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The University of Sheffield is hosting a one-day CPD education day, aimed at general and specialist dental practitioners, dental care professionals and hospital dentists.

The event, on Wednesday 2 May, offers a unique opportunity to hear from leading experts, find out how their research is guiding clinical practice, and receive the latest updates on clinical management.

The five hours of CPD, which costs £30, will cover three areas of dental practice in detail: child anxiety, dentistry and endocarditis and trigeminal nerve injuries.

Child anxiety

Fear of the dentist is common and tends to develop in childhood. Around 10% of children have extreme dental anxiety. Using a patient-centred research approach, Sheffield has developed the first self-help cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) resources to reduce dental anxiety in children. Our evaluation found a significant reduction in dental anxiety and increase in quality of life following use of the CBT resources. This approach had high levels of acceptability to children, parents and dental professionals.

A recent follow-up found that one year after their CBT intervention and referral back to their own dental practitioner, the majority of children reported reduced dental anxiety, enhanced coping skills and positive dental encounters. The session will describe the resources and how to use them in clinical practice.

Dentistry and endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a devastating disease with high morbidity and mortality. The link to oral bacteria has been known for decades and has caused ongoing concern for dentists, cardiologists and patients. In the 1950s antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) was first recommended to protect patients at risk of IE who were undergoing invasive dental procedures.

Over the intervening years, attempts to reduce AP use have been ongoing and in 2008, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline committee recommended the complete cessation of AP in the UK. However, recent evidence identified an increase in the incidence of endocarditis, which prompted a guideline review by NICE and European Society of Cardiology. Despite reviewing the same evidence, they reached completely opposite conclusions.

The session will examine the evidence and provide a framework for how patients at risk of infective endocarditis might be managed in practice.

Trigeminal nerve injuries

Injuries to the trigeminal nerve (supplying the mouth and face) are common and extremely distressing for the patient. They may occur during wisdom tooth removal, the placement of dental implants or corrective jaw surgery, or as a result of facial fractures. Following nerve injury, a proportion of patients are left with complete numbness or altered sensation of the affected region; this may be accompanied by severe pain. Little has been offered to these patients by standard clinical practice.

Based on our laboratory and clinical investigations, the Sheffield team has developed reliable and successful methods for trigeminal nerve repair. This session will discuss the prevalence and aetiology of trigeminal nerve injury, highlight risk reduction and discuss evidence-based assessment, and the management of trigeminal nerve injuries.


To find out more about the CPD event and register to attend, visit www.sheffield.ac.uk/dentalschool/cpd/updateday.

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