1-Year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency
Program Overview from David G MacPherson, CD, MSc, DDS, FAGD, ABGD
The East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine offers a 1-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency that integrates didactic education and clinical experience at a level beyond that of the pre-doctoral educational program. The Program is designed to broaden Resident’s professional knowledge and clinical skills to the point that they can provide comprehensive oral healthcare for patients with complex Dental needs, independently, and in a geographic location that may lack the direct support of other Dental Specialists. The Program is also designed to increase the Resident’s ability to coordinate with other healthcare professionals, both Medical and Dental, and with a view to enhancing Resident’s ability to provide oral healthcare for patients with special needs. And last, the program is designed to promote the ideals of Community Service, and reinforce the need for ongoing and lifelong Continuing Professional Dental Education.
The East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine 1-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency is fully accredited by the American Dental Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation.
For information about the Residency please read the Curriculum below, and at the end you will find information on how to apply to become a Resident in the program. If you would like more information about the program, please do not hesitate to contact me or the Program Coordinator via email.
Sincerely ,
David G. MacPherson, CD, MSc, DDS, FAGD, ABGD
ECU SoDM AEGD-1 Program Director: macphersond17@ecu.edu
Elena Uzun, AEGD-1 Program Coordinator: uzune21@ecu.edu
Curriculum
At the heart of the 1-year AEGD Residency is the innovative educational model at the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine (SoDM). Residents learn and gain Clinical Experience while delivering Comprehensive Care in the Advanced Care Clinic at Ross Hall at the SoDM in Greenville (five Residents), or at one of the SoDM’s eight Community Service Learning Centers (CSLCs), which are located across the state (two Residents at each CSLC) in:
- Ahoskie (Hertford County)
- Elizabeth City (Pasquotank County)
- Lillington (Harnett County)
- Sylva (Jackson County)
- Spruce Pine (Mitchell County)
- Davidson County
- Robeson County
- Brunswick County
In many cases, CSLCs are located in communities that suffer not only from a lack of oral health care, but also from a lack of health care in general; therefore, Residents develop their skills in treating patients with both complex medical and oral healthcare needs.
The ECU SoDM AEGD-1 Didactic Program includes:
- Orientation is conducted over two weeks at the ECU SoDM in Greenville, North Carolina. Residents complete on-boarding administration, and participate in didactic seminars and hands-on simulation training in Oral Surgery (surgical placement of implants), Periodontics (hard and soft tissue grafting), Endodontics (including calibration of the surgical microscope), Pediatric Dentistry, Dental Photography, Management of Medical Emergencies, Infection Control, Radiation Safety, and Practice Management.
- Seminars, Literature Review, Clinical Case Conferences, and study in Oral Medicine Topics are conducted throughout the Residency, during three hours of scheduled seminars per week. Seminars are conducted in: Comprehensive General Dentistry and Treatment Planning for Complex Cases; Diagnosis and Medical Risk Assessment; Advanced Periodontics, Endodontics, Oral Surgery, Oral Pathology, and Removable and Fixed Prosthodontics; Esthetic Dentistry; Dental Implants (Surgical Placement, and Restoration); Control of Pain and Anxiety; Diagnosis of and Management of Oral Disease and Infections; Orofacial Pain; Care for Special Needs Patients; Management and Business Principles of Dental Practice; and Professional Ethics and Leadership.
- Special Lectures and Continuing Professional Dental Education: Each Resident is allocated up to $1,000 (and 3 days leave) to attend Continuing Dental Education.
Accreditation and Program Objectives
The Program is fully accredited by the American Dental Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation for Advanced Education Programs in General Dentistry, and meets all established educational and training standards. The Program will prepare you to:
- Deliver a full range of comprehensive and emergent oral healthcare as the primary provider within a dynamic health care team and environment.
- Develop and use critical and evidence-based thinking skills in your clinical decision-making; and apply scientific principles to learning and oral health care.
- Plan, provide, and coordinate and manage the interdisciplinary oral health care needs for a wide variety of patients, including those with special medical, physical, and mental needs.
- Provide patient care in culturally diverse, and historically underserved and un-served areas of North Carolina in a Community-Service Learning setting.
- Develop and incorporate leadership and practice management strategies, as well as quality improvement into your practice, so that you can successfully operate a General Dentistry practice.
The Educational Objectives of the Program are:
Conduct an examination (including a Medical Risk Assessment), develop a Diagnosis, and develop a Comprehensive multi-disciplinary Treatment Plan.
- Obtain and interpret a patient’s Chief Complaint (and history of that Complaint), medical history, dental history, family history, and cultural and social history.
- Conduct a medical Review of Systems, identify a patient’s medical needs, and assess the medical risks associated with the provision of any required dental treatment.
- Make appropriate referrals to other healthcare providers for consultation and/or treatment of physiological, psychological, and/or social problems, and apply appropriate medical risk-reduction practices.
- Obtain appropriate and indicated diagnostic information, including conducting radiographic and clinical examinations, and adapt techniques as required for each patient (i.e. special needs patients).
- Incorporate historical, laboratory, radiographic and clinical findings into a Problem List, and determine a Diagnosis (including the diagnoses of oral manifestations of systemic diseases).
- Develop a Comprehensive, Multi-disciplinary, Sequenced Treatment Plan for patients with complex dental needs (and special needs), in a manner that considers and integrates each patients’ unique circumstances.
Obtain Informed Consent.
- Understand and effectively apply the Informed Consent Process.
