Curriculum in Dental Public Health

The curriculum is designed to provide the dental public health resident with experiences that result in achieving competence in the field of dental public health. At the completion of the residency in dental public health, the candidate should have obtained fundamental knowledge of the philosophy, principles and practice of dental public health and should have developed skills for practicing dental public health, including research, administration, and education. The program is arranged to address the ten competency statements, allowing the resident to develop core knowledge in the area. The required experiences and courses cover a wide range of information believed to be essential for graduates in the field. The curriculum consists of four content areas, including didactic coursework, undergraduate dental teaching, research, field and clinical experiences. Upon demonstration of competency in dental public health, the residents are awarded a specialty certificate.

Upon entry into the program, each resident will prepare a residency plan. This plan outlines the proposed schedule for the year and is accomplished in consultation with the Residency Director. The schedule of rotations and didactic courses will be provided to assist the resident in preparing their plan. In addition, research topics will be identified in consultation with the Residency Director and the research schedule will be incorporated into the residency plan.

The curriculum is divided into four broad educational initiatives.

Didactic Coursework: Dental public health residents are required to take coursework in Advanced Studies in Dental Public Health. This course meets once per week for three hours per week during the entire year of the residency program. This course is a literature review and participation course. Residents are expected to have reviewed the seminal and current literature about a topic in dental public health and discuss their findings with the faculty member. Faculty members in the Department of Community Dentistry and other departments share their expertise with the residents.

Dental public health residents may take additional coursework in the Biomedical Core Course at UTHSCSA or take additional courses given at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center, School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus. Residents are encouraged to attend lectures and symposia in the school and community that expand their knowledge about dental public health.

Undergraduate Dental Student Teaching: Dental public health residents are required to teach dental students in the Clinical Preventive Dentistry Course, supervising students in this course for one-half day per week in the clinic. In addition, residents will supervise dental students in community-based programs. Residents will rotate through the Nutrition Clinic and will assist faculty with student evaluation of dietary assessments for patients at high risk for oral diseases as well as lead small group tutorials in the Ethics course.

Research: The generation of knowledge and the application of scientific methods are a cornerstone to dental public health resident training. To accomplish this objective, residents will conduct two research projects in fulfillment of the expectation of the American Board of Dental Public Health. One project is quantitative and will require the application of upper level statistical methods. The second project can be either quantitative or qualitative. Because of the focus of the Dental Public Health Residency on South Texas and border health issues, one research project must be conducted in Laredo, TX.

While the research should be focused on topics in dental public health, the work can include study in biomedical sciences, public policy, health care delivery, or other topics in public health. The research report must follow the format outlined by the American Board of Dental Public Health and described on the American Association of Public Health Dentistry website. The plans, protocols, and reports must be developed in direct consultation with the Dental Public Health Residency Director.

Rotations: Residents are expected to develop a broad understanding of administration, programs, and policy. These areas are taught in didactic seminar and through rotation experiences. In addition, residents are involved in dental public health practice and provide dental preventive and treatment services in public practice settings.

1. Field Experiences: To provide an understanding of the administration of dental public health programs, dental public health residents rotate through the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Texas Department of State Health Services: Oral Health Group, and Texas Department of State Health Services: Region 8 Offices. If possible, the Program Director will schedule experiences in Washington DC, allowing residents to better understand program and policy development at the national level. These rotations include experiences at the Indian Health Service (IHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
2. Clinical Experiences: Dental public health residents provide diagnostic, preventive and treatment services as a component of their training experience. Through the program, residents provide services to children in Head Start, to elementary school children at our school-based sealant clinics at the Coronado-Escobar Elementary School, Edgewood ISD, San Antonio, TX and at Perez Elementary School, United ISD, Laredo, TX. Within our dental van program, residents provide services for children of migrant farmworkers, for children and adults living in colonias in South Texas, and for mentally and multiply disabled children and adults at the Willows Developmental Center.
3. South Texas Experiences: The dental public health residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is focused on oral health issues along the Texas-Mexico border. Residents are actively involved in providing services to persons living along the border and in the development of independent research that address the needs of the people living along the border with a focus in Laredo. As an introduction to issues along the border, residents will participate in the South Texas Environmental and Educational Research (STEER) Program. This program serves as an orientation to public health issues along the border, especially in communities surrounding Laredo. In addition, residents will spend approximately 60 days working in Laredo conducting research, providing preventive services at Perez Elementary School, and treatment services at the colonias in this region.