Our team
The multidisciplinary Dentistry and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery team includes doctors, residents, nurses, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. We work together to provide patients with excellent specialized care.
Learn more about the roles of the members of the care team:
Dentists
- Offer urgent and routine dental care to outpatients.
- Provide basic dental treatment to patients with complex medical issues.
- Treat patients with special needs, including seniors, neurodivergent patients, as well as cancer and palliative care patients.
- Deliver dental services to Indigenous communities through outreach programs.
- Perform dental checkups to spot problems early.
- Give professional cleanings to maintain oral health.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons
- Repair and rebuild bones and tissues in the face and jaws after injury, illness, etc.
- Help manage dental issues in patients with complex medical conditions.
- Provide urgent care for dental and mouth-related emergencies.
- Restore chewing and speech functions and appearance in the event of serious facial or dental problems.
- Create custom prosthetics to replace missing parts of the face or mouth.
- Diagnose and treat diseases affecting the mouth and jaw.
- Surgically insert dental implants and perform advanced procedures to support them.
- Treat jaw joint (TMJ) problems and correct alignment issues.
- Remove teeth, including wisdom teeth, when needed.
Dental assistants
- Coordinate care.
- Support patients before and during appointments.
- Assist during procedures, such as dental extractions, dental implants, biopsies, etc.
- Help keep equipment, examination rooms, and surgical areas clean and sterile.
Dental hygienists
- Assess oral health, take vital signs, and document patient history.
- Perform preventative care, including teeth cleaning, scaling (supra- and sub-gingival), fluoride and sealant application, stain and tartar removal.
- Do some restorative and orthodontic procedures under the direction of a dentist (place temporary fillings, cement spacers, place/remove orthodontic bands, etc.).
- Educate patients on proper teeth cleaning and the importance of nutrition.
- Take and develop X-rays.
- Perform other procedures, including applying topical numbing medication, removing stitches, and taking dental impressions.
Nurses
- Educate patients and families on what will happen pre- and post-op before cases using IV sedation.
- Monitor patients who are sedated using IV.
- Assist physician during procedures as needed.
- Provide wound care, change bandages, and remove stitches.
- Act as care liaison, and support and educate cancer surgery patients.
- Ensure connection is made between patients and the MUHC multidisciplinary team (speech language pathologists, physiotherapists, nutritionists, etc.), CLSC and other community resources.
Training and teaching Dentistry, Oral Health Sciences and Surgery students is also an important part of what we do.
