Program Overview

The UCLA General Practice Residency program is a demanding, rotating internship with a major emphasis in Hospital Dentistry. Upon successful completion of the residency, the candidate is awarded two certificates: a Certificate of Postgraduate Study from the School of Dentistry and a Certificate of Completion of Residency from the UCLA Hospitals and Clinics. Total of 6 residents are accepted each year.

Length of program - 1 year beginning on July 1

Number of Residents Accepted Each Year - 6

Accredited by Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.

Curriculum

The general objectives of the program are to: (1) provide residents with the necessary didactic and clinical experiences that will enable them to provide "state-of-the-art" comprehensive dental care to the broadest possible spectrum of the population, (2) provide advanced training in hospital and operating room procedures, including: admission procedures, history and physical evaluation, laboratory evaluation, consultations, emergency care, pre- and post-operative care, and inpatient and outpatient surgery, (3) enhance the graduate's ability to make sound clinical judgment, (4) provide dental services for segments of the population which are currently underserved including medically compromised, mentally and physically challenged, pediatric, adult and geriatric individuals, (5) provide training in quality assurance protocols and risk management techniques, (6) motivate trainees to be continuous students--to always strive for quality education and self-improvement, (7) strongly encourage the participation and recruitment of ethnic minority students, (8) enhance the understanding of and provide experience in practice administration, including communication and management skills, (9) develop the graduate's ability to critically review the literature, and (10) enhance the graduate's diagnostic and treatment planning skills.

Upon completion of the training program, the General Practice Residents will: (1) serve as the patient's first contact with the dental health care system and facilitate the patient's entry into that system with minimal specialty referral, (2) possess the knowledge and skills to appropriately apply risk assessment techniques and participate in a peer-guided quality assurance program, (3) possess advanced knowledge and skills in all aspects of general dentistry, including operative dentistry, removable and fixed prosthodontics, periodontics, prevention, endodontics, oral surgery, anesthesia and pain control, management of the infectious patient, management of the medically compromised patient, management of the frail geriatric patient and practice management, (4) possess the knowledge and skills to develop appropriate treatment plans that meet the comprehensive dental needs of the patient, (5) possess the knowledge and skills to appropriately supervise auxiliary personnel such as dental assistants, dental hygienists, receptionists and dental laboratory technicians, (6) develop the necessary clinical judgment to self-assess scientific literature, (7) possess the knowledge and skills to participate in a multidisciplinary treatment team, (8) possess the knowledge and skills to retrieve, review and assess scientific literature, and (9) possess an understanding of the importance of general dentistry in health care systems.

What to Expect

General Dentistry

Seven-month rotation at the University of California at Los Angeles Maxillofacial Prosthetics/Hospital Dentistry Group Clinic. The concept of comprehensive patient care is employed in the treatment of medically, physically and psychologically challenged patients. Included in these categories are patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer and transplant patient. Restorative dentistry with general anesthesia in the operating room is performed weekly. Residents also provide conscious sedations for general dental procedures in the outpatient clinic. Residents are on call on a weekly basis, and provide hospital inpatient consultations and emergency department treatment.

Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

One-month rotation at UCLA Medical Center and Harbor/UCLA. Experience will be provided in hospital admissions and medical management of oral and maxillofacial trauma and infections, conscious sedation and outpatient general anesthesia, basic principles of dento-alveolar surgery, including surgical extraction of impacted third molars and biopsies of soft and hard tissue pathology.

Anesthesia

One-month rotation at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA Medical Center. Ophthalmologic procedures require similar anesthetics to dentistry. Thus, this rotation will provide clinically applicable experiences in pre-anesthetic evaluation, patient monitoring, airway management, administration of conscious sedation agents and general anesthetic techniques, post-anesthetic patient recovery and emergency procedures.

Pediatric Dentistry

One-month rotation at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. This rotation provides experience in the dental treatment of the toddler and child, including diagnosis and treatment planning, patient management, operative procedures, appliance therapy and operating room dentistry

Medicine

One-month rotation at the UCLA Medical Center. During this rotation, the resident gains experience in medicine with an emphasis on patient assessment and interventions. The resident also gains experience in assessing a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions along with improvement in physical diagnosis skills. Upon completion the resident will understand department of medicine protocol.

Periodontal Practice

Partial month rotation with a faculty periodontist in the private practice setting. This rotation includes seminars on current philosophies regarding diagnosis, treatment planning and treatment modalities. Residents will observe numerous surgical procedures.

Didactic

Formal courses and seminars amount to approximately ten hours per week. Topics covered include all specialties of dentistry, physical diagnosis, internal medicine, conscious sedation, oral pathology, pharmacology, emergency care, anesthesiology, implantology, psychology, dental materials, advanced cardiac life support and practice management.

Requirements/Pre-requisites

• DDS or DMD from an ADA Accredited US or Canadian dental school. A list of Accredited dental schools is available upon request from the American Dental Association, 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611.
• Successful completion of both Part I & II of the National Board Examination. We understand that, at the time of application, most candidates will only have the results of Part I available. Applicants are expected to provide the results of Part II as soon as they are available. Information regarding the examination may be obtained from the Commission on National Dental Examinations, 211 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611.
• Successful completion of the California State Dental Board Examination is preferred, but not required. Information regarding this examination may be obtained from the Board of Dental Examiners, 1430 Howe Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95825.

Application Process

• Secondary General Application form
• Official copies of undergraduate and dental school transcripts
• Official National Dental Board Examination scores
• Personal statement
• Participation in the Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS)
• Participation in the National Matching Service for General Practice Residency. Contact 416-977-3431.
• Four letters of recommendation from either instructors, fellow professionals or employers who can provide information regarding your academic and clinical abilities, as well as personal attributes and extracurricular activity.
• Selected candidates will be invited for an interview.

Timeline

PASS application deadline is November 1. Secondary application is due November 15. Should the applicant be invited for an interview, he/she should expect to be notified of the decision in late November to early December.

Selection Factors

• National Board scores
• GPA and class rank (if available)
• Substance of the personal statement
• Substance of the recommendation letters
• Overall impression at the personal interview