TODS FEATURED SPEAKER
CANNABIS, OPIOIDS & DENTISTRY
Dr. Clifford Pau
Session Date: Saturday October 21, 2023
Session Time: 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Presenter Name: Dr. Clifford Pau
Outline:
We will cover 3 pharmacology topics in this course.
- With the legalization of cannabis in Canada in October 2018, and the increasing access to various forms of cannabis, it is important that the Canadian dentist be informed and understand how cannabis can affect our everyday dental practices.
- In 2021, AHA updated the recommendation on antibiotic prophylaxis regimen for bacterial endocarditis. Recommendations on antimicrobial agents for preventing and treating infections are evolving. In this course, we will cover the various classes of antibiotics, the latest recommendations on their use with a focus on dental surgeries and implants, and the strategies to approach patients with “penicillin allergies”.
- Analgesic agents are often used to manage post-operative pain. In this course, we will also discuss the evidence on the efficacies of different analgesics.
Learning Objectives:
- Pharmacology of cannabis, antibiotics and analgesics
- Clinical signs of cannabis intoxication
- Methods of recreational consumption
- Clinical implications of cannabis use
- Latest recommendations on antibiotics use
- Updates on antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations
- Strategies to approach patients with “penicillin allergies”
- Physiologic mechanism of pain
- Pharmacologic management of acute dental pain
BC RDH QAP – C4
About The Speaker
Dr. Clifford Pau is a Clinical Associate Professor at UBC Dentistry, teaching pharmacology in the DMD and dental hygiene programs. He also practises as a general dentist in BC, Ontario, and Hong Kong. He earned his DMD from UBC in 2004. Prior to that, he obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in pharmacology and therapeutics. His graduate research focused on the mechanism of pain and therapeutic choices. His project involved the development of a model to evaluate pharmacologic treatments for chronic pain.
In recent years, Dr. Pau has collaborated with the BC Center for Disease Control, the authors of Bugs and Drugs, the ASPIRES team, and Vancouver Coastal Health to improve antibiotics use in dentistry. He is the recipient of the prestigious Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) award for 2 consecutive years, eight Part-Time Faculty Teaching Awards from UBC Faculty of Dentistry in 2017-2022, and BCDA Merit Award in 2023. In 2021, he was also inducted as a fellow of the American College of Dentists.
