Dental management considerations for a patient taking dabigatran etexilate: a case report

Dabigatran is a direct thrombin inhibitor approved to help prevent thrombotic events in patients with atrial fibrillation. As a rather new drug approval, information on management of bleeding during dental surgery in patients taking dabigatran is sparse. In this case report, a 67-year old male with a positive history for atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, intermittent angina, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and normal renal function was taking dabigatran 150 mg, 2 times daily. He underwent 8 surgical extractions, alveoloplasty and tuberosity reduction. Per guidelines prescribed by van Ryn et al., the patient's dabigatran was held the night before surgery and resumed the day after. Adverse outcomes were not observed during the procedure or in the 7-month postoperative period. This case suggests that due to its short half-life, dabigatran can be temporarily discontinued 24 h prior to elective oral surgery with consent of the physician and restarted the following day resulting in minimal complications.