What is going on at Colorado school of dental medicine??

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denverdental

denverdental

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I am concerned about the education being offered at the colorado school of dentistry and beginning to worry if i will be able to learn anything the next year and a half..............
  • We have some instructors that are rude and disrespectful to students and patients and/or don’t seem good at what they do (dentistry or teaching).
  • We have instructors who are having affairs with international students (which is completely unethical) and seem to favor those students over others. One of the faculty who is known for his sexual escapades has taken over as the director of a new international fellowship program
  • We have classes that are pointless. We have classes that we should probably be learning something from them but the teaching is so horrible that we get nothing out of it There is subjective grading that seems totally unfair. Some grades seem arbitrary. Some tests are impossible to do well on even if you study your butt off because of the way they are written so the people that don’t study and guess well do better than the students who actually know the material and guessed wrong. Some policies seem unfair and some requirements seem impossible to fulfill. *We have less clinic time than the students before us and yet our requirements are the same and we pay more money
  • We get graded on how much we produce for the school. Yes, the higher your production, the better your grade. Ethical? Not really. The Dean for clinics has an meeting monthly with faculty and some student reps where they talk about production and cheer up those clinics which make more money. YEP! Pathetic but is this why i came to this school for eduation
  • There are not enough patients for us and they want us to pair up and work as dental assistants for graduate students. The graduate students are also in the same boat and have no patients.There are DS4’s who finished their DS3 year without doing one single crown prep.
  • Since they eliminated the dental hygiene program guess what dental students are? Glorified hygienists. Patients still need to get their teeth cleaned and there are no hygiene students to do it. Hygiene patients can easily fill up your clinic schedule making it difficult to schedule restorative procedures that you will actually need to know how to do.
  • You have to take “competency” exams on procedures that you have never actually done before. There are windows during which you have to take competency exams for certain procedures. If you have never done that procedure before, too bad. You still have to take the exam to show you are competent. If you can’t find a patient that needs that procedure during that window or if you happen to fail the exam (because you might not be competent at something you have never done before), then you can’t take it again and you can’t take it the next semester to make it up. No, you actually end up behind in your clinic requirements all the way up until the last semester before you graduate. That is the first opportunity that you will be given to make it up. Reasonable? No.
  • If your patient cancels on short notice or if you can’t get a patient to fill an open appointment that you have, you are penalized in terms of RVU’s (relative value units). Some things you have no control over, like patients getting sick, or being flakes, or your lab case not coming back on schedule, or not having enough faculty to cover chairs. Too bad. Your RVU’s/clinic session will be a big fat 0 and they calculate that into your grade.
  • There will be 55 ISP’s and approximately 85 dental students. Right now there are not enough patients (forget chairs, it doesn’t matter how many chairs you have if you don’t have the patient population to fill them)
  • The school administration wants to make money and that is it. The deans are one of the highest paid in the country and what have they done?? just added the international program which brings in more revenues and students who do not complain
I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS WHO FEEL THE SAME SO THAT THIS PROBLEM CAN BE ADDRESSED. I KNOW THERE ARE A NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN MY CLASS WHO FEEL THE SAME. I HAVE DISCUSED THIS WITH A NUMBER OF FACULTY AND THEY ARE READY TO SUPPORT US TO COMPLAIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. ACTUALLY A SIGNATURE PETITION IS ALREADY ONGOING TO HIGHLIGHT THIS ISSUE.
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I am responding to this post not in my capacity as a fellow student at the UCDSDM, but as a mature human being.

The fact that you used a public forum to present your complaints about the dental school is grossly inappropriate. Being a professional of any type calls you to exercise the utmost tact and decorum in all aspects of your life. This post reflects more on your inability to use discretion and carry yourself in a professional manner than the school of dental medicine's current supposed issues. I sincerely hope you discover what it truly means to be a professional before you graduate.
 
