Section of Interdisciplinary Dentistry
The Interdisciplinary Dentistry Section comprises Group Practice Directors and Group Practice Leaders from the UCLA Predoctoral General Dentistry Clinic at the Westwood Campus. Our Section focuses on person-centered care (PCC). We guide our student doctors to evaluate, diagnose, and make treatment plans by incorporating preventative methods and considering a person's unique health status, preferences, and needs to improve overall well-being and oral health.
The Section aims to facilitate student learning by providing comprehensive dental care with high ethical standards and a humanistic, patient-centered approach via the heuristic pedagogical process. In collaboration with the specialty departments, students can learn complex treatment planning and collaborate with integrated health care teams. The Interdisciplinary Dentistry section will support and participate in Division and overall School goals through self-reflection, continuous improvement, and promotion of collegial culture.
Chair:
Teaching
The educational activities of this Section use the Person-Centered Care (PCC) model to guide predoctoral clinic experiences and hone critical thinking skills.
Predoctoral instruction is provided in the areas of treatment planning, radiographic interpretation, patient management, clinical patient assessment, organizational planning and preparation, and communication with colleagues and specialists, amongst many other topics involved in the day-to-day operations of patient care. The knowledge noted above is now integrated in the practical sense as they apply the information in real-time during patient treatments.
The Section's faculty members supervise patient assessment and treatment planning sessions in collaboration with faculty members from different disciplines and help create a phased treatment plan that restores patients' dentitions to proper function and esthetics. Additionally, Group Practice Directors conduct quarterly chart reviews to evaluate treatment progress, determine if necessary changes are required, and help keep students on track with graduation.
The Interdisciplinary Dentistry section provides student doctors with basic knowledge and guideline on professionalism and patient management through the PFD courses. The PFD courses also offer techniques to the student doctor to be effective with patient communication and treatment acceptance. Risk avoidance and crisis management are also part of the PFD course content taught by the Interdisciplinary Dentistry faculty.
Patient Care
New patients are screened by the Division's Group Practice Directors/Leaders. A determination is made whether the patient qualifies as a predoctoral teaching case or is referred to one of our advanced specialty clinics. The predoctoral clinic employs the Comprehensive Patient Care model whereby student doctors are assigned to a team. Each student receives mentorship and assistance from peer teaching in this model while providing individualized patient care.
The student clinic also provides urgent care services. A student who is assigned to Urgent Care is responsible for the diagnosis and palliative treatment of a patient in urgent need, under the guidance of a GPD/L. The student is responsible for seeking and obtaining the appropriate specialty discipline consultations and, in concert with the covering GPD/GPL, reaches the most appropriate treatment decision for the patient.
The delivery of appropriate care to the patients is examined and reviewed by the GPD in a quarterly chart review. The GPD makes suggestions to the student doctors on how to improve their patient management skills. The GPLs work closely with their Group's GPDs to facilitate care continuity. This summative and heuristic method educates the student doctor to excel in the patient's overall health assessment and develop individualized patient-centered care.