Medical and Pharmacology | Human diseases and medical and dental emergencies | Neurological disorders I

Neurological Disorders I
Session Overview
Description
This session will look at the signs and symptoms of neurological disorders and how the dental practitioner may recognise them.

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

• List the signs and symptoms associated with neurological conditions
• Describe the function of different cranial nerves and the physical effects that can occur when these cranial nerves are damaged
• Describe the clinical relevance of cranial nerves

Neurology is one discipline the majority of dental practitioners feel uncertain about and are therefore reluctant to embark on diagnostic and therapeutic exercises.

This may reflect the limited education the profession offers at both undergraduate as well as postgraduate stages but. in the majority of cases, reflects that lack of exposure to such cases, which inevitably are referred to specialists or into the medical professional ranks.

However, patients seen regularly in the dental practice setting may develop symptoms acutely or, more likely, over time which the dentist is likely to encounter before others in the medical profession. Thus there is a need to have an awareness of the subject area and look for signs and symptoms in the patient population in order to accelerate the diagnostic and therapeutic journey.