Dental Management of [Medically] Complex Patients

Friday, March 22, 2024

Location:  Virtual

Dental care and dental treatment are paramount to health. However, the provision of routine dental care can become quite complicated for patients with medical comorbidities and special health care needs, with increasing consideration the more complex the patient’s medical history. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and chronic infectious diseases, to name a few, has necessitated increased communication of dentists with physicians, as well as increased medical involvement by the dentist. The aging population, as well as growing population of patients with special needs (intellectual and developmental disabilities) has contributed to the increased medical management of patients for dental care. Many medications for these diseases also carry significant dental implications. Appropriate and routine oral and dental care contributes to improved health outcomes, but this care must be rendered in a manner that is safe and attentive to patients’ systemic health concerns. Such considerations include necessity for antibiotic prophylaxis, pre-procedural lab value verification, evaluation for patient optimization, and reduction of post procedural complications. Patients may also require modifications to medication regimens. We will discuss the implications of certain conditions and medications on dental management and treatment, potential concerns and complications from these dental treatments, and methods to reduce these complications.

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Critically assess a patient’s medical history and assess need for further evaluation or information.
  2. Describe the implication of several common medical diagnoses on patients’ physiology and function.
  3. Explain the oral and dental implication and effect of several common medical diagnoses.
  4. Identify current clinical guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis and antibiotic prescribing for dental patients and dental conditions.
  5. Describe how to communicate with the medical team to optimize a patient for dental treatment.
  6. Identify and avoid dental treatment complications by better understanding a patient’s medical history.
  7. List ways to manage patients who have difficulty tolerating dental treatment
  8. List modifications and accommodations that can be made to provide appropriate and clinically sound care for complex patients

Sydnee Chavis, DMD is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with a focus on special care, geriatrics, and the dental management of medically complex and medically compromised patients. She earned her DMD from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, completing her thesis on the management of patients with special healthcare needs, and completed her advanced training at the University of Michigan in hospital dentistry. Her clinical focus is the provision of care for patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as the dental treatment of patients with significant and severe medical comorbidities. When she is not treating patients, teaching, or pursing research to improve oral health methods of care and outcomes for complex patients, she enjoys stand up comedy, and spending time with her husband, toddler son, and greyhound.

Activity Format:  Lecture/Didactic, PowerPoint Presentation/Slides, Case Study

Conflict of Interest Disclosure(s):  None

Questions:

Please to contact us at [email protected] or (410) 642-1195 if you have any questions.

Registration

CHEP has implemented a brand new registration site!  For seamless registration, please click here (https://chep.member365.org/public/login/membership/90031b4d92803c8e668eebf12ee60ed8976a53a1/1) to become a member of our site and then you are able to register for this event with no trouble. When selecting your membership type, please choose if you are a VISN 5 VA Employee or a Community Member (a community member is anyone not employed full-time by the Department of Veterans Affairs). The events that are available for registration will populate in the bottom of your login page once you login to chep.member365.org