Why You Should Consider a General Dental Residency At Trinity Health Oakland

There are many good reasons why you should consider applying to our program. We are unique and are a good destination for residents who are looking for a broad variety of clinical experiences, while solidifying and growing their dental expertise.

Large Patient Base with Dental Needs

Unlike most dental schools today, we have a large group of patients who are in need of care. Due to the socioeconomic challenges in our area, we always had more than enough patients to support our residents' experiences. Whether it is fixed partial dentures, implants or adults with special needs, we have more people in need of care than we can possibly handle.

Dental School Today Provides Minimal Experiences

Today the dental school has provided the graduate with a very basic experience in providing treatment to real patients. This has become more evident over the last decade and has made the reasons for doing a GPR even more important. Most importantly, it is one thing to do a procedure on a manikin, or a few times in school. It is quite different to perform this procedure to a level of clinical excellence. To achieve clinical excellence we recognize that residents need more training in treatment planning, instrumentation, and dental specialties. Our program is designed to meet these needs, as we are well aware of the gaps in predoctoral dental education today.

Are You Interested In Treating Adults with Special Needs?

Many dental students are interested in treating adults with special needs but have had little actual treatment experience. We have a large number of patients with special needs that we see in the Henderson Dental Center for routine care and also in the hospital operating room for treatment under general anesthesia. You will see patients with many different syndromes and behaviors as we one of the few places in the Detroit area offering dental services to this vulnerable patient group. Our goal is to help these patients become a part of your future in an inclusive dental practice.

We Graduate Dentists to Private Practice Careers

It is not unusual to hear students say “I would like to do a GPR but I don’t want to be a hospital dentist.” Our program was started by private practice dentists who also treat patients in the hospital. Our goal has always been to graduate residents who can go into a community and work in the hospital. The curriculum is geared toward preparing you for private practice with a discussion of practice management, financial literacy, working with the dental team, and working with attending dentists and specialists that are all in private practice. This has proven to be true when we recognize that over 80% of our graduates who have been out in practice over 5 years are practice owners today!