CE0897: A Medicine Primer for Your Dental Practice - Part 3: Immunology, Psychiatry, Neurology, Oncology, Laboratory Tests

Bart Johnson, DDS, MS

Course Description:

The knowledge/abilities of our medical colleagues is expanding exponentially, and our dental patients are presenting with increasingly complex histories. In order to make the best dental decisions with our patients, we need to understand the intimate details of their medical status.

Course Objective:

This course is intended to take the dentist and hygienist from a virtually zero-based knowledge of medicine to a level where they can successfully read charts, understand medication lists, review lab tests and basic diagnostic reports. This knowledge will enable them to work closely with the medical doctors to make quality decisions for their patient’s care.

Topics covered:

• Immunology
  • Normal anatomy and physiology, including antibodies and cell mediated immunity
  • “Over-reactive” diseases: allergic reactions and autoimmune disease
  • “Under-reactive” conditions: immunocompromising disease or medical therapies
  • Medical diagnostics including allergy testing, labs to determine immunocompetency
  • Medical therapeutics including pharmacology, desensitization and monitoring
  • Dental considerations and modifications including what to do with alleged vs. real local anesthetic and latex allergic patients
• Psychiatry:
  • Normal anatomy and (known) physiology of the brain and spinal cord
  • Common diseases including depression, schizophrenia, dementia, bipolar affective disorder, ADD, ADHD, PTSD, anxiety, OCD, hypochondriasis, others.
  • Medical diagnostics including mental tests and interviews
  • Medical therapeutics including medications, ECT’s, behavioral therapy
  • Dental considerations and modifications including xerostomia and drug-drug interactions
• Neurology:
  • Normal anatomy and physiology of the autonomic and somatic nervous systems and their neurotransmitters
  • Common diseases including MS, Myasthenia gravis, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and seizures
  • Medical diagnostics specific to each of these diseases
  • Medical therapeutics including replacement medications, immunomodulators, genetic therapies on the horizon.
  • Dental considerations and modifications
• Oncology:
  • The normal mechanisms that must go awry to result in tumor growth
  • Common forms of cancer including SCCA, breast, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, lung, leukemias, lymphomas, gliomas and astrocytomas
  • Medical diagnostics including screening methods (mammograms, PSA, colonoscopy, biopsy)
  • Medical therapeutics including chemotherapy, surgery, XRT, and HBO 2
  • Dental considerations and modifications pre-, intra- and post-therapy
• Laboratory diagnostics:
  • CBC, electrolytes, enzymes, hormones, markers, antibodies, PCR
• Dental considerations and modifications

Instructor:

BART JOHNSON attended UCLA and received his DDS in 1985, a General Practice Residency Certificate in 1986, and an MS in Oral Biology in 1989. He left sunny southern California for the “liquid sunshine” of Seattle in 1991 and was the Director of the UW General Practice Residency and an Associate Professor with Tenure from 1991 to 2007. In January of 2008, he opened Seattle Special Care Dentistry (SSCD) with his partner, Dr. Amy Winston. SSCD is a private practice dedicated to the care of medically/ physically/ emotionally and mentally compromised patients of all varieties.

Dr. Johnson teaches courses in internal medicine, sedation, medical emergencies, physical diagnosis, hospital dentistry, pharmacology, basic life support and advanced cardiac life support.

Dr. Johnson also conducts molecular biological research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, trying to elucidate the molecular switching effects of Vitamin A and the associated receptor systems. These systems normally control cell growth and maturation, but when damaged, they are implicated in many breast, oral and hematopoietic cancers.

Nationally, Bart is a Fellow of the American Association of Hospital Dentists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Special Care Dentistry.

Bart loves playing with his two kids, backpacking, snowshoeing, kayaking, biking, Harry Potter, and almost anything certifiably geeky.

Nee d a hotel in the area?