by Keightley Amen
When Joseph A. Giovannitti Jr., DMD, began his career in dental anesthesiology, the specialty was practically nonexistent. It wasn’t recognized by the field’s professional societies, and most dentists had no idea what it was.
“When I said I was a dental anesthesiologist, people looked at me like I had three heads. They had no education about it or experience with it. And dentists were afraid to use the service because they had no idea that it existed,” he said.
He—and his profession—have come a long way. Dr. Giovannitti retired this year as professor and chair of the Department of Dental Anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, as well as anesthesia director for the school’s Center for Patients with Special Needs. In the years since he studied his craft, the specialty has become officially recognized and much more widely used.
“Dental anesthesia has been a very rewarding and exciting career, and there’s a huge niche for dental anesthesiologists to practice within dentistry,” he said. “There are a lot of people who need this service—people with phobias, medical complexities, special needs, pediatric patients.”
Deciding on Dentistry
Born and raised in the Pittsburgh area, Dr. Giovannitti knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue dentistry.
“My father always wanted to be a dentist himself, but he served in World War II and never had a chance to go to college. After he got out of the military, he started our family and needed to make some money, so he joined the phone company and had a nice career with them.But, still, he always wanted to do dentistry, so he kind of kind of persuaded me in that direction. Of course, I always wanted to play professional baseball, but that didn't work out for me,” he quipped.
Giovannitti was intrigued by the opportunities to be his own boss, make his own decisions, run a practice, and work in an independent environment. So, after graduating from Pitt in 1974, he enrolled in the School of Dental Medicine.
“We had a really great class with a lot of camaraderie. We played football and softball together—we had dental school teams that competed against other schools in the university. And we did social things that were a lot of fun. As an undergrad, I just went to school and tried to study and work hard, but dental school was more of an experience where I could relate to my classmates and develop lifelong relationships and friendships,” he said.
As he made his way through the curriculum and explored the different specialties, he was drawn to anesthesia. At the time, Pitt had one of the only fully functioning dental anesthesia programs in the country. Leonard M. Monheim, DDS, had founded the Department of Anesthesiology at Pitt’s School of Dental Medicine in 1949, and it was the first such program in the country.
Dr. Monheim’s innovative program included a resident training program, and one of his residents was Dr. Richard Bennett. When Dr. Bennett was in the last year of his residency, Dr. Monheim passed away, and Dr. Bennett took over as chair of the program. He was chair for many years, training many residents, writing classic textbooks, and lecturing about the new specialty all over around the world.
Dr. Giovannitti was one of Dr. Bennett’s first residents. “That training really changed my life. It showed me the need for anesthesia in dentistry and what can be done to help people who aren’t willing or able to go to the dentist,” he says.
A Pioneer in a New Specialty
Upon completion of his training in 1979, he joined the faculty at Pitt for a few years before taking an opportunity to practice in Dallas, Texas, and teach at Baylor College of Dentistry.
“I was really the first dental anesthesiologist in the Dallas–Fort Worth area who developed a private anesthesia practice for dentistry. And there were maybe two or three in the entire state. When I went there, they didn’t know what to do with me because they’d never heard of anybody who practiced anesthesia and dentistry like that. It took me a little while to acclimate and indoctrinate people into my field, but teaching at the school was very helpful because it was able to educate the faculty and the students, as well as work in the community,” Dr. Giovannitti said.
Twenty-two years later, when he left Dallas to return to Pittsburgh, the specialty was catching on: There were about 15 dental anesthesiologists practicing in the area, and even more throughout the state. “It shows that, if you’re persistent and you like what you do and you want to educate people, you can be very successful in this field.”
His persistence helped to advance the entire field. Anesthesia was recognized by the American Dental Association (ADA) as a distinct specialty in 2019. It took Dr. Giovannitti and his colleagues 25 years and five application processes.
In recognition of his contributions to the field, he has received both the Leonard M. Monheim Distinguished Service Award from the American Society of Dentist Anesthesiologists (ASDA) for outstanding contributions to the discipline of anesthesiology benefiting the dental profession and the Jay A. Heidbrink Award from the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (ADSA) for significant contributions to the advancement of anesthesiology in dentistry. He has received a Presidential Citation from ASDA and is a Diplomate of the American Dental Board of Anesthesiology.
