The primary role of the Penn Dental Medicine Clinical Education Program is the training of dental health professionals. Patients are charged a reasonable fee to cover the operating costs and services of the clinic. When you make an appointment to become a patient, your dental care needs will be evaluated. Some patient candidates who come to PDM at PHMC on Cedar may not permanently become active patients to be treated by our student doctors if their situation is not appropriate for our educational environment.

Our faculty oversees the care performed by our student doctors to ensure the highest quality. This may result in longer treatment lengths for most of our procedures than in a private dental office. The student doctors will also have periodic educational breaks like other teaching institutions. At that time, the patient clinics will not be open for routine dental appointments. Patients should consider the amount of time necessary to complete their care with us to make sure the program will accommodate their needs and goals.

We offer a wide range of specialties at our PDM at PHMC on Cedar location so you can receive the care you need under one roof:

General Dentistry: Prevention and care for most common dental conditions.

Prosthodontics: The design and fitting of artificial restorations and replacements.

Endodontics: Treatment of an infected or abscessed tooth to avoid extraction.

Pediatric Dentistry: Specialized care to meet the changing needs of children

Periodontics: Treatment of gum disease, also known as periodontitis.

Oral Surgery: Extractions of teeth.

Oral Medicine: Providing oral health care that integrates medicine and dentistry to promote optimum patient health.

Scope of Policy:
This policy applies to all students, faculty, and staff members at PDM at PHMC on Cedar.

Policy Statement:
“Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.” (The Institute of Medicine, a division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.) Patients should be listened to, informed, and respected by creating an environment of patient-centered care.

PDM at PHMC on Cedar shares this vision. We recognize that systemic health includes the overall mental and physical well-being of all patients and their ability to function at their personal best as a member of his/her family, community, and society.

To that end, our academic and patient care curriculum embraces the individual as a “whole”—understanding the daily challenges they face and appreciating their oral health desires while ensuring that their mental/physical condition is enveloped within the plan of care to ensure as optimal an outcome for long-term maintenance and sustainability as possible.

Policy:
The policy of PDM at PHMC on Cedar is to have patient-centered care designed, with patient involvement, to ensure timely, convenient, well-coordinated engagement of a person’s health and healthcare needs, preferences, and values. It includes explicit and partnered determination of patient goals and care options, and it requires ongoing assessment of the care to ensure it matches patient goals.

The plan of care, which is driven by the patient’s desires and values, cannot be constructed or executed without the patient/family/parent/caregiver’s direct involvement in collaboration with the dental team (faculty, students, and staff) who must explain the care possibilities developed utilizing the best in evidence-based information. The dental team will provide the patient with the requisite information about the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the proposed plan of care to engage the patient in clinical decisions (to the extent possible).

PDM at PHMC on Cedar welcomes patients of all types and backgrounds, and we pride ourselves on providing access to quality oral health care for everyone. We value diversity and are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion, mutual trust, and respect with our patients, faculty, staff, and students.

The University of Pennsylvania, and in turn, Penn Dental Medicine and PDM at PHMC on Cedar, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class status in the administration of its admissions, financial aid, educational or athletic programs, or other University-administered programs (including patient care) or in its employment practices.