Program Overview

The University of Michigan General Practice Residency Program is a 1-year program designed to provide advanced training beyond the level of pre-doctoral education in clinical dentistry and applied basic and behavioral sciences. It also seeks to equip trainees with the skills to provide comprehensive patient care for all patient populations.

This program is a supplement to the pre-doctoral curriculum, but is not a required component of that sequence.

Graduates of the program will be prepared to:

• Serve as the dentist of first contact for the patient and provide a means of entry into the oral health care system.
• Evaluate a patient’s total oral health needs, provide professional general dental care, and refer the patient, when indicated, to appropriate specialists while preserving continuity of care.
• Develop responsibility for a patient’s comprehensive and continuous oral health care, and when needed, act as the coordinator of the patient’s total health care.
• Offer a broad range of dental services, which can meet the needs of a diverse spectrum of patients, including the elderly, the cognitively and physically impaired, and the medically compromised.
• Meet the dental needs of underserved areas, which suffer from limited access to specialty services.
• Develop greater proficiency through didactic and clinical training in restorative dentistry; implants; fixed prosthodontics; removable prosthodontics; periodontics; endodontics (pulpal therapy); oral surgery; pediatric dentistry; oral medicine; pathology and radiology; oral diagnosis and treatment planning; preventive dentistry; geriatric dentistry; special care dentistry; pain control; laboratory skills; asepsis; infection and hazard control; physical evaluation; practice management; obtaining informed consent; and medical and dental emergencies.

Through this program, trainees can expect to:

• Enhance competence and confidence in the clinical disciplines that are integral components of general dentistry.
• Broaden their perspective by gaining the opportunity to observe, treat, practice, and experience techniques not common to the pre-doctoral curriculum.
• Enhance their knowledge of physical systems in relation to diseased and traumatic conditions of the oral tissues.
• Enhance their ability to make judgments, including arriving at a diagnosis, planning treatment and in decision-making during the course and order of treatment.
• Receive formal instruction and clinical experience in medical risk assessment to insure the provision of high-quality dental care.
• Enhance their ability to interact with all health care providers treating the patient.
• Familiarize themselves with hospital protocol and procedures.
• Enhance their understanding of and to provide experience in practice administration.
• Become proficient in the management of dental emergencies.
• Gain experience in community service, including care of populations with reduced access to care, by participating in community-based public health programs such as screenings, education and volunteer care.

House Officer benefits are negotiated between the University Hospital and the House Officers Association. House Officers are eligible to select from a number of health plan coverage options, which include a prescription drug plan: health maintenance organization (HMOs), preferred provider organization (PPOs), and traditional ‘fee-for-service’ plans. Other insurance plans available include dental, vision, legal, long-term disability, life, flexible spending, retirement, business travel accident, MHealthy rewards and MHealthy wellness programs. 

The University of Michigan offers highly competitive salaries and tremendous benefits to our residents/fellows. An overview of salary, benefits and employment eligibility is available on the GME Office website.

Applicants who have completed a course of study at an American Dental Association (ADA)-accredited dental school, and who have graduated with a DDS or DMD are eligible to apply.

Internationally trained dental graduates should meet the following criteria:

• Have completed 2 additional years of a CODA-accredited dental program earning a DDS or DMD.
• Have an Educational Credential Evaluation of your transcripts submitted with your application.
• Have passed the National Board of Dental Education Part I and Part II exams.
• Are eligible for a Michigan Educational Limited Dental License.

The University of Michigan Hospital Dentistry General Practice Residency program is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry Hospital Dentistry General Practice Residency program is accredited by the American Dental Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry Hospital Dentistry General Practice Residency program was designed to satisfy educational prerequisites to licensure for dentistry only in the state of Michigan. It has not been determined whether educational prerequisites to licensure would be satisfied in other states.

Students should consult the dental board in their state to confirm if the degree from University of Michigan School of Dentistry meets the criteria for professional licensure in their state. Contact information for the state dental boards can be found at the American Dental Association.