The AEGD program provides advanced training in the dental specialties in an effort to expand the type and depth of treatment practiced by the program's graduates. Comprehensive patient care, teaching skills, and critical thinking are priorities of the program. The Department of General Dentistry is committed to providing excellent advanced education in General Dentistry to individuals who plan to seek careers in General Dentistry. In keeping with the generalist concept, the majority of patient care is supervised by General Dentistry faculty, all of whom have had one to three years of advanced education in General Dentistry. In addition, residents will also work on a regular basis with orthodontists, periodontists, endodontists, and prosthodontists.
Didactic instruction is also an important part of the residency program.
Approximately six hundred hours are devoted to lecture, seminar, continuing education courses and other didactic presentations of wide ranging topics. Much of this is concentrated during the months of July and August, but didactic instruction is an important component throughout the year. The department also offers an optional second year of the AEGD residency. As second-year residents, individuals will spend much more time in the Advanced General Dentistry Clinic providing comprehensive care to a wide variety of patients. In addition, chief residents also carry a number of teaching responsibilities for the first-year residents as well as with undergraduate dental students.