OKLAHOMA CITY – The College of Oklahoma introduced at the moment plans to start the state’s first pediatric dentistry residency. This highly-specialized two-year program shall be supplied by means of the OU Faculty of Dentistry and shall be built-in into the general well being care workforce at Oklahoma Kids’s Hospital OU Well being. This system in pediatric dentistry is accredited by the Fee on Dental Accreditation and has been granted the accreditation standing of “preliminary accreditation.”
This system will present pediatric dental care to a wide range of sufferers, together with those that have particular wants or who’ve psychological well being or medical situations, in addition to typically-developing youngsters. Residents, below the route of expert pediatric dental school, will work carefully with the doctor workers to supply complete dental care inside a wide range of medical and dental conditions.
“The OU Faculty of Dentistry is worked up so as to add pediatric dentistry to our superior graduate and residency applications,” stated Paul M. Mullasseril, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the OU Faculty of Dentistry. “Oral well being is a vital part of 1’s total well being, and wholesome habits start early in a single’s life. This program will assist the school fulfill our mission of enhancing the oral well being of Oklahomans by increasing entry to take care of a few of our state’s most susceptible sufferers.”
The premise for this residency program stems from the College of Oklahoma Well being Sciences Heart’s Strategic Plan to increase entry to reasonably priced oral well being care, scale back well being disparities and meet the well being care workforce calls for of the state. At present, Oklahoma ranks forty ninth within the nation in entry to dental care. In response to the Oklahoma Oral Well being Coalition, youngsters of all ages from Oklahoma expertise a better charge of tooth decay and extra untreated cavities in comparison with nationwide averages.
The nationwide ratio of pediatric dentists to youngsters in the US is roughly 9 pediatric dentists per 100,000 youngsters. In Oklahoma, there are an estimated six pediatric dentists per 100,000 youngsters, in response to a report within the Journal of the American Dental Affiliation. Additional, 66 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties are categorized as scarcity areas for dental well being care suppliers. These elements create boundaries and undue burden notably on youngsters from rural areas, youngsters with particular well being care wants, minorities and kids from low-income households.
“Because the State of Oklahoma’s solely skilled dental schooling program, the OU Faculty of Dentistry is well-positioned to steer the state in increasing entry to reasonably priced oral well being care,” stated Gary Raskob, Ph.D., senior vice chairman and provost for the OU Well being Sciences Heart. “This pediatric dental residency may have vital influence on addressing the oral well being care wants amongst youngsters and on the workforce demand for pediatric dentists in our state.”
Moreover, the OU Faculty of Dentistry has named David Ciesla, D.D.S., M.S., M.A.S., as director of the pediatric dental residency program. Ciesla earned his Physician of Dental Surgical procedure diploma from Baylor Faculty of Dentistry in 2003. Upon commencement, Ciesla joined the U.S. Military, serving abroad in Germany and Iraq. After his deployment, he returned to Baylor to finish a two-year residency in pediatric dentistry. Following eight years within the Military, Ciesla moved to Arkansas and labored in a non-public dental apply earlier than becoming a member of the college on the OU Faculty of Dentistry in 2021.
“I’m extremely excited and honored to steer the graduate pediatric dental residency program on the OU Faculty of Dentistry,” stated Ciesla. “The demand for specialised pediatric dental providers in Oklahoma is critical, making the coaching of pediatric dentists essential for enhancing the oral well being of kids within the state. As this system director, I’m personally devoted to the resident’s success and development as we work collectively to form the way forward for pediatric dentistry and make an enduring distinction within the lives of our younger sufferers.”
OU’s new graduate pediatric dental residency program is slated to start in July 2024. The OU Faculty of Dentistry will start accepting functions for its inaugural class of residents starting this October.
This system will embrace a curriculum comprised of seminars, scientific coaching, hospital and medical rotations, analysis, educating and advocacy experiences. Residents will acquire expertise working in collaboration with different pediatric medication specialties and rotations together with anesthesiology, pediatric medication, working room, inpatient care, emergency room, remedy of sufferers with particular wants, non-public apply rotation, cleft lip and cleft palate clinic and oral surgical procedure clinic.
“The OU Faculty of Dentistry has earned a long-standing popularity for excellence,” Ciesla stated. “With the unwavering assist of each school and college administration, in addition to OU Well being and the medical neighborhood, I’m assured that this residency program may have an vital influence on youngsters’s oral well being in our state.”
