Postoperative pain management in children, parental English proficiency, and access to interpretation.

Background And Objective: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) are at risk for undertreated pain. The goal of this study was to examine the association between parental language proficiency, interpreted care, and postsurgical pediatric pain management.

Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study among children <18 years of age.

Components of effective outreach and recruitment programs for underrepresented minority and low-income dental students.

Dental schools in the Pipeline, Profession, and Practice: Community-Based Dental Education program that increased the number of underrepresented minority (URM) and low-income (LI) students in their predoctoral programs used focused approaches in their outreach, recruitment, and retention initiatives. Various combinations of approaches were used by the fifteen schools that received funding during Phase I of the program, which spanned 2003 to 2007. URM enrollment in the Pipeline schools increased from 184 students in 2003 to 246 in 2007.

Expanded studies of the pharmacokinetics and clinical effects of multidose sublingual triazolam in healthy volunteers.

Previous work described the pharmacokinetics and clinical effects of multidose sublingual triazolam (Halcion; Pharmacia & Upjohn Co, Kalamazoo, Mich). This laboratory study evaluated the hypothesis that incremental dosing of triazolam produces dose-dependent central nervous system depression that is profound and long lasting. Forty-nine healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 39 years, not receiving dental treatment, were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 12) or 1 of 3 triazolam groups (0.

Increasing the enrollment of underrepresented minority dental students: experiences from the dental pipeline program.

Dental educators have been trying to increase enrollment of underrepresented minority (URM) students for many years with limited success. The Pipeline, Profession, and Practice: Community-Based Dental Education program has developed or been affiliated with several innovative strategies for increasing the enrollment of URM students in U.S.

Pharmacokinetics and clinical effects of multidose sublingual triazolam in healthy volunteers.

Triazolam is increasing in popularity as a premedication prescribed by dentists to help their fearful and anxious patients tolerate the potentially aversive nature of some dental procedures. Recent anecdotal reports suggest that incremental sublingual dosing of triazolam may be an effective technique for producing conscious sedation in the dental setting. Although promising, no laboratory or clinical data have been available to evaluate the efficacy or safety of this approach.

Preemptive analgesia and local anesthesia as a supplement to general anesthesia: a review.

General anesthesia (GA) and local anesthesia (LA) evolved on separate tracks. Procedures that could not be performed under LA were typically conducted under GA. Decoding of afferent linkage of peripheral noxious stimuli has provided important understanding that may change the way we traditionally treat surgical pain.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) from adult rat tooth serves a distinct population of large-sized trigeminal neurons.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) mediates trophic effects for specific classes of sensory neurons. The adult tooth pulp is a well-defined target of sensory trigeminal innervation. Here we investigated potential roles of GDNF in the regulation of adult trigeminal neurons and the dental pulp nerve supply of the rat maxillary first molar.

Adrenergic regulation of capsaicin-sensitive neurons in dental pulp.

Alpha adrenergic agonists (e.g. vasoconstrictors) represent one of the most commonly used drug classes in dentistry.

Inhalational and enteral conscious sedation for the adult dental patient.

There are clearly many safe and effective sedatives available to the dental practitioner for reducing patient fear and improving their level of comfort. Careful consideration needs to be given to the objectives of the sedation when deciding which pharmacologic agents to use because they all possess slightly different clinical characteristics and various degrees of risk. Patient selection also is critical when making decisions about sedation because the patient's expectations and general health status factor into keeping the procedure safe.

Conscious sedation for dentistry: risk management and patient selection.

There are many safe and effective medications available to the dental practitioner for producing conscious sedation. Given the many sedatives available, all possessing slightly different clinical characteristics and various degrees of risk, careful consideration needs to be given to the objectives of the sedation when deciding which pharmacologic agents to use. Before making plans to sedate dental patients, however, one needs to make sure that several "layers" of risk management are in place to ensure the sedation procedure is as safe as possible.

Evaluation of the efficacy of a bioerodible bupivacaine polymer system on antinociception and inflammatory mediator release.

Pain due to tissue injury is often characterized by the presence of hyperalgesia and allodynia. It is hypothesized that these perceptual states are mediated by sensitization of peripheral terminals of primary afferent neurons together with several changes in the central nervous system. This provides a rationale for preemptive analgesia, whereby the blockade of primary afferent input prior to injury may result in a reduction of post-injury pain.