V.A. Medical Center, Providence

The Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Program is a fully accredited one-year post-doctoral program in clinical dentistry with a didactic component in general dentistry. The primary focus of this program is to improve the clinical skills taught in an undergraduate dental school program. The clinical and didactic training and experiences are at a level of skill and complexity beyond that accomplished in a pre-doctoral program. The program currently accepts three residents per year. Each resident is assigned a modern, well-equipped dental operatory and a full-time chair-side dental assistant. The facilities and staff support all clinical and educational activities of the program.

Duty, Leave, Stipend

• Appointment: One full year, starting July 1st
• Hours of Duty: 7:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., Monday - Friday
• On Call: None
• Annual Leave: 13 days (vacation), 11 federal holidays
• Stipend: Approximately $72,000

Clinical and Didactic Instruction

Clinical and didactic instruction covers the range of dental disciplines, emphasizing practice management and care for the medically compromised and dentally complex patients. Approximately 90% of time will be spent providing direct patient care and 10% will be directed toward non-clinical and didactic activities. 95% of our patients are outpatients.  Upon satisfactory completion of the program, residents receive a certificate in Advanced Education in General Dentistry.

The resident has the opportunity to gain significant experience in all disciplines of dentistry with the exception of pediatric dentistry and orthodontics (limitations being placed on these by our regulating authorities).  Residents will recieve training in expanded scope procedures in the areas of oral surgery, endodontics, implant supported prosthodontics, and implant surgery. The program offers up to date technology including the Dentsply Primescan, Dentsply Primemill, and CBCT.

Location, availability of patients, and staffing direct the major emphasis of the program toward the management of medically compromised dental patients.  Emphasis is placed on the dental disciplines of oral surgery, prosthodontics (fixed and removable), endodontics, and periodontics.

The program’s objectives are to graduate residents that are able to:

1.  Evaluate, diagnosis, manage and treat ambulatory, non-ambulatory and medically compromised patients through a multidisciplinary oral health care approach;

2  Function effectively within the hospital and other health care environments;

3. Continually strive to expand their dental knowledge base by critically reviewing literature and improving their clinical skills;

4. Evaluate and treat most dental emergencies;

5. Appreciate the importance of providing dental resources to the community (i.e. community service).

The didactic activities support the clinical aspects of the program.  Seminars emphasize patient management and treatment planning.  This is a continuing effort in day-to-day clinical operations and is reviewed on a periodic basis during treatment planning seminars, literature reviews, monthly patient care conferences and continuing education courses. 

NYU Langone provides online learning modules covering a multitude of topics in specialty and general dentistry. This comprises the majority of the didactic activity.

The clinical phase of the program comprises the bulk of the curriculum.  Approximately 90% of resident time is spent in the Dental Service Clinic.
At the completion of the program, residents are well-trained dentists.  They have a good command of general dentistry, are confident of their abilities, and know their limitations.  The program provides them with a reasonable basis for future professional development in general dentistry or specialty training.

https://www.va.gov/providence-health-care/work-with-us/internships-and-fellowships/