Unit Code: DNT737

Unit Name: Oral Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Description: This course is divided into Component A and Component B. Component A This course offers a comprehensive study of the general concepts of oral medicine and oral pathology. The first part of the course covers the basic concepts of general pathology. The second part focuses on common oral pathologic disorders and is of particular relevance and importance to practice of the future oral health practitioner. Oral pathology covers the epidemiology, clinical features, etiology, pathogenesis, investigations and behaviour of oral diseases, and is also closely linked with the management of oral diseases, adjunct investigations such as, laboratory tests, imaging and clinical therapeutics. Students develop critical thinking skills in clinical reasoning when presented with cases, where they explain mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, rationale and selection of the most appropriate diagnostic tests for confirmation, and modalities of appropriate management or referral. The oral medicine component focuses on systemic conditions that may present as oral manifestations. It also introduces students to systemic diseases that may have implications in the management of dental patients and aims at enabling students to recognize them and manage them appropriately. Component B This Applied Basic Science course will run in the second semester of year 3 and cover the basic and general concepts, principles and mechanisms of the disciplines of Anatomy, Physiology, Immunology, Genetics and Pathology. The problem-based learning strategy is implemented for these courses, where the disciplines are discussed based on problem cases; students generate learning issues that are discussed and self-studied. Concepts of Pharmacology are also given as resource or as learning issues for self-study, depending on the case. The problem cases are designed for relevance to the future oral health practitioner and dentists, following closely the reality of practice. The courses are divided into blocks, each block covering a basic theme. Emphasis has been given to pertinent anatomical structures of most importance to the future dental practitioner, i.e. the head and neck, as well as principles of examination, diagnosis and treatment planning for oral and dental disorders and diseases.

Learning Target Outcomes: On successful completion of this course, the students will be able to: 1. Describe the general concepts and principles of Pathology. 2. Demonstrate clinical reasoning skills when assessing patient with oral pathological conditions. 3. Describe the histology and clinical significance of the oral mucosa in relation to oral pathological conditions. 4. Describe the characteristics and management of intraoral ulcers. 5. Discuss the general characteristics of benign and malignant tumours including benign epithelial neoplasms, OPMDs and oral squamous cell carcinoma. 6. Describe the clinical features and oral manifestation of bacterial, viral and fungal infections. 7. Discuss the pathophysiology, immediate medical management and dental consideration of common systemic diseases. 8. Demonstrate clinical skills in patient evaluation based on history taking, physical examination and interpretation of medical investigations for oral medicine cases. 9. Discuss the neuropathic and somatic pain related to the orofacial region. 10. Discuss genetic alterations and some common genetic disorders that affect the orofacial region. 11. Review pathophysiology of inflammation in general and apply the biology of the immune response to describe active and passive immunity, vaccination, autoimmunity as well as HIV/AIDS.

Prerequisite: N/A

Prerequisite Sentence: N/A

Credit Point: 15

Offered In: Semester 1,2