General Practice Residency Program Course Outline

Didactic Courses

GPDR 6001-101

In this first course of the seminar sequence, residents will begin exploring graduate-level content within each of the content areas. As the first of a series of three, this course is a departure point for multidisciplinary learning. Residents are not expected to meet all didactic objectives until the conclusion of the third course. In this initial course, residents will make progress toward objectives in each content area. As part of didactic training, residents additionally make formal case presentations monthly as well as present on relevant medical topics.
GPDR 6101-101

Continuation of GPDR 6001-101. In this second course of the seminar sequence, residents will gain a deeper understanding of graduate-level content within each of the content areas. As residents gain a more robust understanding of the didactic topics, they continue making progress toward objectives in each content area.
GPDR 6102-101

Continuation of GPDR 6102-101. In this final course of the seminar sequence, residents will have obtained an advanced understanding of content within each area and will demonstrate mastery of each objective in all content areas.

Didactic Course Area Objectives

Special Care
  • Define and understand functional limitation, disability, and handicap
  • Discuss legal, ethical, and consent issues and their implication for persons with special health care needs
  • Describe characteristic physical, cognitive, behavioral and communication challenges of patients with different disabilities and identify approaches and management
  • Identify common oral health problems in persons with special needs and discuss strategies for better delivery of care
  • Recognize various treatment modalities and their modification to enable oral health care of patients with special health care needs
Pedodontics
  • Recognize various treatment modalities and their modification to enable oral health care of pediatric patients
Endodontics
  • Describe patient factors that can affect the treatment plans and outcomes.
  • Understand and demonstrate test sensitivity, specificity, pre-test probability and predictive value
  • Learn Various diagnostic test with the greatest likelihood of useful results in endodontic therapy
  • Formulate, with the support of information obtained from the various specialists, an appropriate treatment plan
Operative and General Dentistry
  • Expand upon dental knowledge base with relevant clinical topics that residents can apply in daily practice
  • Develop better treatment planning knowledge using interdisciplinary scope of care modalities
  • Describe the factors involved in history and physical evaluation in the assessment of a patient during treatment planning
  • Understand and practice evidence-based dentistry
Prosthodontics
  • Understand what constitutes an appropriate referral to the Specialist
  • Describe various treatment modalities for restoring the edentulous space
  • Analyze assessment techniques on how to arrive at a differential, provisional and definitive diagnosis for patients with complex needs
TMD
  • Discuss the factors and importance of occlusion in the etiology of TMD
  • Describe the use of pharmacological agents in the treatment of patients
  • Describe indications for occlusal appliances, self-care management, medications used to treat chronic pain
  • Learn a systematic approach for screening and clinical examination using muscle digital palpation and other diagnostic tests
Ethics and Jurisprudence
  • Describe ethical theories and bioethical concepts
  • Define professionalism and identify professional obligations
  • Describe ethical problem-solving and narrative ethics
  • Relate ethical principles to various topics in dental ethics
  • Define informed consent, the components of comprehensive consent, and appropriate documentation
  • Explain a dentist’s role and responsibilities as an employer and business owner, or manager, and be able to discuss in broad terms compliance with wage and hour law, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, workplace safety, and privacy and security of protected health information
  • Describe broad parameters of compliance with ADA directives and guidelines, local state dental boards, insurance regulations, and federal regulations.
  • Describe broad parameters of compliance with OSHA and HIPAA guidelines
Global Health
  • Identify the tenets of dental public health, systems in place, and the principles underpinning the practice of dental public health.
  • Analyze oral health disparities and access to dental care
  • Explain the role of evidence-based dentistry in public health and policy
  • Describe contemporary issues in dental public health
Practice Management and Process Improvement
  • Describe the benefits and steps in process improvement and conduct a quality review initiative of an MUSOD clinic
  • Distinguish between various types of practice environments
  • Describe the components of managing a successful office
  • Discuss various personnel policies and associated advantages and disadvantages
  • Describe various arrangements for association and buying a practice
  • Describe business arrangements for general contractors and clinic employees
  • Discuss front office management and third-party reimbursement systems
  • Discuss modern office management systems and their applications to various practice scenarios
Oral Surgery
  • Learn and discuss the attributes of a History and Physical Assessment of a pre-operative patient including appropriate comorbidities, consultations, medical risk assessment, pre-medication and incorporating various modifications to treatment as necessary
  • Describe the process and its stages of wound healing. 
  • Discuss the indications, contraindications and technique for surgical extraction of erupted, partially and fully impacted third molars.
  • Define the post-surgical follow-up including diagnosis and appropriate treatment of post-operative complications including when to refer to higher level of care
  • Describe the indications of soft tissue and hard tissue incisional and excisional biopsies, and how to incorporate this technique into a comprehensive treatment plan
  • Define the critical restorative and surgical aspects of treatment planning patients for dental implant therapy as part of the comprehensive treatment plan.
  • Identify the stages of dental implant osteointegration and the types of treatment or referral of post operative infections secondary to dental implant therapy
Periodontics
  • Describe the various periodontal diseases using the AAP classification system and treatment plan periodontal therapy
  • Discuss the various non-surgical procedures needed to treat periodontal disease.  
  • Define and understand the periodontal / restorative interface to include the knowledge of biological width violation and incorporate the functional and/or esthetic crown lengthening into a comprehensive treatment plan
  • Describe the indications for various surgical interventions in the treatment of periodontal disease
  • Discuss the expected results of periodontal therapy and how to establish/monitor a periodontal maintenance program
Oral Pathology
  • Discuss the radiographic interpretation various imaging modalities, including the cone beam computer tomography of the head and neck
  • Learn and recognize soft and hard lesions of the head and neck
  • Describe oral cancer and biopsy techniques
  • Describe and identify reactive lesions, odontogenic tumors, benign fibro-osseous lesions, malignant bone lesions, vesiculo-bullous and dermatologic lesions
  • Describe non-surgical and treatment modalities of various lesions of the head and neck
  • Describe and identify salivary gland lesions and pigmented lesions.
  • Discuss when to refer and timeliness of referral to an appropriate dental and medical specialist
Pain and Anxiety Control
  • Understand and describe the various behavioral management techniques to treat patient with dental anxiety
  • Describe how to manage dental pain and anxiety using various pharmacologic modalities, including enteral, parental forms of sedation in various dental settings
  • Discuss the behavioral management complications and pharmacologic interactions of patients with comorbidities, including drug interactions
Evaluation of Dental Emergencies
  • Discuss the evaluation of a dental emergency including when to request assistance from an outside source
  • Identify the basic treatment modalities included in Basic Life Support and Advanced Care Life Support algorithms based on the description of the dental emergency
  • Discuss the basics of moderate and deep sedation dental emergencies