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Professionalism aside, if half of what denverdental is saying is true, then I think you should consider transfering, even if it adds a year to your education. I wouldn't put up with that kind of behavior from a school of dentistry, remember, you are paying them to provide a service, i.e. your education. You have a right to be an unsatisfied customer, you're paying too much to not make critical judgements of the product you are recieving. If they can't come through with their end of the contract, then they don't deserve your money.
 
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Colorad said:
I am responding to this post not in my capacity as a fellow student at the UCDSDM, but as a mature human being.

The fact that you used a public forum to present your complaints about the dental school is grossly inappropriate. Being a professional of any type calls you to exercise the utmost tact and decorum in all aspects of your life. This post reflects more on your inability to use discretion and carry yourself in a professional manner than the school of dental medicine's current supposed issues. I sincerely hope you discover what it truly means to be a professional before you graduate.
Click to expand...

Colorad --- how is this 'grossly inappropriate'? These forums are here for advice, venting, etc. They are for us dental students to help each other through. If the info that the OP stated is true, then there is nothing wrong letting other people know about the dirty laundry of another school. The OP vented - let us know what his frustrations and concerns were. Then asked for advice and to see if others feel the same way. Plus, in a forum such as this, you can make yourself as anonymous as you like yourself to be especially in an instance like this where a person could fear there could be repercussions by administration and faculty if it became known who was publicizing this. Sending an e-mail using the schools system is definintely not a good idea since the school can access the e-mail and has proof a person sent the e-mail out.

Plus, as long as this info is correct, it is good for potential candidates or recent accepted applicants to know what they are getting into.
 
Nice

denverdental said:
I am concerned about the education being offered at the colorado school of dentistry and beginning to worry if i will be able to learn anything the next year and a half..............
  • We have some instructors that are rude and disrespectful to students and patients and/or don’t seem good at what they do (dentistry or teaching).
  • We have instructors who are having affairs with international students (which is completely unethical) and seem to favor those students over others. One of the faculty who is known for his sexual escapades has taken over as the director of a new international fellowship program
  • We have classes that are pointless. We have classes that we should probably be learning something from them but the teaching is so horrible that we get nothing out of it There is subjective grading that seems totally unfair. Some grades seem arbitrary. Some tests are impossible to do well on even if you study your butt off because of the way they are written so the people that don’t study and guess well do better than the students who actually know the material and guessed wrong. Some policies seem unfair and some requirements seem impossible to fulfill. *We have less clinic time than the students before us and yet our requirements are the same and we pay more money
  • We get graded on how much we produce for the school. Yes, the higher your production, the better your grade. Ethical? Not really. The Dean for clinics has an meeting monthly with faculty and some student reps where they talk about production and cheer up those clinics which make more money. YEP! Pathetic but is this why i came to this school for eduation
  • There are not enough patients for us and they want us to pair up and work as dental assistants for graduate students. The graduate students are also in the same boat and have no patients.There are DS4’s who finished their DS3 year without doing one single crown prep.
  • Since they eliminated the dental hygiene program guess what dental students are? Glorified hygienists. Patients still need to get their teeth cleaned and there are no hygiene students to do it. Hygiene patients can easily fill up your clinic schedule making it difficult to schedule restorative procedures that you will actually need to know how to do.
  • You have to take “competency” exams on procedures that you have never actually done before. There are windows during which you have to take competency exams for certain procedures. If you have never done that procedure before, too bad. You still have to take the exam to show you are competent. If you can’t find a patient that needs that procedure during that window or if you happen to fail the exam (because you might not be competent at something you have never done before), then you can’t take it again and you can’t take it the next semester to make it up. No, you actually end up behind in your clinic requirements all the way up until the last semester before you graduate. That is the first opportunity that you will be given to make it up. Reasonable? No.
  • If your patient cancels on short notice or if you can’t get a patient to fill an open appointment that you have, you are penalized in terms of RVU’s (relative value units). Some things you have no control over, like patients getting sick, or being flakes, or your lab case not coming back on schedule, or not having enough faculty to cover chairs. Too bad. Your RVU’s/clinic session will be a big fat 0 and they calculate that into your grade.
  • There will be 55 ISP’s and approximately 85 dental students. Right now there are not enough patients (forget chairs, it doesn’t matter how many chairs you have if you don’t have the patient population to fill them)
  • The school administration wants to make money and that is it. The deans are one of the highest paid in the country and what have they done?? just added the international program which brings in more revenues and students who do not complain
I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS WHO FEEL THE SAME SO THAT THIS PROBLEM CAN BE ADDRESSED. I KNOW THERE ARE A NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN MY CLASS WHO FEEL THE SAME. I HAVE DISCUSED THIS WITH A NUMBER OF FACULTY AND THEY ARE READY TO SUPPORT US TO COMPLAIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. ACTUALLY A SIGNATURE PETITION IS ALREADY ONGOING TO HIGHLIGHT THIS ISSUE.
Click to expand...
 
