar is controlled, the plan is close to anyone else's, with closer follow-up. If it is not, it is brought under control first with your own doctor, and then we place the implant. The decision is made at the examination, with a scan and your blood results. Dental implants when you have diabetes.
Can I have dental treatment while I'm pregnant?
Usually, yes, but the timing matters, so mention it on the first call. Pain and infection do not wait, and they are treated in coordination with your obstetrician, and cleaning your teeth and gums matters more in pregnancy, not less. Work that can wait usually waits for a suitable time the doctor decides, and x-rays and anaesthetic are talked through at the examination. The same rule is explained in Braces during pregnancy: what waits and what doesn't.
Do I need a letter from my doctor?
Sometimes, and the doctor tells you whether your case needs one. What to bring either way: your list of medicines, any report or test results you have, and your doctor's contact details, here or back home, in case we need to coordinate.
Tell us your condition, and book
The examination is what decides. You come in with your list of medicines, you are examined, and you leave knowing what has to happen before treatment, and whether anything needs coordinating with your own doctor.
Pages that go with this one
This is general information, not a diagnosis of your case. The decision is made at the examination, and in coordination with your own doctor when needed.