

Saturday 13th May 2023
Venue: The View at The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Join us as our guest speaker Dr Hal Duncan presents:
"Vital Pulp Treatment: Basic Science, Translational Research, Protocols and Guidelines for Practice"

About The Event
Time & Location
13 May 2023, 09:30 am (Registration from 09.00 am)
Venue: The View at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 38-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE
Speaker Profile
Dr Henry (Hal) Duncan BDS, FDS RCS, FFD RCSI, MClin Dent, MRD RCS (Endo), PhD
Professor/Consultant in Endodontics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Received his dental degree from the University of Glasgow and his endodontic speciality training in Guy’s Hospital, King’s College London. For ten years, he worked part-time in specialist referral endodontic practice. He completed his PhD in the University of Birmingham (supervised by Professor(s) Tony Smith, Paul Cooper, Garry Fleming) on the subject of ‘Epigenetic approaches to the role of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (HDACi) in promoting dentine-pulp reparative mechanisms’. As a Professor and Consultant in Endodontics, he has led endodontic teaching, service delivery and research in Dublin Dental University Hospital (DDUH) for the last 14 years. He has published over 90 international peer-reviewed scientific articles, 50 research abstracts, 20 book chapters as well as editing 2 textbooks. He was the primary author of the recent European Society of Endodontology (ESE) position statement on ‘Management of deep caries and the exposed pulp’ and is the lead of the ongoing ‘ESE S3-level Guidelines for the Treatment of Endodontic Disease’. He is the current Editor-In-Chief of the International Endodontic Journal, an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Dental Medicine and on the editorial board of the Journal of Dental Research. He has completed three sponsored 3-month research fellowships in New York University/ Rutgers University investigating the role of epigenetic-modifying agents on tooth development and regeneration as well as multiple research grants as principal investigator. In DDUH, he currently maintains a research lab and supervises several clinical and scientifically trained PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in basic and translational pulp biology and endodontics. Currently, within his discipline, he is the Director of Research in the DDUH, the President-Elect of the ESE, a Member of the Executive Board of the ESE as well as a past-president of the Irish Endodontic Society, ex-Chair of the Membership Committee of the ESE and ex-European Representative of the ESE of the Irish Endodontic Society. Within the IADR, he is a previous winner of the Irish Division Senior Hatton prize 2013, the John Gray Fellowship 2012 and a winner of the Centennial Emerging Leader Award Winner - Pan European Region in 2020. He is the current President of the Irish Division of the IADR, the Vice-President of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group of the IADR and a Board Member of the Pan European Region of the IADR. Outside dentistry he is married with three kids and maintains an active and frustrating interest in Scottish football.
Learning content:
Caries prevalence remains high throughout the world, with the burden of disease shifting to older and socially disadvantaged groups. If left untreated, caries will advance through dentine stimulating pulpitis and eventually pulp infection and necrosis; however, if conservatively managed pulpal recovery occurs even in deep carious lesions. As a profession and speciality, we should be striving to develop new biologically-based minimally-invasive solutions; however, to do so, an applied understanding of pulpitis and repair processes is critical. During this presentation we will discuss the recently published ESE position statement of ‘Deep Caries and the Exposed Pulp’ and consider what is possible now in vital pulp treatment and what is not. During this talk we will consider amongst other things - Should we be treating more conservatively in practice, or are the results unpredictable? Is conservative treatment of irreversible pulpits realistic? Are next-generation diagnostics and targeted therapies a pipe-dream or just around the corner? Does this belong to endodontic practice or do I even want it?
Aims and Objectives
This day will provide participants with an evidenced-based update on the controversial area of vital pulp treatment and management of the deep carious lesions. The key aims are:
-
To understand the scientific rationale and clinical arguments for pulp preservation.
-
To highlight the challenges and obstacles to successful maintenance of pulp vitality.
-
To discuss whether we should advocate avoidance of pulp exposure or whether we should embrace and manage pulp exposure as it occurs
-
To consider whether non-selective caries removal strategies are really overtreatment
-
To understand the most appropriate way of treating pulpitis
-
To evaluate whether the cariously-exposed pulp should always be removed or preserved
-
To analyse whether the term irreversible pulpitis is outdated and whether new objective pulpitis measures are a pipe dream
-
To highlight the views of dentist regarding VPT and obstacles to them carrying out recommended procedures
-
To consider outcomes for VPT and whether we are measuring the right things
-
Consider the importance of guidelines, position statements on vital pulp treatment to specialist endodontic practice.
Development Outcomes:
This CPD course meets the criteria for GDC’s development outcome C
Outline of the day
Attend The Event
If you are already a member of the study group you can register for the event using the form below. Non-Members are also welcome to register for a single conference fee. You can find out about our membership rates and requirements as well as our single conference fees here.