Family Dentistry

Faculty and housestaff of the Department provides outpatient dental services to those persons in the community who choose to come to the Health System for their treatment. The Department operates on a fee-for-service basis utilizing the billing and collection services of the Health Services Foundation. Services available include restorations, endodontics, crown and bridge,cosmetic dentistry, and implants.

Special Care

Comprehensive dental care is available to a patient under the classification of special care or medically necessary dental care. The Federation of Special Care Organization in Dentistry defines special care as:

Provision of quality patient care at the interface of medicine and dentistry, involving principally the care of patients, who for reasons of medical diagnoses, handicaps or age require special care or special settings.

These patients present with particular medical, dental or social service considerations which make treatment within the Department of Dentistry a priority. The majority of special care patients have medical considerations such as head and neck malignancies, coagulopathies, immunosuppression or mental illness. Many of these individuals originally presented via the Dentistry Consultation Service for the purpose of treatment for oral sources of infection prior to medical care.

Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center

The Department of Dentistry provides services for pediatric patients at the   Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center (KCRC). Approximately 80% of our effort is outpatient care and 20% inpatient services. Patients are referred to the KCRC for dental evaluation and treatment from clinicians within the Medical Center and the greater community. The most common medical diagnoses of our patients are autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, developmental delay and behavioral disorders. Dental services are provided by attending faculty , housestaff and registered dental hygienists. Many of our patients cannot be treated elsewhere due to the physical limitations of their handicapping condition or medical indigency. The services provided at KCRC include:

• Screening of all inpatients
• Preventive and hygiene services
• Restorative care
• Prosthetic and adaptive appliances
• Minor orthodontics
• Consultation and referral for complex oral surgery, comprehensive orthodontics and treatment under general anesthesia

KCRC is also a training site for the UVa General Practice Dental Residency. Residents learn patient management skills and technical procedures to enable them to care for handicapped children in their dental practices. Externs from regional schools of dentistry and schools of dental hygiene have the opportunity to rotate through the KCRC dental service and in so doing gain and appreciation of special care dental services.

Urgent Care

Faculty and residents of the Department of Dentistry provide on-call consultation to the Department of Emergency Medicine for the care of patients with oral infection and dentoalveolar trauma.