The Office of Patient Care at UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry commenced services in the new Center for Health Promotion (CHP), a clinic that offers a patient-centered comprehensive approach to oral care, on Jan. 29.
“The CHP is a first-of-its-kind clinic on the dental school’s first floor, which aims to identify and manage oral and systemic risk factors through Integrated Dental Medicine (more commonly referred to as IDM), emphasizing patient education and interprofessional care,” explained Shalizeh “Shelly” Patel, DDS, MEd, associate dean for patient care.
As part of the New Models, the school has integrated new didactic, preclinical, and clinical teaching and assessment models in the predoctoral curriculum aligned with the School of Dentistry’s Strategic Plan for 2022-2027.
“Many years ago, dentistry was divorced from medicine. Over the last 60 years, we’ve seen how this separation has affected the population,” said Shalizeh Patel. “Not today, but in the next decade, we will shift the practice philosophy to focus on the important links between oral health and overall health rather than only treating the symptoms of disease."
“The CHP is a hub where medicine, dentistry, behavioral factors, and social well-being come together to promote patients’ health."
“A majority of our patients are uninsured and represent underserved populations in the Greater Houston area,” said Tulsi Patel, RDH, MHA, director of health promotion.
“During our screening process, it’s common for us to identify one or more uncontrolled systemic conditions. This allows us to educate the patient on the oral-systemic link and the importance of controlling risk factors for optimized treatment outcomes.”
“In the future, services for depression, anxiety, domestic violence, and other behavioral concerns of patients will be provided.”
“New collaborations with other UTHealth Houston schools are being planned and executed to help fulfill these goals in alignment with the School of Dentistry’s vision, ‘Improving oral health, improving overall health,’ and I think we’re putting those words into practice through the CHP,” said Shalizeh Patel.
The CHP currently operates on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings. Starting in the summer, it will be open all day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with a morning-only schedule for Fridays.
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