Pediatric Dentistry Residency Overview
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Applications are submitted through the American Dental Education Association's Postdoctoral Application Support Service (ADEA PASS). The application deadline is August 15 of the year preceding matriculation.
To learn more about application requirements, please review Application & Admission Information.
Objectives
In meeting the overall goal of producing a proficient specialist in pediatric dentistry, the specific objectives of the postgraduate program which encompass the standards of established care for infants, children, and adolescents include:
- Ability to educate and guide the child and parent to accept and practice oral health care with preventive concepts, a foundation of clinical practice.
- Mastery of restorative procedures in primary and young permanent teeth required to treat children and adolescents.
- Understanding of the physical and chemical properties of medications and dental materials used in treatment and physiologic responses of the child and adolescent to these agents.
- Knowledge of pediatrics, oral pathology, and oral surgical procedures applicable to the child dental patient.
- Capability to diagnose and treat traumatized and carious primary / young permanent teeth to maintain the teeth, pulp tissues, and periodontium in a healthy state.
- Ability to provide comprehensive oral health care for medically, emotionally, mentally, or physically challenged patients.
- Understanding the growth and development of the stomatognathic system and the ability to provide treatment aimed at allowing optimal development of this system.
- Ability to provide control of pain and anxiety through the use of psychological and pharmacological methods including provision of dental care in the hospital.
- Familiarity with published literature pertinent to pediatric dentistry and the motivation to remain abreast with and critically evaluate the dental literature.
- Commitment to the implementation of individual and community prevention programs aimed at dental and systemic diseases and traumatic injuries.
- Preparation for managing a contemporary pediatric dental practice relative to practice administration, efficient auxiliary utilization, and marketing.
- Coordination of all of the above objectives such that diagnosis, case analysis, treatment planning, and clinical management of oral-facial health problems that occur in infancy, childhood, and adolescence are grounded in a sound application of scientific knowledge that remains state-of-the-art through the development of an attitude towards lifelong inquiry and study.
Program Overview
Residents who complete the full 24-month postgraduate program in pediatric dentistry at MUSC are expected to have developed their skills and knowledge to the level of a specialist in pediatric dentistry, as approved by the ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation.
MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital
In addition to the primary resident clinic in the Dental Clinics Building at the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, the postgraduate program is a component of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital (SJCH), where in-patient consults and OR dental care is provided by dental residents and faculty. This is also the site of the resident rotations in pediatrics and in anesthesia as well as special clinics attended by the residents and faculty as consultants. Examples of special clinics attended by residents and faculty include Craniofacial Anomalies, Pediatric Hematology, Pediatric Oncology, and Pediatric Cardiology.
With a large population base of dentally and medically compromised children, general anesthesia cases are scheduled on a weekly basis to enhance the ability of the clinic to meet its patients' needs. The department has access to these hospital operating room facilities: Pediatric Procedure Area, Main OR and Rutledge Tower (which is connected to the Children’s Hospital by a covered walkway). The department has two days per week of blocked time in the Pediatric Procedure Area; it is fully equipped for dental restorative and surgical procedures. In-house provisions are made for supplies and equipment necessary for the provision of dental care under general anesthesia. A range of 200 to 220 OR cases per year have been accomplished over the last three years through the resident clinic.
While ambulatory, short-stay cases in the OR suites comprise the bulk of general anesthesia cases accomplished by pediatric dentistry, the large population base of medically compromised children at SJCH offers the opportunity for numerous in-patient contacts. The close affiliation with other pediatric clinics (e.g., hemophilia, oncology, sickle cell, and pediatric cardiology) frequently necessitates dental care for patients with these associated medical problems. The residents provide the full complement of preventive, restorative, orthodontic, and behavior management care for those patients with special needs in both in-patient and out-patient situations.
James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine
Clinical Education Center
The postgraduate pediatric dentistry clinical facility is located in the Dental Clinics Building. This state-of-the-art facility houses all clinical programs of the College of Dental Medicine. The building is located on the main MUSC campus along Bee Street adjacent to the Basic Sciences Building, home to the college's pre-doctoral student lecture classrooms, student laboratories, research facilities, and faculty offices.
The pediatric dentistry postgraduate clinics, seminar rooms, and resident offices are located on the fourth floor of the clinical facility. Directly adjacent to the pediatric dentistry postgraduate clinics are the postgraduate clinic and educational areas for orthodontics. The programs share this entire floor. Specific to pediatric dentistry, the facility provides a 22 operatory clinical area with a combined open-bay and closed-bay arrangement with full equipment for delivery of comprehensive pediatric specialty care for children and adolescents as overseen by program faculty. The facility has full digital capabilities for all patient records as well as computer-based technology in all operatories and teaching centers. Treatment areas are supported by full radiographic capabilities with all panoramic and cephalometric radiographic projections digital-based and compatible with a computer-based records system.
