Queens Hospital Center

Dental Medicine (General Practice)

Tomorrow's graduates of dental schools must assume increased responsibility for effective treatment of all segments of society, particularly the medically compromised, the elderly, and the poor. Along with making improvements in the predoctoral curriculum and focusing on the completion of a PGY-I year, a resident recognizes the responsibility of educating the next generation of practitioners. The general practice residency of the Department of Dental Medicine, QHC, is constructed to facilitate the transition from the controlled atmosphere of the dental school to the relative freedom of the individual practitioner, able to confront and solve the greater and more complex problems presented by the patient load of tomorrow.

To address these new and expanded roles, the residency program includes increased immersion in the more complex cases presented by patients with ongoing systemic problems, e.g. cardiac, immunologic, hemotologic, and addiction, along with experience in providing care for the "special" pediatric patient who will require a general anesthetic. To provide insight into the altered physiology and status of those who have sustained major trauma, infection, or chemotherapeutic and/or radiologic therapies, the residents are rotated through the departments of Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology. Assignment to the specialty clinics of oral surgery, orthodontics, periodontics, pediatric dentistry, and endodontics provides a continuum of care so that the short-term and long-term results of therapy can be assessed.