I think Colorad's real name should be Coloradmin if u get my drift...
 
ColoDDS said:
Lies, Lies Lies,...Well maybe not all lies, but definitely not the full truth.

As a 4th year dental student at CU I have been around longer and have seen more changes to our school than you have. Your post is half the twisted truth or a matter of opinion and the other half is just flat out lies. You look ridiculous making all these accusations when you are not fully informed. You will get out of dental school what you put into it and apparently you aren't putting much into it since you have time to post a ridiculously long post. Every school has it's issues, but there are avenues set up to address those issues (which does not including crying all over the internet) If I had to make the decision all over again I would still come to CU. I am graduating in less than 5 months and feel very prepared and satisfied with my dental school experience. If you are unhappy then you should transfer schools and save everyone else around you from having to miserable for the next year and a half. Maybe you can go to one of the many schools that charges you any fees a patient has accrued if they don't come back to finish treatment. (Yes there are schools that do that,so be grateful you don't have to)
Click to expand...
Dude, what kind of school does that? sounds like you are the one who's lying..
 
I am graduating in May and am unhappy with the changes made at the school over the past couple of years. My dad graduated from CU and encouraged me to come here. I have been disappointed with the policies which have affected our clinical education. There are so many of us who do not have root canal cases and crown& bridge cases. The fact remains that the school has added 40 more International students and this has adversely impacted the clinical education at the dental school.
I agree the focus is money. They charge 60K from the ISP students per year and you can do the math. They are spending millions on a private faculty practice clinic at the dental school and the students have to compete for chairs. Third year dental students have to work as dental assistants?? The reason given is private dental schools like NYU does the same. I did not not want to go to a NYU and hence came here because of my dad. Most of the points raised here are true and most of the students and faculty are aware of the same. I hope a change in the school administration will keep preserve this schools reputation.

I do think that most of the faculty have started to complaint to higher adminitration in the university and this might help. But it might be too late for me. Please do your homework before you come here. Good luck
 
coloradolive said:
Third year dental students have to work as dental assistants?? The reason given is private dental schools like NYU does the same. I did not not want to go to a NYU and hence came here because of my dad.
Click to expand...

yeah, um we definitely have no such policy in place. With the number of patients we have, 3rd years get their own patients and clinical sessions.
 
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even nyu is better than colorado. go figure!!!
 
Don't most people go to Colorado SoD to ski? Enjoy MLK weekend up on the slopes.

Crown and bridge seem to be hard to get at most schools as most patients go to a school to save money. Years of dental neglect resulting in the need for endo and crown with a choice of exactraction usually ends up in extraction. However, this might be good for removable caseload.

At my school, if you have no patient in the chair you are expected to assist. Also at my school, complaining to administration generally results in nothing but punishment for complaining-so typically most people learn to not complain. The loose nail gets the hammer.
 
browncrack said:
Don't most people go to Colorado SoD to ski? Enjoy MLK weekend up on the slopes.

Crown and bridge seem to be hard to get at most schools as most patients go to a school to save money. Years of dental neglect resulting in the need for endo and crown with a choice of exactraction usually ends up in extraction. However, this might be good for removable caseload.

At my school, if you have no patient in the chair you are expected to assist. Also at my school, complaining to administration generally results in nothing but punishment for complaining-so typically most people learn to not complain. The loose nail gets the hammer.
Click to expand...

