UT-Houston Premieres Anesthesia Course for Texas Dentists

The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston was selected as the first teaching site for a newly developed course in conscious sedation. The course content is the product of a committee on conscious sedation supported by the Texas Dental Association and represents the first of its kind nationwide.

Drs. Clark Whitmire and Ronald Redden, assistant clinical professors of anesthesiology in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Dental Branch, recently organized and taught the first class of Texas dentists and dental specialists safe and predictable techniques for the administration of office-based parenteral (intravenous) anesthesia.

"The course was developed in response to the State Board of Dental Examiners' concerns about the continued training of dentists with permits to administer parenteral anesthesia," said Dr. Whitmire. "Prior to this course, there were limited educational opportunities for dental practitioners to periodically review and update their anesthesia and sedation skills. So in 1998, the TDA brought together a group of experts in anesthesia for dental purposes and challenged the group to develop a teaching manual on conscious sedation and then design a clinically oriented course on safe office-based anesthesia techniques."

The course took three years to develop and implement.

"This course reviews and provides updates in the regulatory requirements for office anesthesia, proper preanesthetic patient and technique assessment, anesthesia pharmacology review, an update in local anesthesia, state-of-the science techniques in patient monitoring, a review of electrocardiography, a medical emergency management overview, documentation requirements and risk management concerns. We have also included a hands-on skills session to review and practice anesthesia-related emergencies and airway management."

Dr. Whitmire was appointed TDA statewide course director for the three Texas dental schools and currently serves as an anesthesia consultant to the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners. He and his colleagues taught this first course to a sellout audience of 50 dentists and dental specialists this past April at the UT-Houston Dental Branch. Additional courses were scheduled for UT-San Antonio Dental School last month and at UT-Houston this month.

The course, which costs $795, lasts two full days and is taught by academic and practicing dentist anesthesiologists and other specialists who present the latest in clinical anesthesia practice to course participants.

For more information about the course, call (713) 500-4028 or 1-800-551-8828.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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