Dentistry for the Homebound
Speaker
Alan M Stark, DDS, PhD, Diplomat ABSCD (ret), Dr. Alan Stark has spent his entire professional career caring and advocating for geriatric patients and persons with special needs. After graduating from Georgetown University School of Dentistry, Dr. Stark completed a hospital based residency at The Southbury Training School in Connecticut. Southbury was a federally funded, state operated residential facility for 1500 severely and profoundly affected persons. After completing his residency, he was hired as Chief of Dental Services for the Handicapped by the State of Rhode Island. His responsibilities included direct patient care, and public health initiatives to increase access to dental care for this underserved population.
Dr. Stark left state service after three years to open a private practice in Bethesda Md. This office based practice focused on Geriatrics and ambulatory special needs patients. Dr. Stark learned to provide bedside dental care during his training and subsequent state service. He continued to provide care in private homes, nursing homes and hospitals in the metropolitan DC region.
Disclosure: Dr. Stark has no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Dr. Stark started his academic teaching career immediately after completion of his residency. The chairman of the Department of Community Dentistry at Georgetown invited him to give a lecture on care of the handicapped. That initial lecture grew into 2 courses: Dentistry for the Handicapped, and Geriatric Dentistry.
In 1991 Dr. Stark was offered a tenure track position at Temple University. He designed the curriculum in Dentistry for Persons with Disabilities and Geriatrics, and taught those courses as course director until he retired. His clinical assignment was in the Oral Medicine Clinic at Temple, where he taught for 23 years. During his tenure he was nominated to the Board of Special Care Dentistry, served as President of the American Society of Geriatric Dentistry and was awarded Diplomat status in the American Board of Special Cate Dentistry. He earned a PhD in Psychoeducational Processes (Adult Education) from Temple University School of Education in 2000. He is married to Mary Jean for 32 years, lives in Ambler PA, has 2 married sons, one granddaughter and is looking forward to welcoming a second granddaughter in May 2020.
Course Description
Providing quality dental care in an office location is challenging. Delivering quality dental care in a patient’s kitchen adds significantly to the challenge. The two lecture series: Homebound Dental Care is designed to provide dental students with an overview of the demographics driving the increased demand for this service and how to provide comprehensive, quality dental care in patients homes safely and efficiently.
Educational Objectives
- Understand the demographics of the homebound population in the US, and the type of dental care they require.
- Be able to choose a delivery system style based on individual assessment of needs.
- Be able to assess the homebound patient’s abilities and preferences regarding treatment and design a plan that is appropriate for the patient.
- Recognize correct standard precautions and identify how to handle biohazard waste in patient’s homes and during transportation.
- Describe their perspective on how to provide hospice care to patients.
Contact
For information, please contact Penn Dental Medicine Continuing Dental Education at:
PDMContinuingEd@dental.upenn.edu