This is certainly the case at Maryland too. C&B and endo are the 2 toughest requirements to meet and these requirements have dropped dramatically over the past few years. It's not necessarily the school's fault; blame can be placed on the patient population. Extraction ($66) is a more feasible option to a vast majority of our patients, when the other option is endo, post/core and crown ($1000+).

To the OP: suck it up and focus on graduating instead of whining. No school is perfect. You will graduate if you focus more time on jumping through hoops than slamming your school on SDN.

Hup
 
It has been years since I bothered to take a peek at this forum, but I started to hear that some really unflattering posts were going up about my school so I thought I'd check it out. I am so disappointed in my fellow dental students right now.

As tempting as this may be to write me off as some sort of admin plant, I am the real deal. I'm graduating in 4 months from an institution that I am very proud of, UCSODM. I have received one of the very best dental educations available in the US today. I know this because I have had the opportunity to work and talk with many dental students across the country. No program is perfect, Colorado included, but you get out of your education what you are willing to put into it. What I am hearing on this forum is a bunch of people with their hands out! Sure, it has been a bit of a struggle to get all of the appropriate patients but it can be done even if you do ski over MLK weekend (and I did). I'll most likely ski next weekend too and I'll still be walking that stage in May!

denverdental, put your big kid pants on and do your part. Every one of the faculty members at this school will support you if you do your part regardless of what they do when they leave school!

My final words on the subject, GROW UP take responsibility for your own education. You're given more than enough opportunity to meet and exceed your requirements if you're at the same school I am. Everyone expects you to be a professional it is time you expected that much of yourself! It's really easy to blame others when things look a little tough. You were obviously smart enough to get into dental school, you're smart enough to get out. Here is a tissue, now get back to work!
 
Growup said:
It has been years since I bothered to take a peek at this forum, but I started to hear that some really unflattering posts were going up about my school so I thought I'd check it out. I am so disappointed in my fellow dental students right now.

As tempting as this may be to write me off as some sort of admin plant, I am the real deal. I'm graduating in 4 months from an institution that I am very proud of, UCSODM. I have received one of the very best dental educations available in the US today. I know this because I have had the opportunity to work and talk with many dental students across the country. No program is perfect, Colorado included, but you get out of your education what you are willing to put into it. What I am hearing on this forum is a bunch of people with their hands out! Sure, it has been a bit of a struggle to get all of the appropriate patients but it can be done even if you do ski over MLK weekend (and I did). I'll most likely ski next weekend too and I'll still be walking that stage in May!

denverdental, put your big kid pants on and do your part. Every one of the faculty members at this school will support you if you do your part regardless of what they do when they leave school!

My final words on the subject, GROW UP take responsibility for your own education. You're given more than enough opportunity to meet and exceed your requirements if you're at the same school I am. Everyone expects you to be a professional it is time you expected that much of yourself! It's really easy to blame others when things look a little tough. You were obviously smart enough to get into dental school, you're smart enough to get out. Here is a tissue, now get back to work!
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
I regret that I did not go to another dental school when I had the chance.
I did not learn much and it was the worst experience of my life.
Instructors are arrogant, rude, they don't help and if you don't kiss their A, they will lower your grade when they can- lab, written exam or clinic. If one instructor does not get along with you or if he does not like you, the whole department will treat you the same way- downgrade you when they can. The worst department was restorative.
About teacher/student relationship- same thing during my time in dental school. I thought it was unethical. One of my friend had an instructor telling her that he had feelings for her and she was not sure what to do- give in or not; She was afraid that if not, she would never get her license.
About the classes- I thought the same way- Did not get much from the lectures and they were pointless.
I felt like I learned from the DS4 who learned from DS4- students teaching students. We would always fight to get a chair.
I agree with everything!

