Oral and systemic diseases

Catalog description

The Oral and Systematic Diseases course follows several distinct topics, including Genetics, congenital malformation/embrology, pharmacology, head and neck anatomy, among others. The treatment of patients with cleft lip/palate and other types of craniofacial anomalies in the United States has improved dramatically, many children still receive care that is substantially inferior to what can or should be provided. Inadequate care results from diagnostic errors, failure to recognize and treat the full spectrum of health problems associated with these anomalies, unnecessary and poorly timed treatment, and inappropriate or poorly performed procedures. This course will inform of these persistent problems. Embryology lecture is an overview of the field from its 19th Century with Hegel and "Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny" to the 21st century research on "Evo-Devo" and the HOX development genes and their relations to the contemporary understanding of embryological development including stem cells. Pathology is a course that will apply what students have already learned to the study of disease. It is an essential link between the basic and clinical sciences concerned with the mechanisms of disease (e.g., inflammation, neoplasia, annd immunopathology) and the disease processes that students will encounter during their careers in dentistry. While the emphasis will be on oral pathology, one must also be familiar with systemic diseases that may impact on the health of the patients. Pharmacology is both a basic science and a clinical science. It builds on the foundation of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, and pathology and bridges the gap into clinical dentistry. This course in basic pharmacology will give the students a better understanding of drugs, interpreting complicated drug/medical histories, and understanding drug reactions This course is for the MADS core curriculum