51������

Dental Anesthesiology Faculty and Residents

The Division of Dental Anesthesia is responsible for a 3-year accredited dental anesthesia residency program which accepts four residents per year. Following completion of the residency program these dentist anesthesiologists provide anesthesia for patients receiving dental and oral surgical care in multiple venues, i.e., office-based, ambulatory surgical centers, and hospitals. Our residents receive substantial training for treatment of patients with special needs. In addition, many of our graduates join the faculty of dental schools to provide didactic and clinical education to pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral residents in multiple specialties. Our graduates have accepted positions in states throughout this country and in Canada.

Our faculty and residents have given poster presentations, oral presentations and workshops at local, regional and national physician and dental anesthesia meetings. Residents and faculty within the Division of Dental Anesthesiology have participated in clinical research and have published in peer reviewed journals.

During the 2024-2025 academic year, the Division of Dental Anesthesiology appointed 4 alumni positions as adjunct faculty. Their responsibilities include being mentors for our dental anesthesiology residents when they are preparing case presentations, journal club presentations and posters at regional and national meetings.

The Residency Training program for Dental Anesthesia is described in detail on their .

During their training, the dental anesthesia residents are responsible for providing anesthesia care for all types of medical procedures. They are scheduled in a similar way to the physician anesthesia residents except they are not scheduled in the cardiac or obstetric rotations. A major part of the clinical portion of the anesthesia residency program is spent with Dr. Boorin, Dr. Pfeffer and Dr. Epstein in dental and oral surgery offices providing the full spectrum of anesthesia care in an office-based venue. Residents average treating around 200 patients in private offices during their 3 years at Stony Brook. Dr. Boorin and Dr. Epstein also supervise anesthesia care in the operating room of Stony Brook University Hospital. Dr. Pfeffer teaches the didactic course for moderate sedation that is given to the pediatric and periodontal residents. He also supervises the clinical training for moderate sedation for the dental anesthesia and periodontal residents at the Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine.

During the 1st year, the dental anesthesia residents receive extensive training with rotations in Stony Brook University Hospital on the following services: cardiology, internal medicine/medical optimization, pre-operative services and rapid response team. In the 2nd year, the residents continue this training with a 4-week rotation in pediatric medicine.

During the 2nd and 3rd years, the residents attend the comprehensive didactic education program called “Academic Wednesdays” that is provided by the physician faculty within the Stony Brook Department of Anesthesiology. This training includes extensive time in the simulation suite with nationally recognized experts in simulation training. The didactic course load is over 190 hours during the 3 years of training.

Clinical anesthesia training in the 1st year takes place in University Hospital, School of Dental Medicine and in private offices. In the 2nd-year of the program, clinical training occurs in the main operating room at University Hospital, Northport VA Medical Center, the School of Dental Medicine and in private offices. The third year starts with PACU/ICU rotations where the dental anesthesia resident is the resident in charge of the PACU/ICU for 4-weeks. This is a very challenging rotation but one that brings all aspects of anesthesia care together and prepares the resident for challenging and difficult situations they may encounter once they graduate. During this 3-week rotation, the PACU resident will oversee difficult airways in the OR. They will perform between 20-60 fiber-optic intubations. They will also respond to all “Code Blues” in the hospital and “Code Ts in the Emergency Department. If patients need to be reintubated on the hospital floors they will fulfill that responsibility. Clinical anesthesia training for this year expands to the Stony Brook Ambulatory Surgical Center providing anesthesia care to pediatric and adult patients in another type of ambulatory venue.