He has shared his expertise on the local, state, and national levels as a consultant, member of the editorial board of the Anesthesia Progress Journal, and author of many peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and a textbook on sedation.
Returning to Pitt to Culminate a Career
In 2003, Dean Thomas Braun recruited Dr. Giovannitti to come home to Pitt to help develop the Center for Patients with Special Needs (CPSN).
“Pitt Dental Medicine had been seeing patients with special needs for many, many years but not on a really formal basis. Dr. Braun envisioned a new center and hired me to develop the anesthesia component. I helped with the construction, the design, the equipment, and functioning. I wanted to make sure that we were able to provide just about any anesthetic services that can be done,” he says. The Center is now a prototype for other institutions who want to serve this population. “We’re helping patients who can’t have these procedures done otherwise. It’s so rewarding to work with patients who have significant intellectual disabilities, when they’re unable to cooperate in the usual fashion, and to be able to provide a service that enables them to have dental treatments done—it is extremely rewarding. Those things make it exciting to go to work every day.”
Among Dr. Giovannitti’s other accomplishments on the Pitt faculty, he updated the doctoral curriculum and worked to make the specialty more visible and accessible to dental students. He created externships and opportunities for students to shadow dental anesthesiologists to increase exposure to the career option. He also worked to elevate Pitt’s profile nationally.
“I wanted to make sure that people across the country understood the accomplishments of our program, the people who’ve trained here, and the things we have to offer,” he says. “As a result, our program has grown. In years past, people wouldn’t bother applying to our program because they just assumed that we were going to take students from Pitt, but now we have students from all over the country applying to our program. We take four residents per year, and we get 60 to 80 applicants every year for those four slots.”
He tries to model for students a good work ethic, as well as both the hard and soft skills needed to succeed in anesthesiology. “I lead by doing my job and expect people to do the same thing. To be an anesthesiologist, you have to make decisions on the fly. You have to be decisive, you can’t hesitate, and you have to be capable of handling adversity. So you have to have confidence in your abilities. You have to feel like you’re the best at what you do. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be doing it,” he said. “I’ve done thousands and thousands of anesthetics, and each one is a little bit different. You have to individualize your technique to the patient. It’s not a rote thing.”
The Changing Face of His Field
The field of dental anesthesia has changed drastically over the course of Dr. Giovannitti’s career. The biggest changes have been technological advancements, as well as awareness of and demand for the service. He feels like he no longer has to explain or justify what he does. Now the challenge has become increasing the number of training programs and graduates to meet an increased demand.
“There’s a huge need for this, but there’s only a handful of areas in the country that have dental anesthesiologists,” he says. “We have to get dental school deans on board. Dental schools need to be made more aware of this specialty and hire dental anesthesiologists as faculty members so that they can provide these types of services and teach students.
A Dream Come True
Looking back on the phases of his career, Dr. Giovannitti is appreciative of so many individuals.
“I was able to have a successful, long-term clinical practice, then I joined full-time academics, I helped establish an important clinic to treat an underserved population, and I ended up being chair of the department. It was a dream come true for me,” he says. “I really appreciate my former chairs, Drs. Richard Bennett and Paul Moore. They really helped me shape my career. And I couldn’t have done anything without my faculty, especially my staff—I rely on them heavily. And the students are fantastic. I love the students, and I can’t say enough about my relationship with them. That’s really why you go to work every day—because of the students.”
The students have reciprocated this appreciation, awarding him with the Pitt Dental Medicine Faculty Appreciation Award multiple times.
“I’ve had a great career, and I have no regrets. It’s time to let someone else take the reins and move the department into the future,” he said. He said he will remain busy by finally cleaning out his desk; learning to fly fish; and visiting his daughters in Austin, Texas; New York City; and Asheville, North Carolina. He also has agreed to help the department on a short-term, part-time basis as the anesthesia program prepares for its accreditation site visit in the fall.
Plus, he added laughing, “I’m still a die-hard baseball fan, and I think the Pittsburgh Pirates could probably use me. Back in my prime, I was a pitcher, and I had a wicked curve ball.”