Program Length and Number of Positions
This is a 24-month program commencing on or about July 1 of each year. Four new positions will be offered each year.
Application
The PASS Application is used. Applications must be received by the residency Program Director by October 1st to be considered for acceptance on July 1st of the following year. Four residents are selected each year through the MATCH Program.
Description
The Pediatric Dental Residency at Denver Health Medical Center is a comprehensive two-year hospital-based program encompassing both clinical and didactic training.
The program in pediatric dentistry is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation and has been granted the accreditation status of “initial accreditation”. The Commission is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the United States Department of Education. The Commission on Dental Accreditation can be contacted at (312) 440-4653 or at 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. The Commission’s web address is: http://www.ada.org/en/coda. The Commission on Dental Accreditation has accredited the program in pediatric dentistry. However, accreditation of the program does not in itself constitute recognition of any dental specialty status.
Graduates will meet the advanced education eligibility requirements of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. A certificate is awarded to each resident at the completion of the program. The pediatric dentistry education program at Denver Health is designed to provide special knowledge and skills beyond the D.D.S. or D.M.D. training and is oriented to the accepted standards of CODA. This is best evidenced through the curriculum, which was developed by a collaborative pediatric dental faculty group at Denver Health with robust backgrounds, skills, and experiences in dentistry.
Curriculum
The curriculum is divided into two areas: biomedical/didactic and clinical. The biomedical/didactic curriculum focuses on enhancing the residents’ biomedical core knowledge in basic sciences and clinical sciences. The didactic curriculum is presented in a variety of formats. The clinical curriculum includes providing both primary and comprehensive preventive and therapeutic oral health care for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health care needs. Hospital experiences in anesthesia, emergency medicine, and pediatric medicine impart the special knowledge and skill required for residents to provide comprehensive oral health care. Guidelines and policies of the AAPD are reviewed and incorporated into discussions regarding patient care in the clinic. Evidence-based dentistry is also presented as part of the clinical sciences didactic curriculum. The program’s standard for providing oral health care requires faculty and residents to use critical thinking in both didactic and clinical experiences. Critical thinking when evaluating patient oral and medical conditions and health history will advance learner ability to consistently provide evidence-based treatment.
Facilities
Denver Health Medical Center is a not-for-profit, teaching and academic hospital accredited by The Joint Commission. The Wellington Webb Primary Care Building is accessible for special health care needs patients. Patients currently receive care in the primary pediatric and adult clinics, the dental clinic, and other specialty clinics located within the Webb Building. Denver Community Health Services (DCHS) is one of the oldest and largest community health center networks in the country. DCHS dental target population is all patients in the city and county of Denver.
The Webb Clinic at Denver Health is dedicated to care for pediatric and special health care needs patients. The Webb Pediatric Dental Clinic has 13 treatment rooms and 4 sedation dedicated treatment rooms.
In addition, there are two facilities on campus that have fully equipped operating rooms with pre- and post-op care units. These are utilized to provide treatment for dental patients under general anesthesia.
A new Outpatient Medical Center (OMC) opened in 2021 and is utilized by the Denver Health CODA accredited OMFS and GPR programs, as well as staff dentists, to provide patient care for adults, including those patients with special health care needs.
Denver Health maintains a Complex Care (Tier 4) team that supports about 500 children with the highest level of special medical needs, primarily in their medical home. The Complex Care clinic does comprehensive multidisciplinary visits once a week, in which five children usually attend, and often more as a consultation visit. Overall about 20% of the pediatric population at Denver Health has some level of special needs, primarily in the area of developmental challenges. Denver Health also has a 25 bed Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); a 20-bed pediatric ward; an 8-10 bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU); and a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center.
Admission Requirements
Graduation from a CODA-accredited dental school, ADEA PASS application including transcripts and CV, four professional evaluation forms including at least one institutional evaluation, a personal interview if invited, and an expressed desire on the part of the applicant to complete a two-year pediatric dental residency.
Program Strengths
The Denver Health program will provide residents with clinical experiences dedicated to providing comprehensive care for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health care needs. Denver Health Medical Center’s dental programs treat a growing, unique population of more than 25,000 patients.
The dental clinic is based in the Webb Center for Primary Care where pediatric and special needs patients receive a variety of primary and specialized healthcare. Residents will have the opportunity to see normal, healthy children as well as those that present with complexities related to age, medical condition, extent of oral disease and behavior. The program works closely with Denver Health CODA accredited OMFS and GPR advanced education programs. This results in opportunities for advanced clinical and didactic training by orthodontists, periodontists, endodontists and oral maxillofacial surgeons. The dental clinic is co-located with the primary care pediatric clinic and has established an effective medical-dental integration process. Resources and consultants for pediatric health care are available at Denver Health as well as Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children. Denver Health is a Level 1 Trauma Center providing training and experience in management and treatment of injuries to oral-facial structures.
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