‘Who we’re looking for is someone who wants to teach’

ACES Health helps dental schools with externship rotations

Immediately following dental school, Rachel Greene, D.D.S., helped develop a new dental externship program for the University of Washington School of Dentistry. In developing this program, she connected with others developing externship education and quickly discovered a need for schools to learn about different models of rotations.

That’s how ACES Health began. Dr. Greene and Bill Piskorowski, D.D.S., formed the consulting group — which stands for Academic Clinical Engaged Solutions for Health — to help dental schools and outside clinics arrange and maintain externship rotations. The ACES process “expedites the rotation set up, creates financially sustainable relationships that benefit both the school and the clinics, and creates a positive reputation between the clinics and schools for recruitment and impact on student education,” according to the organization. 

ACES assists in identifying ideal locations; creates affiliation agreements with schools and clinics; assists in the appointment of teaching doctors as faculty; helps train staff and doctors in rotation operations; and customizes student rotation logistics and workflow for each practice’s needs.

“We’re both educators who have experience in this model, and so we’re able to spend the time to help other schools develop new rotations,” Dr. Greene said.

How does the program work?

Participants sign on for 40 weeks, or approximately the full academic calendar year, with each student staying and working in the clinic for three to five weeks. The location will be made an external part of the dental school, and the dentist is appointed as a faculty member of the school and is trained as faculty.

Currently, ACES Health is building out programs for four dental schools and is actively seeking locations open to hosting students.

“Then [we give] them more information on what it’s like day to day to host a student, what’s the commitment, and everything like that,” Dr. Greene said.

Afterwards, the school will conduct a site visit at the practice and provide the dentist with calibration so that the site still serves as a learning environment for the student. There is also continual quality support and improvement through data collection to ensure the student and the faculty feel the program is valuable.

While the externship is unpaid and the program experience does cost money, Dr. Greene said the program is set up such that there is no money lost from all sides, making it an accountable and sustainable model. ACES’ role includes trying to replicate the program model, assisting in creating efficiency as much as possible, and supporting the experience by providing training to the doctors and their staff, conducting quality monitoring and reporting the data on the return on investment.

“We’re the tool between, we’re go-between,” Dr. Piskorowski said. “We’re not only bringing academia to organizations, we’re bringing them to process as well. Because what we’ve found is there are so many vendors out there that can help academic institutions as well, so we’re enlightening them to that process too.”

Brandon Wright, a fourth-year student at Roseman University College of Dental Medicine, recently completed a month-long rotation through ACES Health. He was matched with a dentist in Las Vegas, Nevada, who would supervise Mr. Wright and allow him to assist in certain procedures. While traveling for the rotation was a bit of an adjustment, as Mr. Wright’s family lives back in Utah, he said the “real-world” experience was deeply enriching.

“I got to learn from this doctor who was a great doctor, great mentor, and he just taught me the ins and outs of dentistry, helped me with my procedures, all that good stuff. It was a really great opportunity over there,” Mr. Wright said.

At school, students see four patients a day at most, according to Mr. Wright. The rotation provided the chance to perform actual dentistry in a real office, therefore gaining valuable hands-on experience as well as the opportunity to see much more than four patients per day.  

“It helped open my eyes to how grateful I am to have assistants. The dental assistants and office staff were just phenomenal there. I got to see exactly what I’d be doing, because in dental school you’re doing most everything yourself as far as assisting, whereas here at the rotation, it was more [clear what I’d] be doing specifically as a dentist,” Mr. Wright said. “And then you have these assistants and hygienists that will be taking on these other roles to allow you to see more patients and jump from chair to chair a little bit quicker.”

Who should consider participating in this program?

Dr. Piskorowski emphasized that ACES is for any qualified practice interested in teaching and hosting students.

“We’ll work with one practice if they’re interested in engaging with our academic institutions. It’s for everyone that shows an interest that wants to be part of the program,” he said.

The goal of the program is to shorten students’ learning curves as well as help increase access to care, according to Dr. Greene.

“Students are an untapped workforce. When dental students are in school, they’re usually only treating one to two patients a day, if they both show up. If we can take them out into the community where they can have a dental assistant and be given their own schedule — which is kind of a unique model compared to other programs and other ways of doing outreach — they actually treat more patients out there than would be treated if they were at school,” she said.

There are many dental mentors with a passion for teaching, but who don’t live next to a dental school or can’t take a day away from work to go and teach somewhere — which is where ACES comes in.

“We will deliver the student to them, and they get to teach them while they’re there the whole time, while they’re seeing their own patients and practicing. And they get to show them their technology and techniques and materials and just the stuff that really makes them excited to teach,” Dr. Greene said.

From a student perspective, Mr. Wright said the lessons he learned from his rotation were invaluable – so much so that he put it on his resume and plans to carry the experience with him after he graduates from dental school and enters the workforce.

“This doctor that I was with, the first day I met with him, he said his goal was to have me finish this rotation as a competent dentist. He did a great job with that. He allowed me to do difficult procedures, and if I needed help he’d step in and help me out, but he was very willing to just let me figure things out on my own, problem solve,” Mr. Wright said. “And in doing so, it really did make me a better dentist in the long run. You just don’t get that experience in school, you know?”

At its core, ACES is seeking those who have a desire to educate the next generation of dentists.

“Really, who we’re looking for is someone who wants to teach. No matter where in the country it is, no matter what the student is doing, [it could work] as long as that person has a passion for teaching, as well as a patient volume that can support an additional provider,” Dr. Greene said. “We’re looking for people who have ever wanted to teach, but couldn’t take time out of [their] practice. [They] would be a great fit for this program."