Residency ProgramsGeneral Practice Dentistry

General Practice Dentistry Residency

Curriculum & Training

Residents spend about 75 percent of their time in general and specialty dentistry. This includes lectures and training in:

Oncology.
Orthodontics.
Periodontics.
Caring for special-needs patients.
Advanced restorative dentistry.
Endodontics.
Pediatric dentistry.
Operative dentistry.
Prosthodontics, including removable and fixed prosthetics.
Implant dentistry.

The balance of time is spent on medically related rotations outside the dental clinic:

Anesthesia Department rotation

A two-week rotation in Christiana Care's Anesthesia Department teaches you to evaluate and treat patients who are under the care of an anesthesiologist.

Patient evaluation begins with pre-operative rounds. You learn about the types of anesthesia and how to assess the medical risks each type poses based on the American Society of Anesthesiologists classification system.

Treatment includes assisting in the management of anesthesia from the beginning of a procedure until the patient is discharged from the post-anesthesia unit. You become familiar with inserting intravenous lines and administering intravenous drugs for sedation, anesthesia and analgesia. You also learn how to use a bag and mask to keep open the airway of a patient who is under anesthesia. Use of laryngoscopy and intubation also are covered.

If you want to meet licensure requirements for nitrous oxide certification, you can attain adequate experience in the dental clinic during the course of the year.

Emergency Medical Department rotation

A two-week rotation in Christiana Care's Emergency Department provides the opportunity to interact with physicians while treating patients with oral and medical emergencies. Facial and dental traumas are among the types of cases you face as an on-call dental resident.

You learn how to evaluate patients and effective modes of delivering emergency treatment, especially for infections and orofacial pain. You manage common medical emergencies under the supervision of the emergency medical staff. Seizures, sudden loss of consciousness and allergic reactions are among the situations that you will be called upon to treat. You also gain a working understanding of emergency drugs.

These experiences help you learn to recognize factors that predispose a patient to a systemic emergency during dental treatment. This should increase your confidence when treating comparable problems in private practice.

The rotation also covers the use of diagnostic imaging in evaluating head and neck trauma, tumors and other pathology.

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Consultation rotation

This rotation makes you a member of a medical treatment team working on inpatient and outpatient cases. The main objective is to teach you to evaluate dental and oral manifestations of disease and other significant findings.

Work in the hospital includes evaluating and determining dental and oral treatments for patients. You also provide consultations about the causes of oral sepsis, infection and other significant oral findings.

Outpatient cases include clearing patients for surgery in regard to endocarditis risks, aspiration risks and medical/oral concerns. You also provide written and dictated dental consultations to the hospital for reference.

While on oral-surgery rotation, you will perform many simple and complex extractions, as well as dental alveolar procedures. Management of extensive infections of dental origin is a routine part of the rotation.

Department of Family & Community Medicine

The Department of Family & Community Medicine will present a 13-session program on physical diagnosis. There will also be a series of lectures on TMD and facial pain, and pathology.

Accreditation

The American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation accredits the program. Residents take their National Board Dental Examinations before graduation.