Course Description & Speaker Bio

Course Description

Over promotion and over prescribing of opioids has contributed to the current public health emergency we face in the U.S. Dentists write less than 6% of acute use opioid prescriptions but generally prescribe very few tablets per prescription. To what extent are we contributing to the development of opioid Substance Use Disorders and how can we modify our prescribing behaviors to minimize patient risk? We will outline specific strategies designed to identify the safety of prescribing opioids based on individual patient characteristics. Patient education on safe pain relief will also be reviewed. Extensive and very current handouts will be provided to maximize the chairside value of this vitally important information.

Course Objectives

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

• Discuss the extent of the opioid abuse problem in the U.S. and in your state,
• Recognize the role of the dentist in contributing to the current public health emergency,
• Explain the relative pain relief effectiveness of non-opioid and opioid agents in acute pain, and
• discuss the benefits and risks of specific pain control regimens for effective dental analgesia.

About the Speaker

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.