Optional degrees in addition to the oral and maxillofacial surgery certificate and MS are offered by special arrangement including MD and PhD

The goal of this residency is to provide the highest level of training in the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery, and to insure development of skilled surgeons capable of providing continuing, comprehensive care. The program boasts a strong academic flavor with a high priority given to research. Research opportunities are readily available to assist the resident in completion of the MS program.

Three primary teaching facilities are used to provide educational and patient care experiences:

• University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
• University of Iowa College of Dentistry
• Veterans Affairs Medical Center

All three facilities are in close physical proximity and are undeniably among the very best and well-equipped in the country. To assure training and exposure in the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery, outside rotations are provided at the expense of the department. Rotations are further outlined under curriculum.

Faculty, staff and facilities
Six full-time faculty members cover UI Hospitals and Clinics and the UI College of Dentistry. Other adjunct faculty participate in undergraduate and graduate education. The faculty is diverse, offering training and experience from multiple locations throughout the country. The oral and maxillofacial surgery program is supplemented by a full-time orthodontist at UI Hospitals and Clinics and a strong, surgically oriented orthodontic program at the UI College of Dentistry. A maxillofacial prosthodontist enhances training at UI Hospitals and Clinics, and all disciplines participate in a comprehensive cleft lip and palate team.

The UI College of Dentistry offers interdisciplinary relations with all graduate and undergraduate departments, providing considerable experience in dentoalveolar surgery, sedations, outpatient general anesthetics, and implants. Staff members include a strong compliment of full-time registered nurses, dental assistants, and clerical support. The College of Dentistry offers a state-of-the art audiovisual and graphics department, frequently utilized for case documentation and for presentations given locally, nationally, and internationally.

Our department is further enhanced by a full-time faculty member with an MS in pharmacology. The Dows Institute of Research is an integral part of the College of Dentistry offering complete research facilities and equipment, animal operatories, and associated faculty, staff and research assistance; such assistance includes a full-time statistician. A PhD mentor is also a member of our department facilitating research projects and grant formulation.

The dental clinic at UI Hospitals and Clinics opened a new, state-of-the-art facility in May 2001 featuring clinical areas for:

• Oral surgery
• Orthodontics
• Prosthodontics
• General Dentistry

The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department provides each resident with a work station within the resident's room. Conferences are held in a large, modern conference room complete with audiovisual connection to the main operating suites. The operating suites at UI Hospitals and Clinics are large, modern, and rival any throughout the country, private or otherwise.

Evaluation and assessment
It is our philosophy to provide close and careful supervision in a graded fashion to all residents. Faculty input is ever present in the inpatient and outpatient settings. Upper-level residents also provide supervision in a structured setting allowing them to increase their own clinical, surgical, and teaching skills. Residents actively participate in all phases of patient care, ensuring continuity of training from the presurgical phase to the postoperative phase of treatment.

The process of evaluation includes a biannual evaluation with feedback from all faculty, off-service rotations, and staff. Such evaluations occur formally with the graduate program director emphasizing strengths, weaknesses, and guidelines to promote the resident's professional development. Yearly in-service training exams and mock board examinations further identify strong and weak areas and ensure competency.

Library services
The residents have ready access to a number of fine medical and dental libraries. The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery maintains an up-to-date compilation of textbooks and journals directly related to the specialty.

The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences has more than 220,000 bound volumes and 3,500 serials and journals. Personal computers linked to a CD-ROM medical-dental database allow residents and staff to conduct literature searches. Multiple journals are now available on-line through Hardin Library.

Resident life-style
Residency is a time for both personal and career development. A number of mechanisms are in place to assist in the transition from dental school, GPR, or other endeavor to oral and maxillofacial surgery residency at UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Iowa City offers a unique combination of excellent quality of life, cultural events, and Big Ten athletics. Quality of available housing is good, and the school systems are excellent. Appropriate stipends allow a decent standard of living and are supplanted by excellent medical, dental and other benefits; such benefits extend to the entire family. Social activities for residents, faculty, and staff are held throughout the year.

Curriculum
The residency is organized to provide an advancing educational experience with increasing responsibility over a four-year period in order to develop medical judgment, surgical skills, and demonstrated competence. The training program consists of formal teaching and clinical experiences on assigned rotations, patient care, didactic programs, and conferences.

We expect the residents to take responsibility for enhancing their learning environment, and we encourage outside reading. The graduate program director reviews the curriculum yearly with input from all faculty and staff members to ensure an evolving experience and improvements in specific rotations and didactic experiences.

The didactic program is enhanced with teaching patient rounds, grand rounds, and journal club. Presentations and participation at national meetings and forums are highly encouraged and financially supported.

The first-year resident completes the 12 months of rotations as outlined above. Graduated levels of responsibility are given as knowledge and surgical skills develop.

During this period, the resident is engaged in progressive, graduated comprehensive training in all clinical and hospital phases of the specialty practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Full-time rotations of four months on the General Surgery Service and two months on the Neurosurgery Service are completed.

The remainder of this time period is spent in clinical oral and maxillofacial surgery at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the UI College of Dentistry performing oral surgical procedures that gradually increase in difficulty to develop the resident's surgical skills and judgment as rapidly as the aptitude of the individual resident permits.

Instruction, training, and experience encompass procedures for admission of patients, accomplishment of preoperative histories, system reviews, physical examinations, ward orders, indicated laboratory procedures, preoperative care, surgical procedures, postoperative care and ward management, inter-service consultation, and completion of clinical records.

Daily ward rounds are conducted. The resident attends all department didactic conferences in addition to those of visiting lecturers. Elective courses are encouraged as time permits. Research projects are also continued during this period.

The third-year resident continues with the program as described for the second year.

The fourth-year resident continues with the program as described for the third-year. Greater responsibilities are given for patient care, administration, and teaching as granted by the staff on an individual basis. Increasing responsibility for planning and management of complex surgical cases occurs.

Clinical instruction and supervision of the junior graduate residents and rotating dental students assigned to the oral and maxillofacial surgery service is expected. Comprehensive mock board examinations are given yearly encompassing the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Research
All residents are expected to undertake a significant research project leading to a MS degree and publication. An optional degree can be arranged to include a PhD Faculty mentors are readily available to assist and direct research projects as needed. Departmental funds are available to ensure project viability. Research projects span the entire scope from clinical investigations to animal and basic science endeavors.