Overall Course Teaching Goals
Our goal is to create the most comprehensive program available in orofacial pain, headaches, and joint dysfunction and dental sleep medicine.
The faculty believes there is a need for a complete educational program to improve the potential of the general dentist to diagnose and treat patients with orofacial pain problems. In addition, this course will help you to recognize not only what may be treated conservatively and appropriately, but what should be referred to an orofacial pain specialist. At the same time, this course will provide a comprehensive review for those who have limited their practice to orofacial pain and/or dental sleep medicine. The year long experience will serve those who have completed residency programs, with all evidence based concept in concert with their education, providing more lit based experience, and adding practical treatment modalities to one’s armamentarium.
This continuing education program will provide up-to-date principles and guidelines to help to integrate the critical thinking skills into daily clinical practice. The program will utilize the Sackett concepts of Evidence-Based Practice to guide the patient-doctor relationship to provide the best and most appropriate care based on current science.
GOALS
Provide the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive year-long, evidenced-based course in the diagnosis and management of orofacial pain, headaches, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction and sleep disordered breathing.
To understand and integrate the course material into the everyday practice of treating patients with orofacial pain, headache, and temporomandibular joint disorders.
To increase awareness of the role of peer-reviewed literature in learning and continuing education in the fields of orofacial pain management and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.
To encourage critical thinking while implementing the complex concepts taught in this course.
To appreciate and understand the concepts of risk-benefit decision making while treating patients with orofacial pain, headache, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction
To integrate the model of Interprofessional Care into clinical practice, to develop relationships more effectively with other health-care providers.
To become leaders in the field of orofacial pain and help to educate patients and fellow dentists.
To understand the complexity of patients suffering from orofacial pain, headache, and temporomandibular joint disorders
Recognize the role of craniofacial structure and occlusion in terms of contributing factors in orofacial pain and temporomandibular joint dysfunction,
Understand the evidenced-based factors involved in risk-benefit decision-making and apply those factors in an appropriate manner.
Recognize specific “red flags” in the critical process of history taking and a clinical examination that leads to appropriate diagnostic procedures and referral.
Analyze the multivariate factors involved in treatment decision-making and the determination of “successful” therapy.
Understand how to critically read studies and other literature and determine the power of the paper as well as the weaknesses of the paper.
Develop improved ability to develop positive, honest relationships with patients and physicians.
Perform significantly improved clinical histories and examinations
Learn to appreciate the importance of the diagnostic process to identify the correct classification of a disorder that leads to appropriate diagnostically driven, conservative therapy considerations.
Discuss the role of bruxism, appliance therapy, and occlusion in treatment considerations
To explore in depth Sleep Medicine and the role of dentistry in diagnosis and management of patients with sleep disordered breathing.
To fully appreciate the close relationship between sleep disordered breathing and pain.
To develop specific treatment modalities with oral appliance therapy and supportive therapy including pharmacotherapy in both pain management and sleep disordered breathing.