All About the Program (Power Point Presentation)

Program Goals and Objectives

The overall objectives of the program are:

• to provide advanced training in the clinical practice of dentistry at the postdoctoral level in a simulated private practice setting;
• to train residents in diagnosis and treatment planning in a problem based manner using total patient evaluation;
• to provide clinical and hospital experience and community service in comprehensive and emergency oral care to a wide range of patients with regard to dental complexity, medically, physically and mentally compromising conditions, including age (geriatric and pediatric) and socioeconomic status (indigent and privileged);
• to provide extensive clinical, didactic and hospital opportunities for interdisciplinary interaction between the resident and other health care providers;
• to provide didactic information and clinical guidance in communicative, behavioral management and practice management skills and apply them to the practice of dentistry ;
• to provide an appropriate environment for critical review and presentation of literature and the pursuit of individual research interests and career goals.
  

Curriculum

The program's didactic and clinical curriculum draws on the rich resources of Memorial Hermann Hospital, UT Dental Branch, UT Medical School and the Texas Medical Center.

The didactic curriculum is comprised of seminars/lectures on a variety of dental and medical topics, and often integrates with other advanced education programs from UT Dental Branch and the VA-Houston GPR program. Topics include but are not limited to:

Anesthesia, Pain Control, and Pharmacology
Asepsis, Infection and Hazard Control
Clinical Dentistry
	Endodontics
	Implant Dentistry
	Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
	Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology
	Pediatric Dentistry
	Periodontics
	Preventive Dentistry
	Restorative Dentistry
Dental Oncology
Dental Photography
Emergency Dental Care
Emergency Medical Care
Inpatient Care and Hospital Organization
Laboratory Medicine
Medical Risk Assessment
Physical Evaluation
Medically Compromised Patients
Oral Medicine
Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
Clinical Case Conferences
Clinical Case Studies
Practice Management
Research and Individual Study
Special Patient Care
	Patients with Disabilities
	Geriatric Patients
TM/Myofacial Disorders

Clinical Experience and Rotations

The clinical phase of the General Practice Residency Program is intended to combine comprehensive and episodic dental care by residents, attending staff and dental auxiliaries with the educational process of the program. When assigned to the general dentistry service (9 months) residents work in the program's facility, The University Dental Center. This clinical and educational center is a 5,000 square foot, 8-chair facility. In this setting, residents are assisted by an auxiliary staff composed of business and chairside assistants and a dental hygienist in treating patients in a private group practice setting.

The GPR program has formal clinical "off-service" rotations. These include:

Anesthesiology/Pain Control - To familiarize the resident with those techniques and procedures associated with dental practice that deal with evaluation of patients for nitrous oxide and IV sedation and general anesthesia, selection and titration of drugs for individual patients, and management of emergencies during sedation and anesthesia.

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery - To provide an opportunity for the resident to receive advanced training and experience in both inpatient and outpatient oral and maxillofacial surgery, develop skills in treating complex oral surgery cases, and improve diagnostic and treatment planning capabilities in sequencing oral surgery patients and decision making regarding which cases will need to be referred.

Internal Medicine - To allow the resident be able to engage in work-up, diagnosis and management of patients with various chronic and acute conditions and to familiarize and be proficient in hospital protocol and in-patient management.

Otolaryngology (ENT) - To allow the resident to develop and refine skills in the clinical assessment of the head and neck region, understand the pathophysiology of common disease states in the head and neck region and increase their knowledge of disease processes and current treatment modalities.