Speaker: Sherry Priebe RDH, BDSc, MSc
Course Title: Oral Health Risks and Cultural Habits
4 Clinical C.E. Hours
Course Description: We see a broad mix of people from global cultures as patients in our dental practices. Do you know the specific cultural health risks and habits that can cause oral diseases and cancer? Oral disease is not only epidemic in some parts of the resource-poor world, but also shockingly prevalent in our resource-rich, affluent world. The work of the oral health provider is more important than ever due to global trends and the alarming rise in oral cancer incidence rates. Oral health professionals are in the best position to notice mucosal changes that may be pre-cancerous or cancerous and make the patient aware of them. Those discoveries may save patients’ lives. This course raises oral health professionals’ awareness of unique risks associated with widespread cultural and social oral habits, such as chewing betel nut, khat, smokeless tobacco, and using coca leaf or kola nut. Understanding the social and cultural context of these practices is integral to helping patients alleviate and overcome adverse effects on oral health, human wellness, and global health. This course illustrates how culturally homogenous but geographically dispersed populations can have a profound effect on local dental practices as people migrate worldwide. Make global connection and knowledge transfer about oral cancer, disease prevention, and oral health your superpower as you promote overall health. Participants will be powerfully engaged with graphic images and videos from 15 years of global research on cultural oral habits, with a specific focus on research based in Vietnam. Participant interaction is invited regarding the crisis in oral health in the dental practice and to motivate preventive solutions. Describe the benefits of awareness of oral cancer to both patient and provider Recognize the cultures which exhibit high oral risk behaviors and what those behaviors are Explain the results achieved through increased awareness of cultural risk habits Demonstrate skills and competence when seeing patients for oral exams to detect oral lesions Create a professional development plan to continue to learn and implement the awareness of global trends in oral cancer.
Course Objectives:
- Describe the benefits of awareness of oral cancer to both patient and provider
- Recognize the cultures which exhibit high oral risk behaviors and what those behaviors are
- Explain the results achieved through increased awareness of cultural risk habits
- Demonstrate skills and competence when seeing patients for oral exams to detect oral lesions
- Create a professional development plan to continue to learn and implement the awareness of global trends in oral cancer