During your first visit, you’ll meet a faculty member who will ask you a few questions about your medical history and perform a brief physical examination. Routine oral cancer screening will be performed by faculty member at this time, and depending on your needs, your dentist may also take radiographs. The purpose of this visit is to determine if you’re eligible to become a patient. If you are, we’ll assign you a postdoctoral dental resident to set up a faculty-directed appointment to assess your prosthodontic needs. This screening is FREE, so you won’t need to worry about paying on your first visit.

The new Penn Dental Medicine prosthodontics program can provide a wide range of prosthodontic services to our patients, including the following:

• Crowns and bridges: A simple porcelain prosthesis can fit over existing teeth to make them look and work like new, while simultaneously supporting the surrounding teeth.
• Dental implants: For missing teeth, a prosthodontist might choose to place an implant directly in the jaw that has a crown or denture attached, accurately simulating natural teeth.
• Dentures: When patients have many missing teeth, a prosthodontist might use complete, partial or hybrid dentures to provide natural and aesthetic teeth.
• Maxillofacial prosthetics: In some cases, a prosthodontist works with surgeons to correct the shape or position of the underlying mouth structure (for example, repairing the jaw after oral cancer or trauma) and restore them close to its natural appearance.

At Penn Dental Medicine, prosthodontic procedures are performed by postdoctoral residents or predoctoral students. These student doctors work under the direct supervision of faculty specialists. In the initial stages of prosthodontic treatment, your care may be provided by predoctoral students under close supervision by instructors. Specialized prosthodontic care and advanced procedures are provided by our postdoctoral residents, who are qualified dentists undergoing an additional three-year training.

Penn Dental Medicine has state-of-the-art technology at its disposal for patients in the new prosthodontic program that is available nowhere else. This includes the use of precise microscopes that allow us to create crowns and other prostheses that are a custom fit down to the microscopic level, ensuring that they fit better, last longer, and are more comfortable. The quality of treatment is further enhanced due to digital technologies, like our advanced scanners and imaging software. CAD/CAM technologies are used for the fabrication of highly precise and aesthetic restorations.