BOC Healthcare, the UK's largest medical gases business, has launched a new drugs kit for dental practices to help them manage medical emergencies. The Emergency Dental Kit contains a selection of drugs for treating the most common medical emergencies and provides information on how to identify and manage such emergencies.

The kit has been developed in line with the 2012 recommendations of the Resuscitation Council UK, that dental practices have access to a list of drugs and equipment in line with 'a public expectation that dental practitioners and dental care professionals should be competent in managing medical emergencies'.

Among the emergencies that are most likely to be encountered in dental practices are asthma, anaphylaxis, angina and cardiac arrest, and BOC's drugs kit includes step-by-step instructions on what dental practitioners should do while awaiting professional medical help from the ambulance service.

BOC currently supplies oxygen, automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and pulse oximeters to dental practices in the UK. www.BOConline.co.uk