The facility has a full reception/business office area with adjacent patient records storage area, patient consultation rooms, in-house sterilization areas, appliance laboratory and storage rooms. The laboratory areas adjacent to the clinical section are fully equipped for the preparation of diagnostic casts and fabrication of retainers, space maintainers and minor tooth movement appliances. It contains vacuumixers for mixing stone, model trimmers, soldering and welding devices, lab-bench hand-pieces, and supplies necessary for basic laboratory procedures. A faculty/resident office, a library/conference room and computer/video-imaging center are also located adjacent to the clinical area.
Clinical Sciences Building
In addition to clinical experiences at the pediatric dentistry postgraduate clinic, the program also provides pediatric dental and orthodontic lectures and seminars in the Clinical Sciences Building. Located in the MUSC complex about a two-minute walk from the clinic, the College of Dental Medicine primarily serves as the pre-doctoral dental student classroom and laboratory site. Residents may provide supportive care on a rotational basis over the course of the program in a teaching role for dental students in the pre-doctoral curriculum.
Faculty Offices
Faculty offices are located at 173 Ashley Avenue in Room 347 in the Basic Sciences Building. Walking from the pediatric dentistry clinic to faculty offices takes about five minutes.
For profiles of pediatric dentistry faculty in the Department of Advanced Specialty Sciences and Division of Applied Craniofacial Sciences, please visit our Administration & Faculty page.
The patient pool available to the residency program is extensive with respect to numbers of patients and distribution of treatment needs. Patients are screened for the predoctoral pediatric dentistry clinic and the postgraduate residency program on a continual basis throughout the year.
Criteria
The patients eligible for dental care by pediatric dentistry residents at the Pediatric Dentistry Resident Clinic present advanced treatment needs due to:
- Medical or physical compromising conditions (e.g. hemophilia, oncology, cerebral palsy, special health care needs, etc.).
- Extensive, complex dental treatment needs complicated by behavioral management demands.
The children must meet the above criteria and be referred to the clinic by their primary physician, clinical nurse, community dentists, special medical teams (e.g., Sickle Cell Team, Craniofacial Anomalies Team) or other health care providers. Exceptions to the above policies are orthodontic-related patients who, after screening by the orthodontic faculty, are accepted to the orthodontics component of the postgraduate residency program. The listed avenues of patient screening and referral serve as a steady resource of patients with all levels of treatment need experienced over the course of the two-year program.
Past Program Outcomes
The pediatric dentistry residents provided dental care for over 2,750 registered visits during the past fiscal year. The registered visit total does not include follow-up visual assessments, orthodontic adjustments, consultations to other services, in-patient evaluations, after hours emergency visits, and other miscellaneous patient contacts which may not require registration and generation of charges through the clinic. Additionally, 220 pediatric patients received comprehensive dental care in the MUSC Hospital OR under general anesthesia in the last academic year.
Once complete with hospital rotations, first-year residents are scheduled for clinical care eight half-days per week (six half-day pediatric dental care, two half-day orthodontic care. Second-year residents are scheduled for clinical care nine half-days per week (seven half-day pediatric dental care, two half-day orthodontic care). Operating Room cases on a rotating basis are scheduled two days per week. Emergency call on a rotating basis is scheduled one week per month.
Outcomes assessment of quantitative clinical activity through numerical data collection and qualitative assessments through evaluation surveys indicate all residents receive a broad range of experiences in meeting program objectives.
Upon completion of the program, each graduating resident over the last five years has typically done the following:
- Participated as clinical dental provider on 100 to 130 general anesthesia cases provided in the OR setting. This is in addition to the OR experience during the four-week anesthesia rotation.
- Provided dental care using conscious sedation (as the primary clinician) procedures involving a broad range of pharmacological agents for 70 to 90 cases. These sedation cases are accomplished with full monitoring protocols.
The residency program operates from July 1 through June 30 of each academic year. There are no fixed quarters or semesters as such, but the program will generally follow the academic calendar of the College of Dental Medicine.
The residency program should be considered a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day commitment.
The formal schedule for resident clinical patient care and seminars in the department will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Open time available in the daily schedule is to be used for laboratory work, patient record preparation, research endeavors or academic study. Because of the demands of clinical care and scheduling, some occasional scheduled coursework may be required in the evening or on a weekend. The faculty, realizing the demands of the daily schedule, will minimize such off-hours scheduling. Regardless, residents are expected to attend all scheduled courses without exception.
All residents accepted to the postdoctoral pediatric dentistry program qualify for Medical University house-staff salary at the appropriate postgraduate year classification. Tuition is waived.