About the General Practice Residency Program at Lancaster General Health
The General Practice Residency (GPR) is a one year program providing professional education at a post-doctoral level. It is fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. One of the goals of the program is to expand both the scope and depth of the resident’s clinical skills and didactic knowledge and to provide comprehensive patient care to patients of all ages in a variety of patient care settings. The main emphasis of the program is on the treatment planning, coordination, and clinical care of patients with multidisciplinary treatment needs.
Goals of the GPR Program
The overall goals of the program are in accordance with the standards described by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, which states that the GPR residency will prepare the resident to:
- Act as a primary care provider for patients providing emergency, multidisciplinary comprehensive oral health care, and patient focused care coordinated by the general practitioner, directing health promotion and disease prevention activities, and using advanced dental treatment modalities.
- Plan and provide multidisciplinary oral health care for a variety of patients, including patients with special needs. Develop advanced levels of patient assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning employing development of patient rapport and the process of informed consent.
- Manage the delivery of oral healthcare by applying concepts of patient and practice management and quality improvement that are responsive to a dynamically changing health care environment.
- Function effectively and efficiently in multiple health care settings within interdisciplinary health care team.
- Apply scientific principles to learning and oral health care. This includes using critical thinking, evidence or outcomes-based clinical decision-making and technology based information retrieval systems.
- Utilize the values of professional ethics, lifelong learning, and patient centered care.
- Understand the oral health needs of communities and engage in community service.
- Show interest and appreciation for the dental literature while developing a lifelong commitment to continuing education, ethics, and professionalism.
Program Philosophy
The program is a comprehensive learning experience involving training in the major disciplines of general dentistry. Approximately 80% of the residency program is clinically oriented. Most of the clinical component is supervised by the Program Director and general dentists and is located within the South East Lancaster Health Services building on South Duke Street. When specialty care is needed, specialists in endodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry, and advanced general dentistry are available in the SELHS clinic to assist and direct the residents in patient care.
The program also consists of a didactic component, approximately 20% of the residency program. This didactic component provides the resident with a broad academic background from which sound clinical judgments can be made with respect to the diagnosis, treatment planning, and the selection of appropriate modality of treatment for each individual patient. The didactic phase of the program consists of: lectures by specialist and general dentists, treatment plan discussions, journal clubs, review of techniques/new products, continuing education courses, and lectures given on rotations in family medicine, anesthesia, and the emergency department. In addition, residents gain didactic knowledge and clinical experience in practice management techniques, which will enable them to be prepared to deal with acquiring a practice, managing a practice, and coordinating treatment in a practice that they may find themselves involved in upon graduation.
Rotations
The residents will do two week rotations through family practice, anesthesia, and the emergency department. These rotations are intended to expand the resident’s medical knowledge.
The residents will rotate through various clinics during the year. These rotations include: Welsh Mountain and the Brush, Brush, Smile Mobile Bus. These rotations allow the residents to see a more diverse patient population and to treat children who don’t have easy access to dental care.
The residents also will rotate through two oral surgery practices in the community where they will gain experience with implant placement, sedation, and will accompany the oral surgeons to assist them on Operating Room cases.
Dental Residents attend Patient Care Conferences at the Cleft Palate Clinic one Tuesday a month during the residency year.
How to Apply
Residency Applications to the program are handled through the Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS), administered by the American Dental Education Association. The program deadline through PASS is December 1.
Positions:
Two positions at the G-1 level.
Requirements to Apply:
- Passed Part I of National Dental Board Exam
- Graduate of a CODA accredited dental school from the US or Canada.
- Report Dental Match Code in the PASS application.
- Eligible for licensure in Pennsylvania.
- Submit a CV along with a 2X2 color photograph directly to the program.
- Selection Criteria:
- Clinical achievements, extramural experiences, interpersonal skills, review of letters of recommendation, and desire to serve in health professional shortage areas.
Selection Process:
The GPR Program at LGH participates in the Postdoctoral Dental Matching Program administered by the National Matching Service, Inc. The GPR admissions committee, consisting of the program director and GPR faculty will screen all applicants. Using the above mentioned selection criteria, the most promising applicants will be invited for personal interviews. Personal interviews commence in mid-November. Candidates will: tour the hospital and the dental clinic at South East Lancaster Health Services, get an overview of the program from the program director, meet and have lunch with current dental residents, and interview with the GPR admissions committee. They will also speak with a physician recruiter from Lancaster General Health who will go over benefits provided to the dental residents.
Kevin J. Risko, DMD
Lancaster General Health
Office of Academic Affairs
555 North Duke Street
PO Box 3555
Lancaster, PA 17604-3555
krisko2@lghealth.org
Our Faculty
Kevin J. Risko, DMD
Program Director, General Dentistry
Maxwell Adams, DDS
Oral Surgery
Gerald Green, DMD
Periodontics
Melissa Hendrix Hamers, DDS
General Dentistry
Daniel Henrichsen, DDS
Oral Surgery
Zoe Johnstone, DMD
General Dentistry
Margot Kusienski, DMD
Endodontics
Dusty Loeffler, DMD
Advanced General Dentistry
Ross Long Jr., DMD
Orthodontics
Mohammad Mazaheri, MDD, DDS, MSC
Prosthodontics
Peter Ross, DMD
Pediatric Dentistry
Susan Scott, RDH, MS
Practice Management