Dental Acupuncture and Integrative Oral Medicine (Session 3 of 4)

Patients are increasingly seeking out acupuncture as an adjunct to standard pain control measures. This is becoming more relevant in the setting of the current opiate epidemic, as acupuncture provides a non-pharmacologic approach to reduce pain. This is also important in the realms of sleep medicine and orofacial pain where pharmacotherapy is riddled with a high side effect burden and risk of abuse. Despite the WHO having recommended acupuncture for treatments on headache, facial pain, neuralgia and insomnia, few programs are available for dentists who wish to seek training.

UCLA School of Dentistry is offering a unique, evidence-based program to train dentists in the basics of dental acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory. By combining TCM principles with Western allopathic Medicine modalities, participants will feel comfortable diagnosing and understanding the pathophysiology of both acute and chronic oral pain conditions from an integrative East-West perspective. Moreover, participants will learn basic acupuncture treatments that can be safely delivered to patients.

4 Session Course at UCLA February 2-4, 2024 March 8-10, 2024 April 19-21, 2024 May 31- Jun 2, 2024

This course consists of 50 hours of didactic and 30 hours of clinical training including instruction on the following subjects: -Theoretical foundation of acupuncture, with emphasis on current physiological concepts as they relate to traditional -Chinese medicine -Acupuncture anatomy and physiology -Acupuncture techniques, including instruction in the use of needling techniques; moxibustion, electroacupuncture and other noninvasive techniques for stimulating acupuncture points; precautions (e.g. sterilization of needles); contraindications and complications, including adverse systemic effects -Application of acupuncture to the practice of dentistry

Kenneth E. Moore, DDS; Cynthia P. Diep, DDS, LAc; Andrew Shubov, MD