Week 1 - Introduction to Pharmacology Flashcards
Why is pharmacology important to dental hygienists?
- Obtaining/reviewing HH and assessing all medication the client is taking currently.
- Understand the administration of drugs in the office.
- Handling an emergency situation.
- Client care
- Planning appointments
What is Pharmacology?
“Pharmacon” = drugs, medicine, poison
“logos” = science
- Study of drugs & their interactions with living organisms.
- Includes a drug’s: Composition, Uses, Effects
What are the 5 major disciplines of pharmacology?
- Pharmacodynamics,
- Pharmacokinetics,
- Pharmacotherapeutics,
- Pharmacogenetics
- Toxicology
What is Pharmacodynamics?
- Study of the effects of drugs on the body.
- “What the drug does to the body.”
- i.e. local anesthetic interferes with nerve transmission.
What is Pharmacokinetics?
- Study of how a drug moves through the body (enters & exits the blood and tissues)
- “What the body does to the drug”
What is Pharmacotherapeutics?
- Study of disease through administration of drugs.
- aka. drug therapy
What is Pharmacogenetics?
- aka. pharmacogenomics
- the study of genetic factors that influence the way an organism responds to a drug.
- How the genetic makeup of an individual affects his response to drugs.
- e.g. isoniazid in treatment of TB.
What is toxicology?
- Study of the harmful effects of drugs on living cells, tissues and organisms.
What are the medical uses of drugs?
- Preventive use
- Diagnostic use
- Therapeutic use
Describe PREVENTIVE use of drugs.
- Used to prevent occurrence of a disease/condition.
- Administration for this purpose = prophylaxis
- E.g. contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, vaccinations
Describe DIAGNOSTIC use of drugs.
- Used to provide evidence of a disease process.
- E.g. radiopaque contrast dues used during X-ray procedures.
Describe THERAPEUTIC use of drugs.
- Used to control, improve or cure a disease/condition.
- E.g. antibiotics for a bacterial infection.
What is a drug?
- Any chemical substance that affects biologic systems.
- Drugs used to treat disease are called medicine(s)
- Can be organic, inorganic, bio-engineered.
What are the different sources of drugs?
- Plants
- Animals
- Minerals
- Synthetic
- Bioengineering
Describe PLANT drug source.
- E.g. Poppy plant
- Opium is the principal precursor of narcotic and analgesic opiates such as morphine, heroin, and codeine.
- E.g. Willow bark
- Acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin
Describe ANIMALS drug source.
- Snake venom = contains a protein that may help prevent breast cancer from spreading to other body sites.
Describe MINERALS drug source.
- Come from Earth and are used as they naturally occur.
- E.g. Gold may be used to treat severe arthritis.
Describe SYNTHETIC drug source.
- Stynethic sources = “laboratory-made”
- Designer drugs = Molly (Ecstasy) (3,4,Methylenedioxymethamphetaime; MDMA)
Describe BIOENGINEERING drug source.
- E.g. Antimalaria Drug By combining genes from three separate organisms into a single bacterial factory gives them the ability to make artemisinin (drug which kills malaria) quickly.
- Many vaccines