Medical history
Capture conditions, medications, allergies, and past surgeries that influence dental care.
Overview
A patient's medical history isn't just background — it changes treatment plans. Anticoagulants change extraction protocol; pregnancy changes anaesthetic choice; uncontrolled diabetes changes infection risk. The history section is where every dentist looks before any procedure.
Prerequisites
- Clinical role (Owner, Admin, Dentist, Hygienist, Therapist, Nurse)
- The patient record exists
Steps
Open the patient profile. Top nav Patients → click the patient row.
Click "Edit" then expand the Medical History section. Sections include: Conditions, Allergies, Current Medications, Past Surgeries, Family History.
Add a condition. Click + Add condition and pick from the searchable list (Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiac disease, Bleeding disorders, Pregnancy, etc.). Specify the date diagnosed (optional) and any notes.
Add an allergy. Click + Add allergy and choose from the dropdown — Penicillin, Latex, Local anaesthetic, NSAID, etc. Set the reaction severity (mild, moderate, severe). Severe and moderate allergies appear as red banners on every page that mentions the patient.
List current medications. Click + Add medication, search the drug database, set dosage and frequency. The list is shown to dentists at appointment time so they can avoid drug interactions.
Record past surgeries. Useful for orthodontic and prosthodontic planning. Add date and surgeon if known.
Click "Save changes". Updates are reflected immediately; an audit log entry records the change.
Refresh during consultations. Vital signs are recorded separately during a consultation visit (not edited here). See Recording vital signs.
Expected outcome
- The patient record's
medicalHistorydata file contains the conditions, allergies, medications, surgeries you added - Severe / moderate allergies appear as red banners on profile, appointment, and treatment pages
- The dentist sees the full history when they open the consultation form
- An audit log entry exists for each change
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Medication search has no results for a common drug | Drug database not loaded | Click Refresh drug database in Settings → Drugs |
| Severity isn't editable for an allergy | Field locked after first save | Delete the allergy and re-add to change severity |
| Banners not showing | Severity is "mild" | Change severity to moderate or severe |
| Receptionist can't add medical history | Restricted to clinical roles | Ask a clinician |