General Dentistry Rotation
Description: The general dentistry rotation consists of approximately 40 weeks at the
Neighborcare Health Dental at Providence St. Peter Hospital Clinic providing
comprehensive care to patients in a community health center setting. The
Neighborcare Health Dental at Providence St. Peter Hospital Clinic is
unique in that it serves as both a referral-based clinic built to treat
patients that the average community dentist is uncomfortable treating
and a dental home for those socioeconomically challenged in the community.
Additionally, residents will see patients for dental clearance prior to
head/neck cancer radiation therapy, cardiac surgery, or artificial joint
placement. They provide dental care under nitrous oxide, oral, or intravenous
sedation as well general anesthesia in a hospital operating room. During
general anesthesia, in the OR, the resident provides treatment including
but not limited to composite/amalgam restorations, stainless steel crowns,
pulpotomies, extractions, and space maintainers. This rotation includes
advanced training in pediatric dentistry, periodontics, oral surgery,
endodontics (anterior and posterior, including molars) and implant dentistry.
Hospital/Medicine Rotations
Description: The hospital/medicine rotation consists of multiple smaller rotations.
This includes 5-6 weeks of Anesthesia at The Providence St. Peter Hospital.
Residents work with anesthesiologists and other members of the surgery
team. Experiences include pre-surgical patient interviewing, starting
IV lines, placement of various airway devices (oral airway, laryngeal
mask airways, endotracheal tubes, nasoendotracheal tubes) and post-operative care.
Residents spend 2 weeks working with The Providence St. Peter Hospital, Family Medicine Residency team. They are exposed to patients with a plethora of conditions, to see/hear/feel abnormal physical findings such as murmurs, crackles, bruits, jaundice, hepatomegaly, etc., and to experience how the medical doctors approach their care. They also learn how to function in the hospital environment, use the electronic medical record, read charts, and write orders. This rotation helps the residents meet their competency statements in physical evaluation, medical history, and risk assessment.
Residents spend one week working with the Cardiac Surgery team at The Providence St. Peter Hospital. The intent is for our residents to gain further understanding of cardiac disease and the surgical and non-surgical treatment modalities used to treat these conditions. The residents gain additional understanding of: cardiac anatomy, physiology and pharmacology, interpretation of laboratory studies and other techniques used in the diagnosis of cardiac disease (ie. echocardiography, EKG, cardiac catholicization, etc.), the techniques employed to surgically treat cardiac disease (ie. use of cardiopulmonary bypass, open, minimally invasive and transcatheter valve replacement, mitraclip, etc.), the consequences of failing/infected cardiac valves, importance of high quality dental clearance for cardiac patients, and arriving at a medical risk assessment. In addition to interacting the cardiothoracic surgeons and their PAs the residents also spend time working with the cardiac anesthesiologists and perfusionists which help provide a more in depth understanding of cardiac physiology.
Early in the program, residents spend two days in the Emergency Department at The Providence St. Peter Hospital, shadowing physicians and physician’s assistants. This provides for familiarity with the ED, its processes and personnel. After this the residents rotate through call with each resident being on-call every 3rd week, on average. The residents along with their on-call attendings are responsible for providing emergency dental coverage 24/7/365.