denverdental said:
I am concerned about the education being offered at the colorado school of dentistry and beginning to worry if i will be able to learn anything the next year and a half..............
  • We have some instructors that are rude and disrespectful to students and patients and/or don’t seem good at what they do (dentistry or teaching).
  • We have instructors who are having affairs with international students (which is completely unethical) and seem to favor those students over others. One of the faculty who is known for his sexual escapades has taken over as the director of a new international fellowship program
  • We have classes that are pointless. We have classes that we should probably be learning something from them but the teaching is so horrible that we get nothing out of it There is subjective grading that seems totally unfair. Some grades seem arbitrary. Some tests are impossible to do well on even if you study your butt off because of the way they are written so the people that don’t study and guess well do better than the students who actually know the material and guessed wrong. Some policies seem unfair and some requirements seem impossible to fulfill. *We have less clinic time than the students before us and yet our requirements are the same and we pay more money
  • We get graded on how much we produce for the school. Yes, the higher your production, the better your grade. Ethical? Not really. The Dean for clinics has an meeting monthly with faculty and some student reps where they talk about production and cheer up those clinics which make more money. YEP! Pathetic but is this why i came to this school for eduation
  • There are not enough patients for us and they want us to pair up and work as dental assistants for graduate students. The graduate students are also in the same boat and have no patients.There are DS4’s who finished their DS3 year without doing one single crown prep.
  • Since they eliminated the dental hygiene program guess what dental students are? Glorified hygienists. Patients still need to get their teeth cleaned and there are no hygiene students to do it. Hygiene patients can easily fill up your clinic schedule making it difficult to schedule restorative procedures that you will actually need to know how to do.
  • You have to take “competency” exams on procedures that you have never actually done before. There are windows during which you have to take competency exams for certain procedures. If you have never done that procedure before, too bad. You still have to take the exam to show you are competent. If you can’t find a patient that needs that procedure during that window or if you happen to fail the exam (because you might not be competent at something you have never done before), then you can’t take it again and you can’t take it the next semester to make it up. No, you actually end up behind in your clinic requirements all the way up until the last semester before you graduate. That is the first opportunity that you will be given to make it up. Reasonable? No.
  • If your patient cancels on short notice or if you can’t get a patient to fill an open appointment that you have, you are penalized in terms of RVU’s (relative value units). Some things you have no control over, like patients getting sick, or being flakes, or your lab case not coming back on schedule, or not having enough faculty to cover chairs. Too bad. Your RVU’s/clinic session will be a big fat 0 and they calculate that into your grade.
  • There will be 55 ISP’s and approximately 85 dental students. Right now there are not enough patients (forget chairs, it doesn’t matter how many chairs you have if you don’t have the patient population to fill them)
  • The school administration wants to make money and that is it. The deans are one of the highest paid in the country and what have they done?? just added the international program which brings in more revenues and students who do not complain
I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS WHO FEEL THE SAME SO THAT THIS PROBLEM CAN BE ADDRESSED. I KNOW THERE ARE A NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN MY CLASS WHO FEEL THE SAME. I HAVE DISCUSED THIS WITH A NUMBER OF FACULTY AND THEY ARE READY TO SUPPORT US TO COMPLAIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. ACTUALLY A SIGNATURE PETITION IS ALREADY ONGOING TO HIGHLIGHT THIS ISSUE.
Click to expand...
 
geo123 said:
I regret that I did not go to another dental school when I had the chance.
I did not learn much and it was the worst experience of my life.
Instructors are arrogant, rude, they don't help and if you don't kiss their A, they will lower your grade when they can- lab, written exam or clinic. If one instructor does not get along with you or if he does not like you, the whole department will treat you the same way- downgrade you when they can. The worst department was restorative.
About teacher/student relationship- same thing during my time in dental school. I thought it was unethical. One of my friend had an instructor telling her that he had feelings for her and she was not sure what to do- give in or not; She was afraid that if not, she would never get her license.
About the classes- I thought the same way- Did not get much from the lectures and they were pointless.
I felt like I learned from the DS4 who learned from DS4- students teaching students. We would always fight to get a chair.
I agree with everything!
Click to expand...