Clinical Courses

GPDR 6002-101

Residents are assigned clinical cases that require treatment in two or more clinical disciplines. Trainees are responsible for accurate compilation and documentation of clinical findings essential for appropriate treatment planning and case completion. Residents provide comprehensive dental services to patients or make referrals to appropriate specialists. Trainees also engage in assessment, management, and treatment of dental emergencies. Emphasis on development of critical thinking skills and abilities to conduct individualized risk assessments and to design appropriate prevention measures while treating a diverse array of patients. In this first clinical course of the three-course series, residents will begin working toward achieving Entrustability in the 16 program EPAs.
GPDR 6102-101

Continuation of GPDR 6002-101. In this second clinical course of the three-course series, residents continue to work to achieve Entrustability in all 16 program EPAs.
GPDR 6202-101

Continuation of GPDR 6202-101. In this final clinical course of the three-course series, residents achieve Entrustability in all 16 program EPAs.

GPR Program Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs)

The GPR program at MUSoD has a robust assessment framework that synthesizes multiple data points to determine when a resident has achieved clinical competency. The framework the program uses to determine clinical competency is the called the Entrustable Professional Activity Framework (EPAs).

EPAs allow for the evaluation of whether the resident can be trusted to perform a specific activity, using a combination of knowledge, skills and/or attitudes, with a certain level of supervision and independence.[1] Entrustability decisions are based on data from clinical assessments from MUSoD faculty, reflections, EHR review, presentations, and rotation assessments.

[1] Ramaswamy V, et al. Entrustable professional activities framework for assessment in predoctoral dental education, developed using a modified Delphi process. J Dent Educ. 2021 Aug;85(8):1349-1361. doi: 10.1002/jdd.12620. Epub 2021 Apr 19. PMID: 33876437.
 

GPR Program EPAs

#

EPA

1

Gather a history and perform a physical examination

2

Prioritize a differential diagnosis following a clinical encounter

3

Recommend and interpret common diagnostic and screening tests

4

Enter and discuss orders and prescriptions

5

Document a clinical encounter in the patient record

6

Provide an oral presentation of a clinical encounter

7

Form clinical questions and retrieve evidence to advance patient care

8

Give or receive a patient handover to transition care responsibility

9

Collaborate as a member of an interprofessional team

10

Recognize a patient requiring urgent/emergency care and initiate evaluation & treatment

11

Obtain informed consent for tests and/or procedures

12

Perform all level of clinical procedures expected of a GPR dentist

13

Identify system failures and contribute to a culture of safety and improvement

14

Using motivational communication and other health promotion techniques, provide preventive care recommendations that optimize wellness and function, modify risk factors for disease and injury, detect disease in early manageable stages, and expedite healing and recovery.

15

Diagnose and manage chronic oral conditions and comorbidities, including oral manifestations of systemic diseases

16

Diagnose and manage oral emergencies, trauma, and infection