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Urgent Dental Care

 Clinic Director

  • John F. Guarente, DMD, Assistant Dean for Patient Services and Clinical Assistant Professor

Faculty

  • Mahdi Bouhmadouche, DMD, MD, DScD
  • John F. Guarente, DMD
  • Joseph P. Nore, DDS
  • Anita Gohel BDS PhD.
  • Blanca Sotomayor, DMD

Location

  • Room G-102

Phone

  • 617/638-9168

Clinic Hours

  • Monday-Friday: 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  • After hours, weekends, holidays: postdoctoral residents on call

Introduction

The Urgent Dental Care clinic provides the student with the opportunity to gain experience in treating patients who present with acute dental needs. The primary goal of the clinic is to provide immediate treatment to the patients in order to alleviate their dental problem and pain. This goal is achieved by placing emphasis on first diagnosing the patients condition then prescribing the appropriate treatment to correct their problem. Each fourth-year student will be required to complete a one-week rotation.

Regulations

  • Students are required to attend an orientation at 8:45 am on their first day.
  • If there is any reason that a student must be absent from any part of the rotation, a written notice must be given to the clinic coordinator one week in advance.
  • Students on rotation may not leave the clinic without permission of the instructor.
  • Students are to wear a clean clinic jacket with a nametag.
  • Students are to adhere strictly to infection control guidelines.
  • Under no circumstances may students solicit patients while on this rotation.
  • Each student is evaluated every day. It is the students' responsibility to insure that the evaluation is completed.


Student Evaluation

Students will be graded at the end of their rotation as part of the oral diagnosis rotation.

Emergency Dental Treatment

New patients calling the school with an emergency complaint will be referred to the first-floor reception desk. The first-floor receptionist will inform the patient of the school hours for treating emergencies (9-11 a.m., 1-3 p.m.) and the fees. The patient will then be referred to the appropriate emergency service.

When patients in active treatment call the school with an emergency dental problem, an attempt should be made to put the assigned patient in direct contact with the student.

When students are put in contact with their ongoing patient with an emergency, every effort should be made to see the patient personally, as soon as possible, to maintain patient rapport and assure continuity of care. If the patient's assigned student cannot be located or if he/she has unavoidable commitments, the patient should be given the option of being seen by the urgent dental care team on the first floor. After hour emergencies will be handled by calling 638-8450

The following table lists the spectrum of emergencies to be treated in the Urgent Dental Care Clinic and the department responsible for consulting with the predoctoral student in each instance.

Clinical Problem/Procedure

Covering Department for Consultation

Differential diagnosis of facial pain

Any Department

Treatment of acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis or periodontal abscess

Periodontics

Temporary restorations, caries control, replacement of fractured or washed out restorations.

Restorative

Denture adjustment or recementation
of washed out crown bridge.

Restorative or Removable Prosthodontics

Denture repair

Restorative or Removable
Prosthodontics

Pulpal tooth involvement

Endodontics

In general, no one category of emergency should take precedence over another. The exception to this should be the patient in obvious acute pain whose pain relief should be expedited.

After emergency care, regardless of the clinical area in which the emergency is treated, it is the responsibility of the student treating the emergency to:

  • Advise the patient of the need for follow-up or maintenance dental care.
  • Direct the patient to Oral Diagnosis for an appointment for radiograph examination or the appropriate clinical area for a follow-up appointment.
  • Give the patient the appropriate post-operative instruction sheet.

Also at the completion of care of an emergency patient, a sufficiently detailed entry must be made in the patient's record indicating:

  • the patient was seen as an emergency
  • diagnosis and treatment rendered
  • details of the discussion with the patient regarding follow-up on continuance of care in the school
  • instructions on how to obtain after hour care.

The record is then returned to the first floor Radiology Clinic for appropriate filing.

 



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