Medical and Pharmacology | Human diseases and medical and dental emergencies | Rheumatoid arthritis, SLE and Sjogren's syndrome syndrome

Rheumatoid arthritis, SLE and Sjögren's syndrome
Session overview
Description
This session will describe rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythaematosus (SLE) and Sjögren’s syndrome. It will also identify the medications used for each condition and consider the impact of each condition on dental care.

Learning objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• describe the common immunological diseases that may impact on dental care
• list the common medications used and their impact on the provision of dental care
• explain the impact that dental care may have upon immunological-based diseases

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should have:

• experience of obtaining a comprehensive medical and drug history from patients
• met, talked with and treated patients with immunological conditions

An autoimmune condition is one where the body's immune system attacks healthy normal cells. There are many different autoimmune diseases (up to 80), but this session will concentrate on 3 which are common and of most relevance to dentistry.

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
• Systemic lupus erythaematosus (SLE).
• Sjögren's syndrome.

Other autoimmune conditions will be covered elsewhere in e-Den Module 2 Human diseases and medical and dental emergencies.