Drug Therapy in Dental Practice: General Principles

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Drug Therapy in Dental Practice: General Principles
Anesthesia Progress
Volume 54, Issue 1 (Spring 2007)

Daniel E. Becker, DDS
Professor of Allied Health Sciences, Sinclair Community College, and Associate Director of Education, General Dental Practice Residency, Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, Ohio

The fundamental principles that govern drug therapy are often overlooked by the busy clinician. This disregard frequently results in the use of particular drugs and regimens that may be less ideal for the clinical situation being managed. By convention, these principles are categorized as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic. Pharmacokinetic processes include drug absorption, distribution, biotransformation (metabolism), and eliminationŰessentially reflecting the influence of the body on the drug administered. These principles were addressed in the preceding issue of this journal. Pharmacodynamics deals with the actual mechanisms of action and effects a drug produces on the patient and is the topic for this continuing education article.

Keywords: Drug therapy, Pharmacodynamics, Dental pharmacology

Received: September 24, 2006; Accepted: September 27, 2006

DOI: 10.2344/0003-3006(2007)54[19:DTIDPG]2.0.CO;2

Address correspondence to Dr Daniel Becker, Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, OH 45409; dan.becker@sinclair.edu.

Š 2007 The American Dental Society of Anesthesiology