St. Christopher's Hospital for Children

The basic training objectives for the Department of Pediatric Dentistry are to educate graduate dentists for clinical practice and to prepare them for certification by the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. The first year of the program addresses itself to six main areas of specialty training. These include: comprehensive dental care for the routine pediatric patients, including orthodontic diagnosis and treatment of the early and mixed dentitions, hospital procedures, dental and oral trauma, pediatric dental medicine, and preventive dentistry. In order to achieve these goals, first year residents complete rotations through the Department of Pediatric Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery. Each resident also has the experience of treating children on the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, a mobile dental facility that serves the local community.

The second year is designed to increase responsibility and challenge the trainee. These objectives are accomplished by assigning the resident to the Center for Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs and Department of Anesthesia Pre-Op Evaluation. This allows for total involvement of dentistry for the handicapped and/or medically compromised child. In addition, second year residents rotate through the Pediatric Clinic at Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry in order to gain teaching experience with the dental students. A second year resident will be selected as the chief dental resident in charge of all in-patient dental care and throughout the year will be responsible for teaching the first year residents.

The residents are expected to develop expertise in hospital protocol. It is intended that by graduation they be familiar with all aspects of pediatric dentistry practiced within a hospital environment. The resident should be familiar with admission notes, orders for pre/post-operative care, utilization of consultation services, and all the techniques required to render dental care to patients under the effects of a general anesthetic. It is further intended that residents by the end of their training shall have a thorough understanding of the role of dentistry in the interdisciplinary approach to developmental disabilities. In order to accomplish this, the second year of residency is spent learning about dentistry's role in the care of children with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, craniofacial disorders, central nervous system disease and injury, and many other acquired and development.

Curriculum

Clinically, the residency provides training in routine pediatric dental care, emergency dental treatment, dental care of the physically and mentally handicapped, interceptive orthodontics, cleft palate care, dental management of the oncology patient, and oral rehabilitation utilizing general anesthesia. A team approach concept manages the diagnosis and treatment of craniofacial and maxillofacial anomalies within the department, as in a program for the treatment of children with cerebral palsy. Training in the pharmacology and physiology of anesthesia and the technique of administration is provided through a one-month, full-time assignment to the Department of Anesthesiology. The patient population is equally divided between well children and children with significant medical histories. There is a close liaison with all medical and surgical departments encouraging free exchange at all times.

The didactic curriculum encompasses dental radiology and oral pathology seminars, a growth and development seminar, clinical application of head and neck anatomy, seminars in pediatric medicine, a weekly case presentation, a lecture series on endodontics and dental pulp, and seminars in all aspects of pediatric dentistry given by the dental faculty.

Program Stipend and Tuition

The stipend is $72,808.43 for the first year and $75,003.91 for the second year. Tuition is not required. Hospital house staff benefits can be viewed.

Facilities

1. St Christopher's Hospital for Children
2. Ronald McDonald Mobile Dental Van
3. Temple University - Kornberg School of Dentistry
4. Pennsylvania Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION SUBMISSION IS OCTOBER 1, 2026.

All applicants must submit the following to ebony.ford@towerhealth.org : 

• 2x2 color photo
• $50 application fee
• Application Receipt 

After submitting the supplemental fee to https://givestchris.org/dental, please submit your receipt and a 2x2 photo to Ebony Ford.