Advances in Dental Pharmacotherapy

SYNOPSIS:

Antibiotic stewardship has taken on new importance with the emergence of superbugs and the decline in effective and available oral antibiotics. Karen will update the dental team on recent developments in dental antibiotic prescribing and outline strategies for prescribing to ensure therapeutic success with minimum risk. Karen will discuss difficult questions about antibiotic prophylaxis and all relevant guidelines and decision tools will be included. Opioid prescribing remains controversial, especially in young, opioid naïve patients. We will explore alternatives and strategies that benefit patients and reflect positively on your practice. Extensive and current handouts will maximize the chairside value of this fast-paced and entertaining lecture.

OBJECTIVES

After attending this course and reviewing the handouts, the participant should be able to:

1. Select regimens for odontogenic infections based on allergies, intolerances, effectiveness, Black Box Warnings, and guidelines,

2. prescribe antibiotic premedication for certain patients with a variety of implants including cardiac and orthopedic devices, and

3. discuss the pros and cons of prophylactic antibiotics for implant placement, tooth extractions, and other surgical procedures,

4. Discuss the extent of the opioid substance use disorder problem in the U.S. ,

5. Examine the role of dental opioid prescribing in contributing to the opioid epidemic,

6. Explain the relative effectiveness of non-opioid and opioid agents in acute pain,

7. Discuss benefits vs risks of specific pain control regimens for effective dental analgesia, and

8. List the top five drug interactions every dental clinician should know about.

Speaker: Professor Karen Baker

Professor Karen Baker has been on the Dental College faculty at the University of Iowa for over 40 years and occupies a unique role in dental practice and education. She is a clinical pharmacist with a Master’s degree in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics and is focused on patient-specific dental drug therapy. She has given well over 1000 invited programs nationally and internationally and holds memberships in many dental and clinical pharmacology and therapeutics organizations. Her dental education-based pharmacy and drug therapy consultation center is the only one in the United States. She has authored many articles and abstracts and lectures extensively in pre-doctoral and graduate courses at the University of Iowa.