Does general dentistry REQUIRE residency?

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I'm actually a 1st year med student, but a friend of mine and I had a discussion the other day about dentistry. I know that in order to specialize in a particular field, you need to do residency in that field. But what about general practice? I know that you CAN do residency in general practice (I believe it's 2 or 3 years) after you obtain your dds. But are you REQUIRED to do residency? Is residency in general dentistry OPTIONAL for those that want to be more competent in this field? If it is optional, how many general dentist do you think actually obtain postprofessional education?

 

[chilidog]

no, not required, only optional. not real popular, i'm sure someone will correct me, but i'd guess maybe around 5% to 10% go on to do a gen practice residency (gpr) or advanced education in general dentistry (aegd).

 

[NileBDS]

Required - No (unless you absolutely want to practice in NY or DE - the only 2 states which do mandate a post-doc residency). As a side note, I am pretty sure if you ask this same question again in 5-10 years, you will get a different answer (Yes).

Dental post-graduate residencies can be divided into:
1. General Parctice residencies (GPR + AEGD)
2. Specialty programs (your Endodontists -root canals-, Periodontists -gums-, Maxillofacial -trauma cancer plastic-, Orthododntists -braces-, ....).

The number of graduates who go onto each of those categories significantly varies year to year and even among schools themselves.
Roughly, I would put the percentage of fresh dental graduates who go onto some sort of post-graduate residency at;
1. General practice - 25%
2. Specialty programs - 40 %

That's obviously a guess, at best.

I'm actually a 1st year med student, but a friend of mine and I had a discussion the other day about dentistry. I know that in order to specialize in a particular field, you need to do residency in that field. But what about general practice? I know that you CAN do residency in general practice (I believe it's 2 or 3 years) after you obtain your dds. But are you REQUIRED to do residency? Is residency in general dentistry OPTIONAL for those that want to be more competent in this field? If it is optional, how many general dentist do you think actually obtain postprofessional education?

 

[rarm1]

Hi
As mentioned a residency is required in Delaware. The law was passed in 1940. The program must be hospital based with the reasons being to learn medical and dental emergency care. In dental school.... an 8-5 day... no dental after hour emergencies... and limited knowledge of medical emergencies. The GPR has required rotations in Anesthesia for airway management and in medicine/emer. med for learn about medical emergency care. Residents are also on call for dental emergencies... they see avulsed teeth, trauma, lacerations, and cases of abuse. While each residency varies... each will have those components.

The Inst of Medicine has suggested it should be requires, so has the Amer Assoc of Dental Educators(ADEA).

Many additional dental skills are learned... the dental treatment of the med comp pt(especially disabled/special care pt) and advanced dental procedures like implants.

In additional to the two states (De and NYC) several others have a GPR as an option... in lieu of an exam... Delaware still requires an exam. Dentistry has no Part III of national boards like Medicine.

hope this helps

 

[kaukaknowsbest]

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[ski.bum]

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[keibee82]

I heard a rumor saying that California will require a year of residency pretty soon. Anyone else heard about this?

 

[armorshell]

I heard a rumor saying that California will require a year of residency pretty soon. Anyone else heard about this?

They passed the PGY-1 law, which allows you to get licensure in California by attending a GPR or AEGD. Note that this isn't a requirement, it's just an alternative to taking the California state boards or WREB.

 

[airwolfrocks999]

No they don't. Well at least in most states, but you sure as heck better not believe that they are going to train you in everything you need in school. In order to be competetive after you graduate you better go to as many CE courses during and after school as possible. They are great to do as a student because they are discounted in price.

Are these CE courses really helpful?

Suppose you took a CE course in extracting impacted teeth, would you really be able to demonstrate the same on a real patient?

 

[pmantz]

I am so glad someone asked this question, I have been wondering about this issue for some time and it hasn't come up on this forum. I even tried the search function, but to no avail.