Department of Dentistry - Dental General Practice Residency Program
The Department of Dentistry and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Boston Medical Center (BMC) offers a Dental General Practice Residency (GPR) Program which is one year in length and commences on July 1 each year. The program is fully accredited by the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation, a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation and the United States Department of Educations.
Boston Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit, fully accredited 547-licensed bed academic medical center located in Boston's historic South End. The hospital is the primary teaching affiliate of the Boston University Schools of Dental Medicine, Medicine, and Public Health. The Department of Dentistry & Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at BMC is a teaching affiliate of the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine (BUSDM). Approximately 16,000 dental patients are treated each year between General Dentistry, Pediatric Dentistry (PD), and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS).
The hospitals’ dental department includes a nine-chair clinical facility, laboratory and radiology facilities, departmental library, and a resident’s work room. A dedicated dental assistant is provided for all clinical care provided by the GPR resident. The GPR program was established in 1969 to offer general dental services in a hospital setting and provided extensive and intensive training to recent dental school graduates, with an emphasis on comprehensive multidisciplinary dental care of medically compromised patients. The program provides a broad learning experience in all aspects of dentistry except orthodontics. The overall goal of the program is to inculcate an appreciation of the special challenges and rewards of hospital-based public health dentistry in each resident, so that residents may incorporate this unique learning experience into their own career development. In addition, five specific program goals are:
Providing Oral Health Care in a Hospital Setting.
Developing Advanced General Dental Skills and Techniques.
Participating in Advanced Education Programs.
Providing Patient Care.
Community Service.
Program objectives to achieve these overarching goals include extensive didactic training provided by general and specialist dentists within the clinic and at BUSDM, a wealth of clinical experience including ambulatory dental care, inpatient and same day surgeries, emergency dental care, and collaboration with other health care providers to provide true multidisciplinary patient care. Residents also perform rotations in the anesthesia and emergency department to further enhance their understanding of comprehensive patient care. Together, these experiences help forge eleven distinct competencies and proficiencies of the hospital dentist, and prepare the resident for a career in public health dentistry:
Patient Assessment and Diagnosis.
Planning and providing Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Oral Health Care.
Obtaining Informed Consent.
Promoting Oral and Systemic Health and Disease Prevention.
Sedation, Pain and Anxiety Control
Restoration of teeth
Replacement of Teeth using Fixed and Removable Appliances.
Periodontal Therapy and Pulpal Therapy.
Hard and Soft Tissue Surgery.
Treatment of Dental and Medical Emergencies.
Medical Risk Assessment.
The GPR resident is an active member of a hospital house staff that also includes eight OMS and three PD residents. Salary and benefits are equivalent to other PGY1 level residents at BMC. The GPR attends lecture and seminar series with the co-located OMS residents, as well as formal graduate-level courses and clinical training in specialties at BUSDM. The resident also maintains a full complement of dental patients within the BMC clinic and leans valuable clinical and workload management skills. Finally, the GPR resident provides in-house call services as a member of the maxillofacial trauma team-in BMC’s state-of-the-art trauma center- in a capacity equivalent to a first-year OMS resident, providing a wealth of high-quality emergency care experience unrivaled by a traditional GPR program.
Applicant must be a graduate of an accredited US/Canadian dental school. Application to the GPR program is made through the PASS program and the national GPR matching program. Boston Medical Center is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, or sexual orientation.