Geo,

You are obviously the worst student in your class....too bad you will still get a degree, even worse....your patients will never know how weak a dentist you are and that they are most likely receiving substandard care (only because you spent your education complaining, not learning). It really makes me sad. I love CU and I have had nothing but good experiences, minus some typical headaches we all can expect to have. My only wish is that you decide to quit dentistry and pursue your true dream of LARPing. The only negative thing about the school is that you slipped through the cracks in admissions.
 
This thread is really discouraging for pre-dents considering this school. I was so excited to get an acceptance, but then I come on here and see this....
 
Ahhhhh...

...It seems there is more drama at CUDS than on TNT.

Why don't we shut the damned school down already!? :laugh:
 
Ninja9 said:
This thread is really discouraging for pre-dents considering this school. I was so excited to get an acceptance, but then I come on here and see this....
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Call up some students there to get their take. Usually only the most polarized of individuals (both pro and anti) will post here. Try to get someone with a neutral viewpoint. You seem to be a stand up student; you can most the best of any situation most likely.

On another note, I heard that the patient fees at CU are very high (even though their website says "greatly discounted" rates) to counteract the cost of the school. Don't know for sure if this is true, but if fees are very high, that would explain everything as to why students have so much trouble getting patients.
 
uhhh IP check? each account bashing CU was made the day of the post...its just the same whiny student
 
It's hard to feel sorry for anyone at CU. If it closes, everyone there can transfer to the new school in Utah - I hear the skiing is even better in Utah.
 
Guess the OP wasn't so far off? Well... look at it this way, if many of the internationals on this forum can't get into an accelerated program, there may be quite a few teaching positions available after some heads roll there :).

--------

Colo. dental school's policies scrutinized
By Donna Domino
February 9, 2010

The University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine is tightening its license and prescription policies following disclosures that seven dentists lacked required licenses and that prescriptions were being written using the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) numbers of faculty who were not present.

School officials say they did not realize the new licensing law, which took effect last August, required dentists to have either an academic or active Colorado license. Prior to that, the law made an exemption for faculty members with inactive or retired licenses to practice at the school's clinic.

"These folks are in supervisory roles, and it is considered acceptable practice in teaching institutions," university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery told DrBicuspid.com. "It was an oversight. We failed to recognize the impact on existing licenses."

New law confusing

The law established a new category of academic license, but the wording created confusion, Montgomery said. For example, foreign-trained dentists were allowed to practice at the university's clinic under a separate exclusion in the law that was unchanged by the new legislation -- a potentially important rule because Colorado requires a dental degree from a U.S. school to grant an active license.

Since most dental licenses are not "portable," Colorado allowed the exemption for foreign-trained dentists so they could teach and work in labs, Montgomery explained.
“I think it's a case of unintended consequences.”
— Chris Lines, Colorado Department of
Regulatory Agencies.

Many dental schools have similar "limited" or "faculty" licenses allowing dentists with out-of-state licenses to work at their schools, she noted.

"I think it's a case of unintended consequences and people just weren't ready for the change when it came," Chris Lines, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, told DrBicuspid.com. "As soon as the discrepancy came up, they addressed it. The ... dental school is very good at communicating with the dental board."

The University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine consistently ranks in the top tier of U.S. dental schools on all standardized exams and the top third of research dental schools, according to the school's dean, Denise Kassebaum, D.D.S., M.S.

Reactivating licenses

Legislators met February 5 to clarify the law, which will require all faculty to have either an active or academic license.

After the Denver Post ran several stories in recent weeks about the violations, the school ordered five of its dentists to stop seeing patients until they receive active or academic dental licenses. Six of the dentists have since obtained the required licenses, and Randal James, D.D.S., a University of Colorado faculty member for more than 30 years, has applied to reactivate his license.

Only seven of the school's 93 faculty members were affected by the new law, Montgomery noted.

Following the Post stories, the university also stopped a practice that allowed residents to procure sedation drugs and write prescriptions using the federal credentials of faculty members who were not present. Federal law requires that a doctor must have a relationship with the patient for whom the prescription is written.