- Explain and discuss with patients (or parents or guardians of patients who lack decisional capacity): all findings and problems, the diagnoses, treatment options, potential risks and potential benefits of the treatment options (including the risks involved in not treating), the outcome expectations, patient responsibilities, time required for treatment, the sequencing of treatment, and the estimated fees and payment responsibilities.
- Establish therapeutic alliance with the patient (or parent/guardian as applicable).
Treat Dental Emergencies
- Diagnose and manage dental emergencies, performing uncomplicated or reversible techniques where indicated.
- Provide initial treatment and then manage patients with oral-facial emergencies, including trauma and infections.
Manage Medical Risk, and Recognize and Treat Medical Emergencies
- Anticipate medical emergencies, and apply appropriate medical risk-reduction (avoidance) practices.
- Recognize and diagnose a medical emergency, and then provide initial treatment and follow-up management when a medical emergency occurs during dental treatment.
Sedation, Pain and Anxiety Control
- Evaluate the need for, and use appropriate behavioral and/or pharmacologic modalities in management of pain and anxiety based upon psychosocial factors and anticipated clinical procedures.
- Prevent, recognize, and manage complications related to the use and interactions of drugs used to control pain and anxiety.
Provide Comprehensive Oral Healthcare
- Use accepted behavioral and prevention strategies throughout treatment, including Oral Hygiene Instruction, Nutritional Education and Counselling, and Pharmacologic support to help patients improve and maintain their oral and systemic health.
Operative/Restorative Dentistry
- Evaluate a patients functional and esthetic needs, and use the appropriate Dental materials for each clinical situation.
- Restore teeth with acceptable clinical techniques.
- Understand and apply restorative techniques required for endodontically treated teeth.
Endodontics
- Diagnose and treat pain of pulpal origin, including uncomplicated, non-surgical endodontic therapy.
- Recognize and manage endodontic complications and emergencies.
Periodontics
- Diagnose and treat periodontal disease non-surgically and surgically – understand the indications and contraindications for surgical treatment (Open Flap Debridement, Osseo Resection, and Periodontal Plastic Surgery).
- Perform minimally-traumatic periodontal surgery, to include gentle flap management and suturing.
- Diagnose and manage periodontal emergencies.
Oral Maxillofacial Surgery and Pathology
- Perform surgical and nonsurgical extraction of erupted teeth.
- Perform surgical extraction of uncomplicated impacted 3rd molars.
- Recognize and manage surgical and post-surgical complications.
- Perform uncomplicated pre-prosthetic surgery.
- Diagnose and manage common oral mucosal diseases.
Prosthodontics
- Provide prostodontic treatment for patients with missing teeth, using removable and fixed prostheses as indicated.
- Manage patients with missing teeth by providing uncomplicated dental implant restorations.
Temporomandibular Dysfunction and Occlusion.
- Diagnose and manage malocclusions.
- Understand, diagnose, and non-surgically treat uncomplicated temporomandibular dysfunctions.
Documentation, and quality assurance and quality improvement.
- Maintain a patient record system that facilitates the retrieval and analysis of the process and outcomes of patient treatment.
- Critically evaluate the scientific literature, and use information from the literature to make evidence-based clinical decisions.
- Use digital photographic principles and techniques.
- Understand the need for, and the components and function of a comprehensive quality assurance and quality improvement program.
Ethical Practice
- Understand, articulate and discuss ethical principles and models.
- Use principle-based decision making in responding to simulated scenarios and real-life patient-care situations.
Practice management
- Understand basic business principles and necessary decisions in managing a dental practice.
- Use and implement principles of business management, managed care, peer review, and alternative health care delivery systems in the practice of dentistry.
- Practice and promote the principles of jurisprudence and ethics in the practice of dentistry and in relationships with patients, personnel and colleagues.
- Effectively manage allied dental personnel, including clinical and support staff.
Leadership
- Develop an understanding of the importance, theories, and models of leadership.
Salary and Benefits
Salary: Residents are paid a salary of $60,591.
Vacation/Holiday: Residents receive ten days of paid vacation in addition to nine holidays annually.
Medical Plan: Group plans for hospital and health insurance for the Residents and dependents are available at group rates and are effective upon employment. A variety of plans are available.
Professional Liability Insurance: Residents are provided a total of $6,000,000 in malpractice coverage free of charge.
Other benefits such as Long-Term Disability Insurance, Life Insurance, and Flexible Benefits are also available.
Application Process
By the time a candidate begins the Residency Program, they must have graduated with a Doctor of Dental Surgery or Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from a CODA-accredited Dental School, they must be either a United States or Canadian citizen (or a lawful permanent resident of the United States), and they must either License to practice in North Carolina, or receive an Intern Permit, from the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners.
To apply for the Residency, applications must be submitted through the American Dental Education Associations’ Postdoctoral Application Support System (also known as PASS). PASS is opened to accept applications as early as July of the year prior to starting the Residency (i.e. applications submitted in July 2018, for the Residency year starting in June 2019). Applications for Residency positions are reviewed as soon as they are received and complete, thus it is advantageous to initiate and complete your application early.
Later applications are sometimes solicited and considered if there are still positions available.
You can obtain a PASS application through the American Dental Education Associations PASS website at https://www.adea.org/PASSapp/, or by contacting 1-800-353-2237.
Please note a Supplemental Application from the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine is also required, which you can download from the Additional Links section by scrolling to the bottom of this page.
All PASS applications are reviewed by the Program Director, and interviews are offered based upon academic standing, letters of recommendation, and personal statement.
If you require further information on the application process or if you have questions, please contact the ECU SoDM AEGD-1 Residency Coordinator, Elena Uzun at: uzune21@ecu.edu.