It has been several years since someone from our program updated SDN....
Most significant/recent changes in the program are that we expanded to 2 residents per year and currently in transition, meaning we have 1 chief, two 3rd/2nd/1st years. While we expanded categorical positions the internship (non-categorical) position has been discontinued.
We currently have 2 full time attendings, both of which are head & neck fellowship trained, one of which is also microvascular trained. There are 4 active part time attendings as well, each playing different roles in our program. All the attending staff are approachable, non-malignant, and knowledgeable. They treat the residents as colleagues rather than "residents". Our most recent part time attending is an implant and grafting specialist, having placed 10K+ implants.
Our program is rather unique because we are based at a level 1 trauma center, being the 3rd busiest in CA. It is the only Level 1 trauma center between Sacramento and Los Angeles, serving the entire central CA valley. We are the only service that takes facial trauma as there is no Plastics or ENT residencies. Meaning we are busy, very busy but also play a significant role here. We also occasionally operate at Children's Hospital, the VA, Kaiser, and another private hospital. Our 3rd years rotate to the VA as well preforming many outpatient OMFS procedures.
Previous history suggested that we only take our previous interns.... This is not true.... Our last 4 residents (1st years and 2nd years) are straight from dental school. Our strong points are trauma, dento-alveolar, head & neck pathology, orthognathics, reconstruction, implants, and IVGA/deep sedations. We also treat TMJ/facial pain, some cosmetic based procedures, and secondary cleft repair. We have at least 3 operating days per week and perform about 1 microvascular case per month.
I hope that sheds some light on our program, good luck everyone with the apps/interviews.
