Lecturer Details: Demystifying cardiology for the dental management of patients with cardiac issues

Lecturer nameDr Louise Hopper BDS (Bristol), PhD (Manchester)
Lecturer profileQualifications:
BDS (Bristol), MFDS RCS (Eng), PhD (Manchester)

Current Post:
Specialist in Special Care Dentistry, Plymouth Community Dental Services

Short Resume of Career to Date:
Louise has worked within the salaried dental service and hospital dental service providing dental care for adults and children with additional needs in London, Greater Manchester, Cornwall and Plymouth. She has also taught student dentists and therapists/hygienists and undertaken primary care dental research.

Experience Relevant to the topic:
Working as a specialist in SCD, Louise sees many young people and adults with cognitive impairments where assessment of capacity is a part of their dental examination, and need for reasonable adjustments alongside best interest meetings forms a part of their dental consent process. She support local general dental practitioners with assessing capacity and negotiating the legal process of consent for people who have fluctuating capacity or lack capacity. Louise also works with her local Adult Cardiology Department providing pre-cardiac surgery checks for people without a dentist and dental treatment for people with complex adult congenital heart disease.