Exploring Epilepsy and Epileptic Drugs with Dr. Aviv Ouanounou

Dr. Aviv Ouanounou explores with Dr. Suham Alexander the topic of epilepsy and anti-epileptic drugs and their relevance to dentistry.  

Video Highlights

Epilepsy is one of the first diseases noted in history and it afflicts ~1% of the population. While most epileptics are well-controlled with medication, there is still a fairly high number of people that have uncontrolled seizures.

In this video presentation, Dr. Aviv Ouanounou, discusses the pathophysiology, medications and dental implications of patients with this disease.

• 3 types of seizures – partial, generalized, status epilepticus
• Anti-epileptic drugs reduce voltage regulated Ca²⁺ channels, enhance GABA neurotransmission and interact with glutamate neurotransmission
• Several medications are available to treat epilepsy, including newer ones. Many of these medications can have dental implications for patients (eg. phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproate)
• Dentists should know the patient’s seizure history, triggering factors and how to recognize the early signs of a seizure
• Status epilepticus can be a dangerous form of the disease and the clinical team must be aware of how to deal with this emergency situation

Watch the video presentation