New GPR Clinic in Baton Rouge

After Hurricane Katrina flooded its buildings in August 2005, the LSUHSC School of Dentistry (LSUSD) created a temporary dental school on the LSU South Campus in Baton Rouge. When the school returned to its home campus in New Orleans in 2007, the General Practice Residency (GPR) retained a clinic in Baton Rouge. This satellite clinic recently relocated to 5425 Brittany Drive, three blocks from Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, its affiliate hospital.

The GPR program, with clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is a division of the LSUSD Department of Comprehensive Dentistry and Biomaterials, chaired by A. Dale Ehrlich, MS, DDS, MAGD. Residents in the one-year GPR program, who are closely supervised by faculty members, work as part of a hospital team to gain competency in providing comprehensive dental treatment for medically compromised patients. Anthony H. Jackson, DDS, FAGD, is director of the program; clinic directors are Lynda Harhad, DDS, in Baton Rouge and Gabriel Hernandez, DDS, in New Orleans.

Dr. Brice McMurphy, GPR resident, treats patient in new Baton Rouge clinic

The size and layout of the new Baton Rouge GPR clinic resembles that of a private or group practice. With more than double the space of the previous facility, the new clinic has a large comfortable waiting room which can accommodate more patients, a consult room for examinations and removable prosthodontics, and six operatories. The facility also includes a radiology room with a panoramic unit, a laboratory, and a residents' room equipped for teleconferencing.

According to Dr. Jackson, the larger space has enabled the program to recruit five additional part-time faculty members. Two periodontists and three general dentists now contribute specialized experience, including dental implants and sedation, to the residents' training.
Staff members of both the New Orleans and Baton Rouge GPR clinics strive to serve all of Louisiana by providing dental care to special needs and medically compromised patients and those patients requiring general anesthesia or anxiety management through oral or intravenous sedation. New patients are accepted only by faxed referrals from a current dentist or primary care physician. Referrals are screened by staff dentists and appointments are required for all patients.

Further information about the GPR clinics can be found at www.lsusd.lsuhsc.edu/ClinicGPR.html.

Reconnect with Your Alma Mater!

Numerous events are on the horizon for 2015, including the annual pre-dental workshop, the Louisiana Mission of Mercy outreach in Baton Rouge, a student-sponsored golf tournament, the annual sporting clay tournament, alumni reunions and receptions, and Alumni Day. We hope you will join us for one or more of our upcoming events to reconnect with colleagues and classmates while supporting a worthy cause.

If you are planning to attend the NODA/LDA Conference or a class reunion, you may wish to book your hotel accommodations as soon as possible as the French Quarter Festival is the same weekend. The LSUHSC School of Dentistry is also hosting an alumni reception in conjunction with the conference this year.

For details about all upcoming events, visit our website at www.lsusd.lsuhsc.edu and click on "Alumni Events" in the upper right-hand column. Event details and registration information are available for your convenience.

If you have questions, please contact Katie Kelley at (504) 941-8120 or kkell2@lsuhsc.edu.