Montgomery said there was "occasional inappropriate use" of prescriptions, but noted that most residents who write prescriptions are partnered with a faculty member who has the requisite DEA registration number.

The university now has more stringent rules for those whose DEA numbers are used for prescriptions. "They have to be in consultation with the patient, and the attendings have to be on the floor," Montgomery said. School officials will also meet with DEA staff to clarify requirements regarding who can write them and in what circumstances, she added.

Dr. James' name was never used on prescriptions while his license was inactive, Montgomery noted. He has not had an active Colorado dental license since 2004.

"The quality of care and the safety of our patients is our top priority, and that was never in question," Montgomery said.

Other allegations

According to the Post, Dr. James and an unlicensed resident removed the wisdom teeth of a 17-year-old girl at the university's Sands Clinic last August, three weeks after the law took effect barring a dentist with an inactive license from practicing at the dental school. The girl needed three follow-up surgeries with another dentist and continues to have pain five months after the surgery, the Post reported.

Dr. James declined to be interviewed by DrBicuspid.com.

The girl's pain is consistent with dry socket, according to medical records obtained by the Post, and David Lurye, D.D.S., president of the Colorado Dental Association and a professor of restorative dentistry at the University of Colorado, noted that follow-up care for dry socket is not unusual in third-molar extractions.

"The potential of dry socket is statistically there," he told DrBicuspid.com. "It's one of many things that we caution patients about regarding potential outcomes."

However, the day of her surgery, the girl reportedly left the office with prescriptions for Vicodin and Dilaudid, both controlled substances. Neither the resident nor Dr. James was authorized to sign prescriptions, according to the Post. The prescription used the DEA number of Paul Bottone, D.D.S., a faculty member who was not working in the clinic that day.

If a pharmacist asks him to verify the prescription, Dr. Bottone checks with the clinic to find out what's written in the clinic's prescription log, he told DrBicuspid.com.

"There are checks and balances," he said.

DEA's rules have been unclear about prescription-writing authority, Dr. Bottone said. "In the past, you talk to three people, you get three opinions," he said. "They could have figured this out a long time ago and given temporary numbers to people in residency programs. People who come into the clinic know they'll be supervised and they'll get quality work."

The changes adopted by the university will help clarify the rules for everyone, Dr. Lurye noted. "I think this will just tighten up the details. We need a cleaner delineation," he said.

Jim Young, the executive director of the Colorado Dental Association, agreed.

"There have been no complaints [about the school] regarding care, and we have the utmost confidence in the state board as well as the school administration to address the issues appropriately and to continue to provide outstanding care and education," he told DrBicuspid.com.

Copyright © 2010 DrBicuspid.com
Related Reading
 
Sounds like dental school to me.
 
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    Thu Feb 18, 2010

    State regulators will take at least another month before deciding whether to reinstate the dental license of a University of Colorado faculty member ordered to stop seeing patients in January amid more...
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    Wed Feb 17, 2010

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Teen set to sue Colo. dental school and oral surgeon
By Donna Domino
February 18, 2010

