Hypercoagulability syndromes: what the dentist needs to know

Although many bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia, have been well characterized for many years, the knowledge of hypercoagulability syndromes is significantly less. This is the result of a long-held belief that hypercoagulability disorders were simply related to excessive amounts of the same coagulation factors that patients with bleeding disorders lacked. Now hypercoagulability disorders are better characterized and understood from a pathophysiologic mechanism. In most cases, they are distinct in pathogenesis from bleeding disorders. Patients with clearly identified specific abnormalities of clotting are diagnosed as having primary hypercoagulable states. Almost all presently recognized primary hypercoagulable disorders result from defects in proteins in either the coagulation or fibrinolytic systems. In contrast to the primary disorders, the secondary hypercoagulable disorders are much more numerous in prevalence and, in most cases, less precisely understood. Fundamental knowledge regarding the basic principles, diagnosis, and treatment of these conditions is very important for the dentist to understand,