Academic Curriculum and Rotation

Carle’s Advanced Educational Program in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery incorporates didactic and clinical teaching which stresses practical application and clinical correlation. The weekly Case Conference, held every Monday afternoon, allows residents to gain insight into the full scope of the specialty. The medical, pharmacologic, and surgical decision making process is defined to reinforce basic principles of management.

The weekly Clinical conference, is supplemented with the didactic lecture program held each Friday afternoon. This protected academic time, incorporates lectures given by attending surgeons, guest lecturers and residents, covering all aspects of the specialty. Additionally, regularly held hospital conferences and clinics allow residents to participate in head and neck tumor board, the cleft lip and palate team, and the Trauma Morbidity and Mortality conferences. Monthly pathology conferences are targeted to review the histopathology of recent cases of interest.

During the first year of the resident program, residents are enrolled the University of Illinois College of Medicine History and Physical Diagnosis course. This four month course is attended in conjunction with medical students and gives the residents a formal didactic and clinical program in the methods, techniques, and skills necessary to complete a full history and physical examination.

Annually, each resident is sent to an outside conference which will concentrate on areas of interest, in an effort to enhance the resident didactic experience. Specifically, the first year resident attends the annual Dental Implant Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The second year resident attends an advanced craniomaxillofacial trauma course, stressing rigid fixation techniques. The third year resident attends the annual Denver Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Review Course. The Chief resident attends the annual Pathology Review Course in Miami and the annual AAOMS meeting.(see Table 1)

Clinical Experience

The resident’s clinical experience at Carle is exceptional. During the first year of the program, the resident will spend 10 months on the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service in addition to 2 months rotating on the Anesthesia service. During the 2nd year, the resident will spend 2 months on the Internal Medicine service, 1 month on Emergency Medicine, 2 months on the General Surgery service, and 1 month on the Otoloaryngology/ENT service. Additionally, the resident will spend 1 month of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery service and 2 weeks rotating on the Ophthalmology service. The remainder of the year is spent on the OMFS service. In the 3rd year, the resident will spend and additional 2 months on the Anesthesia service, and 2 months on the Trauma & Critical Care service. During the fourth year, the resident will spend the entire year on the OMFS service as the Chief Resident.(see Table 1)

The outpatient clinic offers daily traditional dentoalveolar and implant experience. Main operating room patients are also seen in the clinic, and residents are able to evaluate, diagnose, and plan the management of these patients with the attending surgeons. They are also able to follow the patients post-operatively. Residents are able to work one on one with the attending surgeons on a daily basis to gain the benefit of their clinical experience.

The unique training and skills of the attending staff, allow the residents to gain experience in all aspects of the specialty. As the only surgical residency program at Carle, the OMFS residents are actively involved in the surgical management of all maxillofacial trauma. Residents will gain experience in primary and secondary cleft lip and palate, maxillofacial oncology and reconstruction, dermatologic surgery, as well as surgical airway management.

TABLE 1