Rotations

UAMS Oral Health Center

Residents spend approximately 10 months at the OHC where the majority of time is spent providing hands-on patient treatment. Clinical rotations are spread out during the entire year to assure continuity of care. During their time in clinic, residents gain a wide variety of experiences by providing complex dental treatment for both hospitalized and ambulatory patients.  The concept of comprehensive care is stressed, with an emphasis on considering the “whole” patient. Opportunities exist for providing comprehensive dental care; including fixed and removable prosthodontics, implant placement and restoration, rotary endodontic therapy, periodontal therapy, oral surgery, and advanced esthetic operative techniques. Residents will become well versed in providing dental clearance for UAMS patients requiring head and neck radiation, solid organ transplant, and stem cell transplant. Residents also gain extensive experience in evaluating hospital patients and providing dental consultations for various hospital services.

Oral Surgery, Pediatric and Special Needs Dentistry, and Periodontics

The GPR resident spends two weeks at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Dental Clinic. This rotation is heavily focused on treating patients in the operating room providing care to Pediatric and special needs patients. For the oral surgery portion, each resident will spend one-on-one time training with the oral surgeons at ACH learning surgical procedures and familiarizing themselves with third molar extractions, jaw resections, stabilizations, obturator construction and TMJ therapy.  They will also participate in removal of cancerous tumors and cysts, assist the surgeon with biopsies, and participate in surgeries with the cleft palate team.  Patients included are complex pediatric and adult patients, special needs patients, trauma, and OR cases. For the Pediatric and Special needs portion, emphasis is placed upon prevention of oral disease in the child and adolescent, management of dental emergencies, and treatment of the phobic or disruptive patient via behavioral management, inhalation analgesia, or general anesthesia. Residents will also spend time in the clinic and OR with the ACH periodontist, actively assisting and performing periodontal procedures such as gingivectomies, frenectomies, exposure of impacted teeth, extractions, and periodontal procedures in conjunction with orthodontics.

Emergency Medicine

During this one-week rotation, residents actively participate in the care of patients presenting to the UAMS Hospital Emergency Room and Walk-in-Clinic. UAMS serves as a Level 1 trauma center; thus residents are exposed to a wide variety of emergency medical situations, from sprained ankles to major trauma. The GPR residents are often assigned one-on-one with an Emergency Medicine physician to maximize their rotation.

Otolaryngology

This two-week rotation is spent on service with the Department of Otolaryngology. The GPR resident will be primarily assigned to the head and neck cancer team. They will follow patients undergoing multidisciplinary management for head and neck cancer. Time will be spent in radiation oncology and medical oncology. Residents will observe and participate in numerous outpatient surgery procedures at the UAMS Otolaryngology clinic and operating rooms. Residents will participate in the care of hospitalized patients from admission to discharge. The GPR residents are required to participate in at least five operating room cases.

Anesthesia

During this two-week rotation, residents actively participate in the care of surgery patients via assignment to the Department of Anesthesiology at the UAMS Hospital. Residents receive experience in physical evaluation of the pre-anesthetic patient, starting and maintaining intravenous lines, oral and nasal intubation, monitoring vital signs, maintaining optimum airways, utilizing various equipment and instrumentation for monitoring the anesthetized patient, and patient recovery.

UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center and Harmony Health Clinic

The 12th Street and Harmony Health clinics currently see an underserved population, and the dental clinic will also see this same type of patient population. The residents will treat these dental patients and provide a much-needed service for the community.

Endodontics

An endodontic course is taught and supervised by a private practice endodontist in the Oral Health Clinic.  This course focuses on molar root canal therapy and consists of clinical instruction, incorporating the use of endodontic instrumentation, use of the microscope, use of rotary endodontics, and analysis of canal anatomy using CBCT.

Periodontics

This periodontal course is taught and supervised by a private practice periodontist in the Oral Health Clinic.  Several types of surgical procedures as well as dental implant placement is included within the year.  This course provides training in periodontal procedures as needed for restorative treatment including crown lengthening, flap surgery, osseous surgery and grafting procedures.

Implant

The implant course is taught and supervised by our adjunct faculty dentists. This course provides training in implant placement and restoration, CBCT software with implant planning, and exposes resident to at least one surgically guided implant experience.

Ozark Prosthodontics (OP)

This four-day experience takes place in a private ambulatory surgery center in Northwest Arkansas. Residents will get exposure to complex prosthetic rehabilitation of craniofacial anomalies including cleft lip and palate, ectodermal dysplasia, amelogenesis imperfecta, etc. in addition to post head/neck radiation and chemo rehabilitation and maxillofacial trauma rehabilitation. Center uses cutting-edge technology and employs software engineers to design prosthetics and surgical guides. All providers are prosthodontic specialists employing IV sedation with CRNAs for cases, allowing resident to enhance their anesthesia experience, in addition to their prosthodontic experience and surgical experience. They also bill 90% medical insurance based on the patient diagnosis allowing residents to see a completely different practice model of medical dentistry.