Patient Pool

The patient pool available to the residency program is extensive with respect to numbers of patients and distribution of treatment needs. Patients are screened for the predoctoral pediatric dentistry clinic and the postgraduate residency program on a continual basis throughout the year.

The patients eligible for dental care by Pediatric Dentistry residents at the Pediatric Dentistry Resident Clinic present advanced treatment needs due to:

  • Medical or physical compromising conditions (e.g. hemophilia, oncology, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, etc.).
  • Extensive, complex dental treatment needs complicated by behavioral management demands.

The children must meet the above criteria and be referred to the clinic by their primary physician, clinical nurse, community dentists, special medical teams (e.g., Sickle Cell Team, Craniofacial Anomalies Team) or other health care providers. Exceptions to the above policies are orthodontic-related patients who, after screening by the orthodontic faculty, are accepted to the orthodontics component of the postgraduate residency program. The listed avenues of patient screening and referral serve as a steady resource of patients with all levels of treatment need experienced over the course of the two-year program.

The Pediatric Dentistry residents provided dental care for over 2,750 registered visits during the past fiscal year. The registered visit total does not include follow-up visual assessments, orthodontic adjustments, consultations to other services, in-patient evaluations, after hour’s emergency visits and other miscellaneous patient contacts which may not require registration and generation of charges through the clinic. Additionally, 220 pediatric patients received comprehensive dental care in the MUSC Hospital OR under general anesthesia in the last academic year.

Once complete with hospital rotations, first residents are scheduled for clinical care eight half-days per week (six half-day pediatric dental care, two half-day orthodontic care. Second year residents are scheduled for clinical care nine half-days per week (seven half-day pediatric dental care, two half-day orthodontic care). Operating Room cases on a rotating basis are scheduled two days per week. Emergency call on a rotating basis is scheduled one week per month. Outcomes assessment of quantitative clinical activity through numerical data collection and qualitative assessments through evaluation surveys indicate all residents receive a broad range of experiences in meeting program objectives. Upon completion of the program, each graduating resident over the last five years has typically done the following:

  • Participated as clinical dental provider on 100 to 130 general anesthesia cases provided in the OR setting. This is in addition to the OR experience during the four-week anesthesia rotation.
  • Provided dental care using conscious sedation (as the primary clinician) procedures involving a broad range of pharmacological agents for 70 to 90 cases. These sedation cases are accomplished with full monitoring protocols.