Im 66 years old and never have experienced high blood pressure until a few weeks ago.  I was at my dentist and it read 120 over 80, I just took it again and it is 144 over 88.  Im not over weight and exercise and watch my diet.  Should I be concerned?
Hello and thank you for using Chat Doctor. I carefully read your question and I understand your concern. You should not worry I'll try to explain you something and give you my opinion. We talk about hypertension if we have mean value that exceeds 140 / 90 mmHg. A person might have high value during emotional and physicals trees so It's mandatory to judge on mean values during day and night. In general hypertension does not give any symptoms. A person might have high values and not feel anything. Leaving the hypertension untreated slowly modifies heart muscle, so it is very important to intervene in time to treat it. So in your case we have caught a value. It might be just because of street being to the dentist, but it is important to follow it. If I was your treating doctor, as you are over 50 it is necessary to make some examination like an electrocardiogram, a cardiac echo to evaluate heart function and walls, a full blood analyze and a holder pressure monitoring. This can give us a fool view of your values day and night and decide how to treat it if its necessary. Hope I was helpful. Wish you good health. Best regards.