Externships

The Externship Program is offered to visiting predoctoral dental students. Externships provide an educational experience designed to familiarize a predoctoral dental student with the postdoctoral program and its faculty, and to provide the director and faculty an opportunity to evaluate the qualities of the student who may be a potential applicant to the program. An interested predoctoral dental student (rising or current senior) may apply for an externship through the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs by completing an "Application for Externship" form. The program director for the externship will review the application to determine if it is feasible for the student to attend at the time requested.

ADVANCED EDUCATION IN GENERAL DENTISTRY
An externship in the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program (AEGD) is available to interested dental students. Externs will attend lectures, literature reviews, and case presentations with the General Dentistry residents. In addition, they may provide dental care to medically compromised outpatients and inpatients in the Hospital Dentistry Clinic. The extern will assist with a variety of procedures in the Advanced General Dentistry Clinic (AGDC) including esthetic gingival surgery, bonded porcelain restorations, implant surgery and restoration, and other advanced procedures. Limited experiences treating patients in the AGDC may be available.

ENDODONTICS
Externs to the Advanced Education Program in Endodontics attend seminars, case presentations, appropriate lectures, and literature reviews with both the first and second year endodontic residents. The specific topics will be dependent on the time of year of their externship. Normally these externships occur during the spring semester. Externs will also spend a significant amount of time observing the treatment of patients in the graduate clinic. Preclinical exercises on extracted teeth will be available. Externs will also be allowed to observe and, if appropriate, assist in any research in progress in the department.

HOSPITAL DENTISTRY
The externship in Hospital Dentistry is intended to expose dental students to dental care in the hospital environment. The length of the externship can be no shorter than one week (7 days) and has no restriction on the maximum length. During this time period externs will provide dental care to outpatients and inpatients in the Hospital Dentistry Clinic. These patients have a variety of medical problems that include severe heart problems, severe diabetes, AIDS, and many are candidates for organ transplantation. The care performed is acute in nature, such as extractions, incision and drainage of facial abscesses, and the management of fractured, displaced and avulsed teeth. In addition, numerous intravenous sedations are performed during which the extern can act as an assistant. The Hospital Clinic is extremely busy, treating an average of 400 patients a month and the hospital service is asked to complete approximately 20-25 consults per month. Two dental rehabilitation cases are managed in the operating room every week under general anesthesia, and the extern would also be expected to assist in these cases. Dental inpatient consults are managed routinely and the extern would assist in the evaluation of the patients and be responsible for his findings on rounds held most mornings. Finally, the extern would be expected to accompany residents on call to the hospital emergency room after hours on a rotating basis. The hospital is a Level 1 trauma center and the dental call is busy treating between 6 to 7 patients a night. Externs will also be given the opportunity to attend any ongoing didactics within the graduate General Dentistry programs.

ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL RADIOLOGY
The Dental Diagnostic Science department of the UTHSCSA has an experienced faculty and state-of-the-art equipment to provide training in all the newest imaging modalities that are used and being developed in dentistry. The student has an excellent opportunity to train in Direct Digital Radiography that uses computers instead of films and will eventually replace conventional periapical radiography in dental offices. The acquired digital images can be enhanced and analyzed with the advanced computer equipment and programs. The student can have training in more advanced imaging methods for implant site evaluation, such as cross-sectional imaging with Linear Tomography and Computer Tomography that are routinely performed in the Department. Trauma cases, TMJ cases and developmental defects of the skull can be evaluated with an interactive 3-Dimensional Imaging Workstation that displays life-like images of the patient.

ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY
Externs in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery will be exposed to a wide scope of surgical procedures including orthognathic surgery, facial cosmetic surgery, temporomandibular joint surgery, reconstructive surgery, dentoalveolar surgery, implant and preprosthetic surgery, management of head and neck infections, and the management of facial trauma. Externs will rotate at the various teaching hospitals including Medical Center Hospital, Brady Green Community Health Center, and the University of Texas Ambulatory Surgicenter with the staff and residents of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

PEDIATRIC DENTISTRY
We welcome students from other institutions that are interested in obtaining additional training as well as being potential applicants for our advanced program. The specialty training in Pediatric Dentistry at San Antonio is a unique program in that it combines the advantages of a university based graduate program with the opportunities provided in a hospital residency program. We are based out of the University of Texas Health Science Center as well as at Santa Rosa Children's Hospital, a tertiary care facility with a patient base that encompasses all of southwest Texas. Our strength lies in the abundance of patients available to us which ensures that our residents achieve excellent clinical training in all areas of pediatric dentistry. The foundation of our advanced education program is our didactic curriculum. Major areas of study in our two year curriculum include the following areas: behavior management; conscious sedation; special patient care; orthodontic growth and development; clinical pediatric dentistry; hospital dentistry as well as course work that indoctrinates the resident in the areas of research, biostatistics and scientific writing. Our desire is that graduates become pediatric dentists who are not only well trained but are also excited about our specialty and who will be leaders capable of shaping our specialty's future.

PERIODONTICS
This program will provide the opportunity for the extern who has an interest in periodontics to observe advanced surgical techniques. This will include, but not be limited to, procedures such as: open flap debridement, bone grafts, guided tissue regeneration, and endosseous dental implants. The extern will also have the opportunity to participate in case presentations and didactic seminars/lectures.