My experience at the San Antonio V.A. AEGD (South Texas)

[dental_2023]

As someone who was frustrated with how little there is on the internet about AEGD/GPR programs when I was applying, I wanted to “give back” to SDN and touch on my experience at the San Antonio Veterans Affairs AEGD (South Texas V.A.).


Skills learned:

1. Plan, place, and restore implants (including full arch/edentulous)
2. Full mouth rehabilitations (restoring every tooth in the mouth, usually at an increased VDO)
3. Same-day CEREC restorations
4. Vertical sinus lifts using Versah burs
5. Functional crown lengthening
6. Esthetic crown lengthening
7. Bone grafting (GBR and GTR)
8. Alloderm soft tissue grafting
9. Open flap debridement
10. Simple and surgical extractions
11. Moderate IV certification
12. Anterior, premolar, and molar endo (1-2 clinic sessions/week)
13. Managing peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis
14. Explanting and grafting failing implants
15. Removable (RPDs, complete dentures, overdentures, CONUS which is sort of a cross between removable and fixed)
16. SureSmile clear aligner therapy
17. Conventional bracket and wire ortho (1-2 clinic sessions/month)
18. Sleep medicine (treat sleep apnea with mandibular repositioning devices and C-PAP attachments, 1-2 clinic sessions/month)
19. TMD management (1-2 clinic sessions/month)
20. Anesthesia rotation (bag valving and intubating patients at the hospital)
21. Digital wax ups
22. 3-D printing
23. Dental photography
24. Manage complex medical histories (due to the nature of what qualifies a veteran for dental coverage, it’s rare to have a “healthy” veteran sitting in your chair)

Pros:

1. Dr. Douglas is fully dedicated to program and is a wealth of knowledge; we’ve also grown very close to him so it will be hard saying goodbye
2. No financial limitations on treatment plans (as long as it’s justified, you can pretty much do anything)
3. One assistant per resident, the same one dedicated to you the whole year
4. The latest and greatest technology available to you (Dentsply/CEREC PrimeScans, PrimeMills, Speed Fire ovens, Progamat ovens, FormLabs and SprintRay 3D printers, endo microscopes, Exocad and inLab design software)
5. No lab work unless you want to do your own
6. Camaraderie (my resident class got lucky in that all 8 of us have become best friends and we actually enjoy spending every waking moment together)
7. San Antonio is a fun city to live in for a year, lots to do
8. Being able to serve our veterans

Cons:

1. Stressful and time-consuming (we’re at clinic 7am-7pm or later every day, and also come in on weekends if necessary)
2. No peds (this was a pro for me)
3. Little to no 3rd molar ext experience
4. I can count on 2 hands how many fillings I’ve done this year… compared to D4 year, I’ve lost speed and skill in that regard, so private practice may be a struggle in the beginning

Hope this helps at least one person. If you’re thinking about applying, I say go for it, as long as you’re willing to work hard! It was definitely worth what I got out of the experience.

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[RollingDDS]

Thanks for the great info! Would you be willing to talk about how many procedures you did of each type?

 

[PerioDont]

As someone who was frustrated with how little there is on the internet about AEGD/GPR programs when I was applying, I wanted to “give back” to SDN and touch on my experience at the San Antonio Veterans Affairs AEGD (South Texas V.A.).


Skills learned:

1. Plan, place, and restore implants (including full arch/edentulous)
2. Full mouth rehabilitations (restoring every tooth in the mouth, usually at an increased VDO)
3. Same-day CEREC restorations
4. Vertical sinus lifts using Versah burs
5. Functional crown lengthening
6. Esthetic crown lengthening
7. Bone grafting (GBR and GTR)
8. Alloderm soft tissue grafting
9. Open flap debridement
10. Simple and surgical extractions
11. Moderate IV certification
12. Anterior, premolar, and molar endo (1-2 clinic sessions/week)
13. Managing peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis
14. Explanting and grafting failing implants
15. Removable (RPDs, complete dentures, overdentures, CONUS which is sort of a cross between removable and fixed)
16. SureSmile clear aligner therapy
17. Conventional bracket and wire ortho (1-2 clinic sessions/month)
18. Sleep medicine (treat sleep apnea with mandibular repositioning devices and C-PAP attachments, 1-2 clinic sessions/month)
19. TMD management (1-2 clinic sessions/month)
20. Anesthesia rotation (bag valving and intubating patients at the hospital)
21. Digital wax ups
22. 3-D printing
23. Dental photography
24. Manage complex medical histories (due to the nature of what qualifies a veteran for dental coverage, it’s rare to have a “healthy” veteran sitting in your chair)

Pros:

1. Dr. Douglas is fully dedicated to program and is a wealth of knowledge; we’ve also grown very close to him so it will be hard saying goodbye
2. No financial limitations on treatment plans (as long as it’s justified, you can pretty much do anything)
3. One assistant per resident, the same one dedicated to you the whole year
4. The latest and greatest technology available to you (Dentsply/CEREC PrimeScans, PrimeMills, Speed Fire ovens, Progamat ovens, FormLabs and SprintRay 3D printers, endo microscopes, Exocad and inLab design software)
5. No lab work unless you want to do your own
6. Camaraderie (my resident class got lucky in that all 8 of us have become best friends and we actually enjoy spending every waking moment together)
7. San Antonio is a fun city to live in for a year, lots to do

Cons:

1. Stressful and time-consuming (we’re at clinic 7am-7pm or later every day, and also come in on weekends if necessary)
2. No peds (this was a pro for me)
3. Little to no 3rd molar ext experience
4. I can count on 2 hands how many fillings I’ve done this year… compared to D4 year, I’ve lost speed and skill in that regard, so private practice may be a struggle in the beginning

Hope this helps at least one person. If you’re thinking about applying, I say go for it, as long as you’re willing to work hard! It was definitely worth what I got out of the experience.

I'm interested in how many of each procedure you did as well.

the above highlighted is pretty much what an entire 3 year periodontal residency is.