Advocate Illinois Masonic Dental Center Highlights Programs and New Technologies

On Thursday, May 11 the Advocate Dental Center hosted an open house event to highlight their distinctive programs such as Special Patient Care Dentistry, the General Practice Residency and the mobile dental van and to showcase new equipment and technology.

“Our team was very excited to share all the exciting developments happening at the Dental Center,” says Dr. James Benz, Chairman of the Dept. of Dentistry at Advocate Illinois Masonic. “We strive to provide top-notch patient care through our programs and our new technology will help us create a safer, higher quality patient experience.”

The Dental Center’s new equipment includes a panoramic/cephalometric/CBCT for 2D digital imaging and 3D scans, intraoral digital imaging sensors, intraoral phosphor plate digital imaging system for Special Needs and pediatric patients; ultra-efficient hi, low, sonic hand pieces, digital intraoral cameras and high efficiency, large chamber autoclaves for sterile processing. The team is also eagerly awaiting another upgrade this summer in a planned conversion to electronic dental records.

“These technologies and equipment enhance our diagnostic and treatment capabilities, increase opportunities for resident and patient education, increase portability of patient information, eliminates hazardous x-ray chemicals, significantly decreases the amount of radiation during x-ray imaging, and are well-suited to our special needs patient population,” says Dr. Benz.

Among those eager to use these new technologies are our Advocate Illinois Masonic Dental Residents. The Dental Center is home to the General Practice Dental Residency program, a 12-month, post-graduate training program consisting of nine residents. The program has a special needs emphasis, including treatment for developmentally disabled, medically compromised and geriatric patients. Residents receive extensive training in all dental specialties, including operating room dentistry, treatment of trauma and infection in the emergency department, treating a variety of underserved patients on the mobile dental van and providing procedural sedation for patients who are either anxious or behaviorally disordered. Residents rotate through anesthesia, internal medicine, the emergency department, and oral surgery.

“Our General Practice Residency Program has trained over 300 residents in our 47-year history,” says Dr. Benz. “We’re very proud of this program, as it affords recent dental school graduates the chance to get a broad look at the practice of dentistry and the many ways we can help serve patients.”

Residents rotate weekly with the staff on the mobile dental van, a program that began in 2001. The mobile dental van operates five days per week and its dedicated staff consists of all former Advocate Illinois Masonic Dental Residents. The van travels to 19 partnering organizations every month providing treatment to many patients who otherwise would not have access to dental care.

“Our mission is to increase access to oral health for special needs patients and those who do not have access to dental care,” says Dr. Benz. “By upgrading to digital technologies and improving critical equipment, our entire team is significantly more capably positioned and strongly committed to providing safe, high quality dental care that is personalized to each individual’s needs.”