Residency Program

The department offers a four-year residency program that culminates in the professional Certificate in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The program combines clinical and didactic training to prepare dentists for specialty practice. Every effort is made to adapt the program to the individual interests, abilities, and development of students, but it is essential that all students meet certain fundamental requirements.

Recommendations of the American Dental Association, the Committee on Graduate Training of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery have been considered carefully in planning the structure and scope of training.

The residency period covers four years of hospital training, providing an orientation to hospital procedures, integration of basic and clinical sciences, acquisition of surgery principles, and familiarization with varied aspects of health services.

Competence in clinical oral and maxillofacial surgery requires knowledge of the basic medical sciences related to the specialty. In addition to hospital and clinical training, residents take advanced coursework in subjects such as applied pharmacology, surgical anatomy, pathology, physiology, and microbiology. They also review closely related disciplines such as radiology, anesthesiology, physical diagnosis, and laboratory procedures. Development and implementation of a research project under staff supervision enhance the value of the residency training.

The assumption of increased responsibility and the opportunity for clinical and operating room experience are important aspects of residency training. Residents gain clinical training in anesthesia through an assigned rotation in the Department of Anesthesia (Carver College of Medicine). Previous advanced training in physical diagnosis, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology take on greater clinical significance, and increased responsibility in the operating room as first assistant and surgeon further develops surgical judgment and skills.

Senior residents may be given responsibility for major oral and maxillofacial surgical cases during rotations at University of Iowa Health Care. Each fourth-year resident is assigned to a rotation as a clinical and didactic coordinator and assumes responsibility to qualify for examination by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. To learn more about Iowa's program, visit the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency website.

Students may begin the four-year certificate program only on July 1. Applicants are selected through a postdoctoral dental matching program. The application deadline for the match in oral and maxillofacial surgery is Sept. 1 for admission the following July. Appointments are made after the match results are revealed and the staff elects to take official action. Appointments are offered on or before Feb. 1 for the following July.

Applicants must have graduated from an accredited college of dentistry, should be in the upper one-fourth of their graduating class, and must be eligible to be licensed to practice dentistry in the United States.