The Division of Endodontics is committed to total health care in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the pulpal and periapical tissues. The study and practice of endodontics encompasses the basic and clinical sciences including the biology of the normal pulp and the etiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries of the  pulp  and associated periapical tissues.

The clinical practice work, teaching, student mentoring through shadowing our adjunct faculty in their private practice offices encompasses the basic clinical sciences, which include biology of the normal pulp and the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disease.

We educate our students about diagnosis and treatment planning of oral pain due to pulpal or periapical origins. Our faculty teach pulp capping, pulpotomy, and root canal therapies. We emphasize compassionate treatment as well as competency in therapy. 

Goals

The goal of the Howard University School of Dentistry Endodontic Clinical criteria is to support the student doctor in achieving endodontic clinical experiences. Specifically, achieving the ability to perform endodontic therapy with good patient management, accompanied with critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while encompassing good clinical endodontic techniques, diagnosis and treatment planning. Important also is providing compassionate professional care. The purpose for the clinical criteria is to repeatedly assess the readiness of the student doctor to perform endodontic therapy independently as practitioners and fortify their readiness for graduation, in other words “thinking and performing therapies like a doctor”. Student doctors are expected to “continually educate” themselves through critical thinking assessments, problem solving assessments and methods of self-assessment, to team build with future colleagues and create a powerful educational diaspora of Howard Excellence, passing it from generation to generation. 

Mission

Our mission is to treat patients at the highest level of care using evidence-based practice philosophies, state of the art technology, and mindfulness in treating emergencies and routine dental infections. In addition, our  mission is to graduate students who, upon entrance into the practice of the general dentistry arena will demonstrate standards of proficiency in diagnosis of pulpal and periapical disease, will be able to select treatable cases within their knowledge and skill level and will be capable of treating these diseases according to the standards set forth by the profession, American Association of Endodontists and in particular according to the AAE White Pages guidelines of Endodontic Competency (Standards for all practitioners who undertake the responsibility to diagnose, treatment plan and provide prognoses for the endodontic care of their patients). In addition, the mission of the Division of Endodontics is to prepare student doctors with the professionalism and compassion required to be a provider of good basic endodontic therapies effectively treating, due to sound clinical knowledge, the patient’s chief complaint, while understanding limitations to treatment and the need for referral. Graduates are charged to do good, do no harm with humility and provide patients with the autonomy, justice, truthfulness and confidentiality expected in ethical and clinical matters. 

Assistant Professor of Endodontics
Division Director

Paula Nesbitt DDS MSD

Assistant Professor of Endodontics
CDCA Coordinator

Lisa Slade DDS

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Endodontics
Oral Examination Coordinator

Brian C. Davis DDS