The Common Signs of Stroke

At East Bentleigh Dental Group, we care just as much about your overall health as we do about your oral health. That’s because dental issues can be indicative of pre-existing conditions that can go undiagnosed and untreated. For instance, dental problems that cause infections can precipitate a potentially fatal stroke due to the body’s inflammatory response. This blog post offers more information about the common signs of stroke to help victims and bystanders identify them as soon as possible.

Signs for Victims

If and when you have a stroke, it’s important to get to a neurologist within three hours to prevent permanent damage. Getting diagnosed and treated in time can be difficult however, especially if victims fail to recognise or identify the warning signs.

The most common indicators of a stroke include one side of the body going numb, confusion, difficulty speaking, loss of balance and coordination, and severe headache with no discernible cause. If you experience one or more of these symptoms, you should get in touch with emergency services immediately for a higher chance of making a full recovery.

Signs for Bystanders

A stroke can occur suddenly and without warning, so it’s important that bystanders recognise the signs so that they can call emergency services – especially if the victim is unable to call themselves.

To identify a stroke, ask the individual to smile, talk, speak a simple sentence coherently, and raise both their arms. If they’re unable to do any of these simple tasks properly, this could be a sign that they’ve suffered a stroke. You can also ask them to stick out their tongue to see if it looks crooked. Conducting these tests to identify stroke symptoms can ensure a fast response that could prevent severe brain damage from occurring.

East Bentleigh Dental Group hopes that this information will be useful if you ever need to identify the signs of stroke in yourself or another person.