General Practice Residency

The mission of Advanced Education General Practice Residency program at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine is to elevate the skills and knowledge base of the dental graduate in both general and hospital dentistry.

The goal of the program’s didactic and clinical training and experiences is to ensure that residents completing the program receive adequate training and clinical experience in providing comprehensive multidisciplinary oral health care at a level of skill and complexity beyond that accomplished in pre-doctorial training.

Applications are submitted through PASS. Specific questions with regard to the admissions requirements or any other aspect of the Advanced General Practice Residency at RSDM should be addressed to the Program Director:

Dr. Ali Abbas

abbasal@sdm.rutgers.edu

Each resident is expected to attend all academic activities scheduled by the department. Residents and faculty will receive a monthly schedule of conferences to allow adequate time for preparation. The graduate will also be proficient in scientific evaluation of the literature and application of this knowledge to their future practices.

The first year residents (PGY1) will receive advanced level didactic and clinical training in :

• General dentistry
• Oral Surgery
• Endodontics
• Periodontics
• TMD/Orofacial Pain
• Implant placement and restoration
• Oral Medicine and Pathology

Residents also gain experience in:

• Dental management of the medically complex patients both ambulatory and hospital based
• Dental treatment in the operating room under sedation or general anesthesia
• Dental management of the transplant patient, dialysis patient and head and neck cancer patient
• Community Dentistry

Nightly on-call duty is shared equally by all first year GPR & Pediatric Dentistry Residents on a rotating basis throughout the year, except the off-service month of Internal Medicine. The chief resident is responsible for call assignment and ensuring that residents have equal call distribution for weekends and holidays.

Both the post-call and incoming on-call residents participate in the morning rounds in the Oral Medicine conference room. This allows for inpatient follow-up and exchange of information about admitted and/or referred emergency patients. Interesting ER cases and consults are also discussed during morning rounds.

Tumor Board is a weekly multidisciplinary conference attended by General Practice Residents, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, Radiology, Pathology, Social Services, Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology. Individual services present new and interesting cases for group discussion and comprehensive management of head and neck cancer patients.

Residents have two to four-week block rotations through: Anesthesia, Internal Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Special Care Dentistry. These rotations provide dental residents with experience in dental medical risk assessment, emergency patient management and interaction with other health care professionals.

Anesthesia rotation: Residents perform physical examinations, determine medical risk for general anesthesia, perform phlebotomies and intubations, and become familiar with pharmacological agents and equipment used for general anesthesia and/or deep sedation.

Internal Medicine rotation: Residents participate with the medical resident in inpatient care as part of the medical team. Residents also take call with their medical team, admit, manage and discharge patients, and attend morning rounds under the supervision of a senior resident and a medical attending.

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) rotation: Residents rotate at University Hospital, joining their surgical colleagues in assessment and management of maxillofacial surgery patients in the ambulatory, same day surgery and inpatient settings. They examine, treat and follow-up OMFS patients under the supervision of OMFS chief residents and attending.

Special Care Dentistry rotation: The resident has thethe opportunity to provide comprehensive oral health care to special needs patients both in the outpatient clinic and in the same day surgery setting.