UFCD Community Based Programs: St. Petersburg

Welcome to the University of Florida College of Dentistry--St. Petersburg Clinic.  Our 12-month certificate program is designed to provide advanced clinical and didactic training in all disciplines of general dentistry beyond the training received in dental school.  This year, the program accepted 8 Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residents and 2 foreign trained dental students. Patient treatment is frequently complex and challenging, with multiple opportunities for experience in dental implants, periodontal surgery, advanced prosthetics, oral surgery, and orthodontics. The faculty, which includes specialists from all the dental disciplines and general dentists, provide continuous coverage in the clinic. They also dedicate their time after hours to offer advice and guidance through seminars aimed at preparing the residents to face their first step after the program. Seminars, literature reviews, case presentations, and treatment planning seminars are part of the educational program. Our site is technologically capable to view and interact live with the respective connected sites. Courses live from Gainesville via distance learning occur throughout the year and all of the UFCD AEGD programs can engage active in treatment planning sessions. Practice management is an integral part of the program. Adults and children requiring hospitalization for their dental care are treated by the residents in local hospitals.  In addition, the residents in the program have the opportunity to interact with the faculty of Dr. Peter Dawson's Center for Advanced Dental Study.   Dr. Dawson invites our residents to attend his Seminar I and II on The Concept of Complete Dentistry.  Faculty from the Center for Advanced Dental Study present lectures and hands on workshops to our residents.  The residents present case presentations to Dr. Dawson in the final months of the program.  Furthermore, our facility hosts numerous continuing education courses, which our residents are invited to participate free-of-charge.

The Advanced Education in Dentistry program located at the St. Petersburg Dental Clinic is full accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation. At the completion of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Program the resident will be able to: 1. Act as a primary care provider for individual and groups of patients. This includes providing emergency and multidisciplinary comprehensive oral health care, providing patient focused care that is coordinated by the general practitioner, directing health promotion and disease prevention activities, and using advanced dental treatment modalities. 2. Plan and provide multidisciplinary oral health care for a wide variety of patients including patients with special needs. 3. Manage the delivery of oral health care by applying concepts of patient and practice management and quality improvement that are responsive to a dynamic health care environment. 4. Function effectively and efficiently in multiple health care environments within interdisciplinary health care teams. 5. Apply scientific principles to learning and oral health care which includes using critical thinking, evidence or outcomes-based clinical decision-making, and technology-based information retrieval systems. 6. Utilize the values of professional ethics, lifelong learning, patient centered care, adaptability, and acceptance of cultural diversity in professional practice. 7. Understand the oral health needs of communities and engage in community service.