Pediatric Dentistry

The Advanced Specialty Education Program in Pediatric Dentistry occurs at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, St. Joseph Hospital Pediatric Dental Center in Providence, Rhode Island, or the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The curriculum of this specialty program revolves around both the well child and children who are medically compromised, developmentally disabled, or victims of trauma. The curriculum emphasizes pediatric medicine and dentistry, the behavioral and pharmacological management of children, oral biology for the pediatric dentist, and general anesthesia. Graduates are well prepared to be contributing members of the health care team in a hospital environment or community setting.

There are five first-year positions available yearly at Lutheran Medical Center, four first-year positions at St. Joseph, and two at Alaska Native Medical Center. First-year residents study most of the core curriculum. The program offers course work in craniofacial biology, oral biology, and genetics, and Brooklyn residents attend monthly craniofacial conferences at either Columbia University or North Shore Hospital. First-year residents, assigned to a pediatrician for the year, participate in well-child care. They also participate in a three-month rotation in general anesthesia and rotate on assignments in emergency medicine and phlebotomy.

There are five second-year residents at Lutheran, four positions in Providence, and two positions in Anchorage. During the second year, the focus of the curriculum is on the sick child. Second-year residents, assigned with pediatric specialists, work in areas such as endocrinology, neurology, pulmonology, nephrology, and cardiology. Residents rotate through nearby community health centers to extend direct patient care to underserved children in the community. During rotations at New York University College of Dentistry, Lutheran-based second-year residents teach undergraduate dental students. Second-year residents at St. Joseph teach undergraduate dental students at Tufts University in Boston.