Providing dental care to anxious, fearful and medically-complex patients continues to be a major challenge facing dentists. Despite advances in management techniques and treatment delivery, patients’ preexisting opinions and experiences contribute to dental anxiety, fear and avoidance.  Feelings of apprehension create psychological obstacles that prevent dental patients from seeking and receiving care and once they do, the dentist is then faced with treating their oral health needs in the face of multiple chronic diseases, medications, herbal supplements and more. The simple approach to, “drilling and filling” has just been cranked up a few more notches.  

This foundational program reviews the basics of pharmacology with a particular focus on the dental realm.  The goal of making dental pharmacology interesting and useful at chairside beginning on Monday morning will be emphasized.  The academic principles of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics are simplified so that the most salient points are distilled into useful tenants that will help you be a better clinician and a better prescriber. After all, our goal is to make sure all dental appointments are not just successful for your patient, but also for you and your staff.

Objectives to be covered:

• Discuss the principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

• Understand the clinical significance of bioavailability and half-life.

• Learn how to match the right drug at the right dose to the right patient and the right procedure.

• Recognize physiological changes in our older patients which should change your prescribing practices.

• Appreciate the future of medication prescribing since the advent of pharmacogenomics.

The speaker declares that neither he nor any member of his family has a financial arrangement or affiliation with any corporate offering financial support of grant monies for this CE program. Although commercially available products may be discussed, no financial arrangements exist between those companies and the speaker.