A Colorado teenager who ended up in a pain clinic after having her third molars removed at the University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine is preparing to take legal action against the school and the oral surgeon who operated on her without an active license.
Anise Fletcher's notice of claim -- a requirement to preserve her right to file a lawsuit -- alleges she was left with "bone chips" in her gums and nerve damage, according to a story in the Denver Post.
The oral surgeon who did the procedure, Randal James, D.D.S., has applied to the state dental board to reactivate his license. The panel met February 17 to discuss the matter in a closed-door meeting but said they will take no action until at least its next meeting March 17, according to the Post.
Dr. James, a University of Colorado faculty member and longtime Colorado oral surgeon, has practiced in a university clinic for nearly six years with an inactive license, which was allowed under state law until last August. Even after the law was changed, Dr. James continued to work in the Sands House Clinic at the School of Dental Medicine.
And for several years, Dr. James has not had a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration number, which is required to prescribe narcotics and obtain sedation drugs for certain oral surgeries.
Unlicensed dental students supervised by Dr. James had written prescriptions for narcotics using the federal drug credentials of other faculty members who were not always present. That is a potential violation of federal law, which requires that anyone dispensing controlled substances have a relationship with the patient.
Policy changed
Fletcher, 17, had her third molars removed at the university clinic by Dr. James and an unlicensed resident on August 26, 2009, according to the Post. Records show that during the surgery she was administered fentanyl and midazolam intravenously, and that she left the clinic with prescriptions for Vicodin and Dilaudid, both controlled substances and painkillers. The prescriptions were written with the DEA number of a dentist who was not present.
When Dr. James gave up his active state license, he lost the DEA number required to procure, administer, or dispense controlled substances. Because he does not have a state permit needed to administer IV sedation drugs, the DEA has said it is looking into the school's practices.
Denise Kassebaum, D.D.S., the dental school's dean, said she has changed the policy governing how drugs are dispensed at the university's clinic, a teaching environment for dentists in training. Residents no longer are allowed to use the DEA numbers of faculty without consulting them first, she said.
"There are questions about whether it was an appropriate practice or not," university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery told DrBicuspid.com. But the "use of sedation drugs does not require a prescription, under our understanding of DEA policy," she noted.
She asserted the drugs were appropriately acquired using the DEA number of either Michael Savage, D.D.S., another faculty member, or the university's institutional DEA number.
DEA spokesman Mike Turner declined to comment on the Colorado case specifically, saying, "We don't want to investigate this case in the media, and some of these issues are very technical."
Federal drug regulations don't explicitly forbid doctors without active licenses from giving patients controlled substances (Code of Federal Regulations, Section 1306). But in general, Turner said, "if a controlled substance needs to be administered to a patient, it's typically done through a prescription or order which a doctor would give to document the need; basically, it says that controlled substances have to be accounted for."
School officials will be meeting with DEA officials to clarify if this practice is legal, Montgomery said.
Fletcher's notice of claim alleges the university "failed to supervise Dr. James properly" and was negligent for allowing him to practice dentistry without an active license and "allowing him to write prescriptions for controlled substances" according to the Post. She is seeking compensation for follow-up surgeries, pain therapy, and suffering.
Dr. James has had an inactive dental license since March 1, 2004. Normally, a dentist with an inactive license cannot practice in Colorado. However, an exception in the state law that existed prior to August 5, 2009, allowed him to work at the dental school, and he continued to work in the clinic and treat patients after the law changed.
Both Dr. James and dental school administrators said they were unaware the law had changed. School administrators were aware, however, that Dr. James did not have a DEA registration number or an active license since 2004.
Dr. James has declined to comment, Montgomery said.
The attorneys for Dr. James and Anise Fletcher could not be reached for comm
 
Hi, current student here. It’s 2023 and the same issues are alive. Dean has changed. But the main issues listed about the profit, the lack of efficacy and worse, the no shame to act like a top institution when no dentist in the area wants to hire you and if they do want you…the office is a bad producing office…shows a lot about the school and the education you’re forking money towards. Yes, they gleam with ethics and think they are a Hardvard level institution they are not. I regret ever coming there. Also, you will get in major trouble if you speak up your concerns. Avoid it. Only colorado folks love CU dental. It’s no good.
 
WorkOholic45 said:
Hi, current student here. It’s 2023 and the same issues are alive. Dean has changed. But the main issues listed about the profit, the lack of efficacy and worse, the no shame to act like a top institution when no dentist in the area wants to hire you and if they do want you…the office is a bad producing office…shows a lot about the school and the education you’re forking money towards. Yes, they gleam with ethics and think they are a Hardvard level institution they are not. I regret ever coming there. Also, you will get in major trouble if you speak up your concerns. Avoid it. Only colorado folks love CU dental. It’s no good.
Click to expand...
Different school, same ****. There are no good dental schools. You’ll get through it, and then it won’t matter one bit. Hang tough.
 
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Just get your degree and get out. Keep your head down, don't draw any attention.
 
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