The overall mission of the dental anesthesia residency program is to train dentists in all aspects of anesthesiology to provide them with an appropriate foundation for the administration of anesthesia and pain control for dental patients. To gain these skills, the dental anesthesia resident will be fully embedded into the physician anesthesia residency program.
Upon completion of the three-year program, the residents will have the competency and proficiency to provide sedation and general anesthesia, in the inpatient and office-based settings, to the general adult population along with pediatric adult and geriatric patients. This program will provide a special emphasis in the treatment of patients with special needs, i.e., patients with autism and the developmentally disabled. The residents will also be trained to treat patients with acute and chronic pain syndromes.
Because of the University’s high regard for excellence in teaching and research, the selection process will look for prospective residents who have an interest in part-time or full time teaching at the completion of their residency program. To this end, the residents, in their second and third year, will mentor dental and medical students when they rotate through the operating room. These 2nd and 3rd year residents will also help supervise the pediatric and periodontal residents during their anesthesia rotations. The third-year residents help teach the 2nd year predoctoral dental students in their anesthesia and pain control curriculum.
