Denver Health Medical Center

The Pediatric Dental Residency at Denver Health Medical Center is a comprehensive two-year hospital-based program encompassing both clinical and didactic training. Initial accreditation status by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) is anticipated prior to July 1, 2022.  Graduates will meet the advanced education eligibility requirements of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry.  A certificate is awarded to each resident at the completion of the program. The pediatric dentistry education program at Denver Health is designed to provide special knowledge and skills beyond the D.D.S. or D.M.D. training and is oriented to the accepted standards of CODA. This is best evidenced through the curriculum, which was developed by a collaborative pediatric dental faculty group at Denver Health with robust backgrounds, skills, and experiences in dentistry.

The Pediatric Dental Residency is a two-year program providing clinical, didactic and hospital experience at the postdoctoral level. The instruction and experience prepare residents to meet the oral health needs of pediatric patients.

The Pediatric Dental Residency at Denver Health strives to create an environment that enables residents to develop their clinical and intellectual skills. The program admits four residents per year.

Program Curriculum:  The curriculum is divided into two areas: biomedical/didactic and clinical. The biomedical/didactic curriculum focuses on enhancing the residents’ biomedical core knowledge in basic sciences and clinical sciences. The didactic curriculum is presented in a variety of formats.   Residents will be exposed to a variety of subjects through didactic sessions including, but not limited to: biomedical sciences, behavior guidance, craniofacial growth and development, oral facial injury and emergency care, oral diagnosis, oral pathology, and oral medicine, prevention and health promotion, practice management, special health care needs patients, hospital dentistry, pulp therapy, and advocacy.

The clinical curriculum includes providing both primary and comprehensive preventive and therapeutic oral health care for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health care needs.  The Pediatric Dental Residency is designed to provide clinical experience in orthodontics, periodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, restorative dentistry, and endodontics.  Hospital experiences in anesthesia, emergency medicine, and pediatric medicine provide the special knowledge and skill required for residents to provide comprehensive oral health care.  Guidelines and policies of the AAPD are reviewed and incorporated into discussions regarding patient care in the clinic. Evidence-based dentistry is also presented as part of the clinical sciences' didactic curriculum.  The program’s standard for providing oral health care requires faculty and residents to use critical thinking in both didactic and clinical experiences. Critical thinking when evaluating patient oral and medical conditions and health history will advance learner ability to consistently provide evidence-based treatment.

In addition to meeting or exceeding all CODA requirements for curriculum and clinical experiences, this program will emphasize public health dentistry.  Our curriculum, clinic, patient population, and off-site clinical rotations were all created with this emphasis.  Any dentist who has or who would like to cultivate an interest in public health dentistry is encouraged to apply.  It is anticipated that many graduates of this program will begin careers in public health dentistry upon completion of the program.

Denver Health Medical Center is a not-for-profit, teaching and academic hospital accredited by The Joint Commission. The Wellington Webb Primary Care Building is accessible for special health care needs patients. They currently receive care in the primary pediatric and adult clinics, the dental clinic, and other specialty clinics located within the Webb Building.  Denver Community Health Services (DCHS) is one of the oldest and largest community health center networks in the country. DCHS dental target population is all patients in the county of Denver.

Program Strengths:

The Denver Health program will provide residents with clinical experiences in a clinic dedicated to providing comprehensive care for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health care needs.  Denver Health Medical Center’s dental programs treat a growing, unique population of more than 25,000 patients.

The dental clinic is based in the Webb Center for Primary Care where pediatric and special needs patients receive a variety of primary and specialized healthcare. Residents will have the opportunity to see normal, healthy children as well as those that present with complexities related to age, medical condition, extent of oral disease and behavior.  The program works closely with Denver Health CODA accredited OMFS and GPR advanced education programs.  This results in opportunities for advanced clinical and didactic training by orthodontists, periodontists, endodontists, and oral maxillofacial surgeons. The dental clinic is co-located with the primary care pediatric clinic and has established an effective medical-dental integration process.   Resources and consultants for pediatric health care are available at Denver Health as well as Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children.  Denver Health is a Level 1 Trauma Center providing training and experience in management and treatment of injuries to oral-facial structures.