CE Night #1 November 17, 2020

Topic: “Puff, Puff, Pass – Marijuana

Speaker: Dr. Clifford Pau
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Time: 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Fee: Free (Limited to CCDSBC Members only)

Synopsis: What is cannabis? What are some common ways to consume cannabis? How does it impact on dentistry? With the Legalization of Cannabis in Canada in October 2018, the access to various forms of cannabis has been increasing. In this session we are going to discuss the following topics on cannabis use:

  • Pharmacology of cannabinoids
  • Clinical signs of use and intoxication
  • Methods of recreational consumption
  • Common dental drug interactions and clinical considerations
  • Medical cannabis in chronic pain management and its potential use in dentistry
  • Legal implications

The Speaker: Dr. Clifford Pau, B.Sc., M.Sc., D.M.D., is currently practicing as a general dentist in British Columbia, Ontario and Hong Kong. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry at UBC. After obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1998, Dr. Pau continued his study in pharmacology at the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC. In 2000, he completed a research-oriented program that earned him a Master of Science degree. Dr. Pau’s graduate research focused on the mechanism of pain induction and therapeutic choices. His project involved the development of a model to evaluate various pharmacologic treatments for ischaemia-induced chronic pain. Following successful completion of his master thesis in the summer of 2000, he was accepted in the Doctor of Dental Medicine program at UBC.

Dr. Pau continued his research during his dental training and was the recipient of the prestigious Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) award for two consecutive years for his research work in improvement of teaching methods in dental anatomy and ergonomics using advanced computer virtual reality techniques. His research papers were presented and published in the proceedings of annual meetings of the American Dental Education Association in 2003 and 2004. Dr. Pau has been a full-time clinician since his graduation in 2004, and a part-time faculty at UBC since 2006. He has a strong commitment to teaching clinical dentistry as well as pharmacology and therapeutics. He was the recipient of Part-Time Faculty Teaching Award from UBC Faculty of Dentistry for three consecutive years (2017-2019). Also, Dr. Pau enjoys practicing dentistry in various cities in the world. The diversity of cases he sees allowed him to broaden his knowledge in clinical dentistry.