Periodontics
Objectives
- Graduate clinicians who demonstrate proficiency with the diagnosis, treatment planning, and comprehensive treatment of periodontal diseases and dental implants.
- Graduate clinicians who demonstrate proficiency with the management and the long-term supportive therapy of periodontal and implant patients.
- Provide graduates with a strong foundation in the scientific basis for specialty practice in periodontics, with particular emphasis on the critical use of current literature and knowledge.
- Prepare clinicians to become Diplomates of the American Board of Periodontology.
- Provide graduates with a foundation in the basic sciences sufficient to understand current literature and evaluate future advances relevant to the clinical practice of periodontics and implant therapy.
- Prepare clinicians to work in cooperation with general practitioners and other health care specialists in the delivery of optimal comprehensive dental care.
- Graduate clinicians who discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge as well as contribute to the profession, education, and society.
Scope of Training
The Advanced Dental Education Program in Periodontics is designed to train residents in all facets of periodontology and to prepare them to become Diplomates of the American Board of Periodontology. The program is based in a core curriculum of traditional periodontics that includes training in all aspects of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning. Residents become proficient in all currently accepted modalities of surgical and nonsurgical therapy. The program provides a strong foundation in the scientific basis for specialty practice in periodontics, with particular emphasis on the critical use of current literature and knowledge. Diversity in the training of faculty exposes each resident to various concepts of conventional surgical and non-surgical therapy.
Residents gain experience in managing a periodontal maintenance program. Extensive training is provided in implantology, which includes surgical preparation of the implant site and placement of implants. Clinical experiences also include contemporary bone regeneration techniques for alveolar ridge and maxillary sinus augmentation. Postgraduate students receive in-depth instruction in all areas of conscious sedation and gain experience in the administration of conscious sedation, including clinical exposure to intravenous sedation and administration of conscious sedation. There will be complete sufficient didactic and clinical case experiences necessary to be certified to provide conscious sedation.
Residents receive experience in treating patients with all categories of periodontal diseases, particularly those patients with advanced stages of the diseases. Clinical training in oral medicine includes periodontal treatment of older adults and medically compromised patients as well as the management of non-plaque related periodontal diseases and disorders. Lectures, seminars, and conferences are held in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning, surgical techniques, periodontal maintenance, implantology, and practice management. Seminars are conducted with other specialties to interrelate all fields of dentistry and medicine; with guest consultants who are experts in their field; and with postdoctoral students in periodontics from other teaching institutions. During assignments at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, residents learn diagnostic methods in laboratory medicine. Residents lecture and provide clinical supervision to predoctoral dental students. The preparation and documentation of cases is a requirement for graduation from the program.
Residents will also apply for admission to the Master of Science (M.S.) program in Biomedical Sciences through the Graduate School, University of Maryland. Graduate coursework successfully completed as part of the specialty program also fulfills course requirements for the M.S. program. Residents are required to conduct a research project and to complete a paper acceptable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal or thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Certificate in Periodontics. Graduates of the Advanced Dental Education Program in Periodontics receive a Certificate in Periodontics upon successful completion of program requirements. Upon submission and successful defense of the master’s thesis, residents are awarded the M.S. degree in Biomedical Sciences by the Graduate School. Completion of the requirements for the M.S. program normally occurs during the Spring Semester of the third-year of the specialty program.
The Baltimore-Washington area is rich in institutions for clinical and basic science expertise, and residents are given opportunities to interact with these valuable resources.
Site of Training
The major site of training is the dental school. Coursework also is taken at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Number of Positions
Three
Special Admission Guidelines
- Applicants must have passed Parts I and II National Board Dental Examinations, with an average score of 85 or higher considered competitive.
- Applicants should rank in the upper 20 percent of their dental class.
- An interview is required before acceptance of candidates.
Length of Program
Three years (36 months)