The University of Vermont Dental Residency program is one year, and it is fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation as part of the American Dental Association. Our affiliation with the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont provides the vital academic grounding for educating our residents, while the sponsorship of UVM Medical Center affords both institutional context and a modern workplace.
Our residents perform comprehensive dental care treating a variety of complex and medically compromised patients in several unique settings.
UVM Medical Center Dental & Oral Health Rotation
The UVMMC Dental & Oral Health clinic is the primary clinical location in a state-of-the-art facility built in 2014. In addition to general dentistry, residents do consultations and clinic cases with specialists in oral surgery, periodontics, orthodontics and prosthodontics including restoration of dental implants. Each resident is assigned a trained dental assistant for all clinical sessions. Faculty supervision is always available. Residents complete two 10-week rotations at UVMMC DOH for a total of 20 weeks.
Rural Private Practice Rotation
Residents spend 10 weeks seeing patients at a private practice in Middlebury, Vermont. Middlebury, home of acclaimed Middlebury College, is a quintessential Vermont small town in rural Addison County, Vermont. Residents see a great mix of general dentistry procedures and get to be part of a weekly clinic for un- and under-insured migrant farm workers. Residents receive direct supervision from the two staff dentists who are long time preceptors for multiple education programs including dental externships from multiple Northeastern dental schools. The drive to the office is about 45-60 minutes of rolling hills and farmland with views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains to the west. The Middlebury resident joins all didactics and conferences in-person with their cohort and receives mileage reimbursement. During this rotation, the resident will also be responsible for researching and presenting a chief’s conference presentation.
Rural New York Rotation
This rotation is located upstate in Warrensburg, New York at Hudson Headwaters Dental Center, which is the dental headquarters for a network of Federally Qualified Heath Centers serving the North Country of New York. Residents work with an assistant and perform all aspects of general dentistry while on this rotation. This is a public health facility but will additionally include the improved ability to provide a broad scope of general dentistry including dentures and partials. Residents receive direct supervision from the supportive staff dentists.
Warrensburg is located in the Adirondack Mountain region, about two hours away from Burlington. While rotating at Hudson Headwaters, residents live in a brand new, private resident apartment. Residents will rotate here 2 weeks at a time and then return to Burlington to rotate for 2 weeks as the hospital resident.
The total rotation is 10 weeks but is 2 weeks at a time alternating in the hospital rotation back at UVMMC. This means that the HHW resident stays connected to their co-residents and is only off-site for 2-week blocks. They join didactics and conferences virtually on Zoom and receive reimbursement for mileage.
Hospital Rotation
The 10-week hospital rotation at UVM Medical Center's main campus is comprised of participating in patient care with faculty oral surgeons both in the operating room and outpatient clinical settings. Procedures include a wide variety of oral surgical procedures and management. Cases include orthognathics, third molars, pre-cardiac clearances, special needs rehabs, and much more. Residents provide on-call services at the hospital and urgent care centers, including consultations for inpatients, and seeing patients who present in the emergency department with dental issues. Medicine rotations will also take place during this time.
During the hospital rotation, residents will also complete the following:
Anesthesia Rotation
The Anesthesia rotation allows the dental resident to perform the duties of an anesthesia resident under the supervision of the Department of Anesthesiology. This experience provides direct teaching in medicine, pharmacology and physiology. The resident gains skills in the pre-operative care, the administration of general and regional anesthesia in the operating room. Upon completion of this rotation, the dental resident is better adept to handle respiratory and cardiovascular emergencies that may develop in a dental office.
Emergency Department Rotation
During the Emergency Department rotation, residents work with an attending or resident physician and participate in emergency care. The residents gain an increased appreciation and knowledge of medicine as well as the acute evaluation of ill patients. On this rotation, residents are in the Emergency Department and spend time observing and assisting with any type of medical emergency.
Internal Medicine Rotation
During the internal medicine rotation, the residents spend a week as part of an inpatient treatment team. They will be an active part of rounding and doing overall medical evaluations for chronically ill patients in a hospital setting. They gain valuable experience in history taking, evaluation of sick patients, and the overall flow of the medical delivery system.