Dental Externship & Shadowing Opportunities

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Dental Externships

Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare offers dental externships for dental students enrolled in an A.D.A. Accredited Dental School. The externship must also be approved in advance by the respective dental school.

An externship offers an opportunity for hands on clinical experience in a hospital outpatient dental setting. Externs will have an opportunity to treat medically compromised patients and may be asked to seek medical clearance prior to treatment in some cases. They will provide palliative and definitive treatment to our walk-in dental emergencies including toothaches and trauma. When the opportunity presents itself, they may be allowed to observe the delivery of dental care in the operating room setting of the hospital.

Dental externships vary in length but usually are a minimum of two weeks. There is no cost to the student. The purpose is to expose dental students to hospital-based dental residency training and what it has to offer. Dental externships are ideal for helping dental students determine if they would like to pursue training in a specific program, geographic location or in comparing General Practice Residencies to Advanced Education in General Dentistry Programs. They will have the opportunity to meet and discuss the program with recent dental school graduates who are currently enrolled in the program and our volunteer attendings.

For more information, please contact Dr. James M. Rozanski at 1-877-884-2269.

Shadowing Opportunities

High school students and college students in pre-dental curriculums are welcome to shadow the current dental residents in our program.

Making the Necessary Arrangements

The following will help guide you through the process.

1. Arranging an externship with your dental school:

If you are arranging an externship as a requirement for dental school then you should notify your school's externship coordinator of your decision because your school may require a collaborative agreement between the site and the school. If your school does not have such an agreement in place from previous years, then you will need to have these parties begin discussing the agreement immediately. This process can take considerable time. You should address this issue immediately upon your decision to avoid disappointment if your school and the site do not workout the prior agreement.

If you are not doing this as a requirement for dental school, then you are welcome to shadow the dental residents but you will not be allowed to provide direct patient care due to licensure and liability issues. Once cleared by the Volunteer Office at Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare, you will be allowed to perform the responsibilities of a chairside dental assistant on a voluntary basis.
 

2. Arranging an externship or shadowing at FSLH:

Externship Application & Health Requirements