My understanding is that the 2-year AEGD is more standardized than the 1-year program. But, there must be some things that you can predictably learn by taking the 1-year.
What could a self-motivated individual reliably learn in a 1-year AEGD that this same individual would be unable to learn during four years of normal dental practice as a 63A in the Army? I'm talking about specific procedures primarily, but knowledge related to other things is welcomed as well. Also, if there are any noticeable changes to day-to-day practice in terms of responsibility,location, ect, I'd love to hear about it.
Looking forward to hearing from some 1-year graduates. Thanks.
I can only speak for the 1 year I did, but here is a brief overview:
I can not reliably answer your first question, I went straight from the aged into specialty training. From what I saw, the NEW dentists in my building were doing basic dentistry (exams, fillings, TMD guards, ect.) I have no idea what they are doing in other clinics or on other posts.
In the Aged we had a periodontist, OMFS, prosthodontists, endodontist, orthodontist, and a few bravos as mentors. We were in clinic 32 hours a week and lecture 8 hrs. Lectures were either by a mentor or fellow resident. We starting presenting more and more as time went on.
I did not do many SRPs in perio, we were doing initial exam/dx, re-evals, surgeries (osseous, CLPs, GBR/ GTRs, CT grafts, and implants)
OMFS - exodontia (simple and impacted), implants, primarily watching/assisting in the OR unless you show interest and are prepared)
Prosth- Evals/workup/restorations on implants and crown and bridge primarily. Some of my fellow residents had more interest in prosth and did some complex cases.
Endo- NSRCTs, Retreats, simple apicos.
Ortho - bonding and brackets on comprehensive cases of the orthodontist. We did our own limited cases (uprighting, extrusions) Again some did more if they were interested in ortho)
You also have comprehensive patients as well where you are treatment planning, and treating.
That being said, I think you could get the experience eventually w/o doing the 1 yr just not in a yr. I learned a lot about dentistry in that year and was very impressed with the program. The Army puts a lot of money into these training programs and it shows. Coming out of dental school, training levels and experience level vary a ton. The 1 yr can help fill in gaps in your training. You get out what you put in, so if you are self-motivated you will learn a lot. It can also help you determine if you want to specialize. For example, my co-residents and I hated perio coming out of dental school because all we did were SRPs and evals. During the AEGD we were primarily doing perio surgery. Periodontics was not for me, but I gained respect for the speciality, and we had a couple residents end up applying for perio.
Hope this helps.
