Dental clinics of North America
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Dent. Clin. North Am. · Jan 2008
ReviewMultidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment: focus on head and neck cancer.
This article focuses on squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), the most common malignancy of the head and neck area. Early detection limits morbidity of treatment and increases the chances of a cure. ⋯ Salvage surgery has become more common, and with it the increased challenges in managing metastatic disease to neck nodes as well as managing failure of organ preservation treatments. Surgeons continue to develop and refine reconstruction techniques to optimize cosmetic and functional outcomes.
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This article discusses current stockpile practices after exploring a history of the use of biologic agents as weapons, the preventive measures that the federal government has used in the past, and the establishment of a Strategic National Stockpile Program in 2003. The article also describes the additional medical supplies from the managed inventory and the federal medical stations. ⋯ Critical is the cost to local communities of the development and maintenance of a therapeutic agent stockpile and the need for personnel to staff clinics and medical stations. Finally, the important role of the dental profession for dispensing medication and providing mass immunization in the event of a disaster is described.
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Dent. Clin. North Am. · Oct 2007
National disaster life support programs: a platform for multi-disciplinary disaster response.
Proper training must prepare responders to consider various hazards and means by which to mitigate their effects. This article describes one such training program (the National Disaster Life Support program) as a possible means to prepare dental providers to better respond to disasters and describes a simple triage technique that can be used by dental professionals to triage patients.
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Dent. Clin. North Am. · Jan 2007
ReviewA critical review of the use of botulinum toxin in orofacial pain disorders.
This article reviews the appropriate use, cautions, and contraindication for botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) and reviews the peer-reviewed literature that describes its efficacy for treatment of various chronic orofacial pain disorders. The literature has long suggested that BoNT is of value for orofacial hyperactivity and more recently for some orofacial pain disorders; however, the results are not as promising for orofacial pain. ⋯ The one exception is that BoNT has reasonable RBCT data to support its use as a migraine prophylaxis therapy. The major caveat is that the use of BoNT in chronic orofacial pain is "off-label".
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Dent. Clin. North Am. · Jan 2007
ReviewNeuropathic orofacial pain: proposed mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment considerations.
The most common reason patients seek medical or dental care in the United States is due to pain or dysfunction. The orofacial region is plagued by a number of acute, chronic, and recurrent painful maladies. Pain involving the teeth and the periodontium is the most common presenting concern in dental practice. ⋯ Therefore, it is mandatory for the dental professional to develop the necessary clinical and scientific expertise on which he/she may base diagnostic and management approaches. Optimum management can be achieved only by determining an accurate and complete diagnosis and identifying all of the factors associated with the underlying pathosis on a case-specific basis. A thorough understanding of the epidemiologic and etiologic aspects of dental. musculoskeletal, neurovascular, and neuropathic orofacial pain conditions is essential to the practice of evidence-based dentistry/medicine.