Practical Biochemistry for BDS Purvi Purohit
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1INTRODUCTION TO PRACTICAL BIOCHEMISTRY
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2Practical biochemistry has become an essential part of the undergraduate teaching of all students of health sciences including dentistry. The undergraduate teaching of practical biochemistry aims at imparting to the student the basic skills of working in a biochemistry laboratory safely and to achieve accurate results with minimum errors. Thus, in this introductory section, the students are introduced to the Practical Biochemistry Laboratory, the instruments present in the laboratory, procedures to work safely and to get results with accuracy and precision.

Biochemistry in DentistryCHAPTER 1

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Biochemistry is a science concerned with the chemical constituents of living cells and the various reactions or processes they undergo. Biochemists study the chemical reactions going on in the human cells. Remarkable advances in the biochemical techniques have helped to study the cell’s molecular biology, DNA and taken today’s researchers to the threshold of understanding the regulation of cellular functions. Thus, help in the better understanding of the basis of health and disease.
Biochemistry can therefore be better defined as a science concerned with the chemical basis of life (Greek word ‘bios’ means life).
A sound knowledge of biochemistry is essential to medicine and its allied branches including dentistry.
The dental profession has a primary responsibility for the oral health care of the community. A dentist’s role is not just merely to treat and manage diseases related to the oral cavity, but he/she has to treat the patient as a whole. For this a dentist should be well-versed with other aspects of health and disease. The dentists have to be well-trained in managing patients with medical diseases that may affect the dental 4treatment. Therefore, they should have a sound foundation for basic sciences of medicine like Biochemistry.
A dentist is traditionally taught to perform a complete oral examination of the patient and to develop a treatment plan from the examination findings. Before making the diagnosis and developing a treatment plan, the dentist should evaluate the facts properly as there may be some underlying pathology.
A sound knowledge of biochemistry would help in investigation of the etiology of the oral disease as well as the underlying pathologic condition, which otherwise could complicate the dental treatment.
Therefore, a sound knowledge of clinical biochemistry is of paramount importance to the dental students.