Anxiety and panic disorders in the dental office
Anxiety and panic disorders in the dental office

Summary/Abstract: Background: Panic attack is a frequent clinical situation that all physicians can faceregardless of their specialty and that can raise special diagnostic problems because it maymimic other medical conditions, some of them life threatening. Objective: The purpose of thispaper is to provide a summary of symptoms and signs and differential diagnosis problems ofthe panic attack. Methods: We present the clinical case of a 59-year-old hypertensive andpreviously treated by radiofrequency catheter ablation for paroxysmal supraventriculartachycardia who had a panic attack in the waiting room of a dental office. Discussions: Dataon trigger factors (including dental procedure or situations), differential diagnosis andtreatment implications are discussed. Conclusions: The diagnostic of the panic attack requirescaution due to symptoms that may lead to confusion with other diseases and due tocomorbidities that may accompany or predispose to it. Dentists should make the distinctionbetween ordinary dental anxiety or fear and panic disorder in order to be able to provideappropriate treatment.

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