Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
Vol. 24, Suppl. A, 2002, pp. 25-26
ISSN 0379-0355
Copyright 2002 Prous Science, S.A.
CCC: 0379-0355/2002
http://www.prous.com

Core Curriculum in Pharmacology for Dentistry

S. Sánchez González

Departament de Farmacologia i Química Terapèutica, Facultat d'Odontologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

The overall aim of our project was to establish a core of knowledge in pharmacology for medicine, veterinary, pharmacy and dentistry courses. We analyzed the pharmacology syllabuses of eleven Spanish dental schools (Alfonso X el Sabio, Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, País Vasco, Santiago de Compostela, Complutense de Madrid, Valencia, Murcia, Sevilla, Salamanca and Granada). The practical activities were not evaluated.

The Spanish Education and Science Ministry (RD 1418/1990) established a minimum number of credits (5) for pharmacology in dental courses. The pharmacology syllabuses from the Spanish dental schools were not very different in terms of content. They differed in the total time that each department spends in developing such curricula (maximum 60 h and minimum 40 h). Taking into account the latter parameter, we have calculated the mean ± SEM (range) of the percentage of time devoted to the main topics (Fig. 1).

FIG. 1.

To teach the section of "General principles", a total time of 16.93 ± 1.46% (6.8-23.4) was spent (Fig. 1), whereas this value was 10.11 ± 1.25 (4-16) for teaching "CNS-acting drugs" and 19.89 ± 0.93 for "Chemotherapy". As seen in Figure 1, other sections showed the most agreement among the pharmacology syllabuses, and sections on "General principles" and "Chemotherapy" had the greatest specific weight among pharmacology topics.

After comparing the pharmacology syllabuses from Spanish dental schools with the core curriculum in Pharmacology for Dentistry, published in May 2001 by the British Pharmacology Society (http://www.bps.ac.uk/ BPS.html), no great differences have been observed. Five of the Spanish Dental Schools organized the syllabuses on three blocks: i) Pharmacology principles; ii) Drugs used or prescribed by the dentist or the patients' medical practitioner, which may directly impinge upon dental treatment; and iii) Drugs commonly prescribed to patients by their medical practitioner, some of which may produce oral reactions or adversely interact with a drug administered or prescribed by the dentist.

However, none of the Spanish syllabuses contained any reference to postmarketing surveillance (the Yellow card system) or the legal aspects of prescribing.

We also compared the pharmacology syllabuses from Spanish dental schools with the document created by DENTED (Thematic Network Project Achieving Convergence in Standards of Output of European Dental Education). This document emphasizes: "An appropriate understanding of pharmacology and therapeutics is required of a dentist for the safe practice of dentistry. Dental students need to be aware of the indications, contraindications, potential side effects, adverse reactions and interactions of therapeutic agents with other drugs and of those therapeutics agents used commonly in the dental surgery. The dental student should understand the principle of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and mode of action, particularly of those agents relevant to the practice of dentistry. Dental students must be capable of writing a prescription for those drugs commonly used in dental practice."

Based on the data presented, core curriculum for pharmacology in dental courses will be discussed subsequently.

Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology Vol. 24, Suppl. A, 2002, pp. 25-26
ISSN 0379-0355 Copyright 2002 Prous Science, S.A. CCC: 0379-0355/2002 http://www.prous.com