JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
Nine Advanced Education in General Dentistry residents are graduating from the program on Joint Base Andrews, July 24, 2015.
The one-year program exposes residents to a wide variety of specialized, postgraduate training from veteran dentists and gives the students the opportunity to work side-by-side with board-certified dental specialists.
"The residents receive clinical and didactic experience above and beyond what they learned in dental school," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Nathan Krivitzky, 779th Dental Squadron dentist. "Although these new dentists have greater exposure to specialty dental procedures, the core theme of the curriculum is the provision of comprehensive care. As far as dentistry goes, they in essence become a "jack-of-all-trades".
The program offers advanced study in topics such as dental infection control, logistics, ethics and orthodontic biology and mechanics, taught by specialists.
"Since many dentists graduate from different dental schools, this program establishes a common standard of practice ensuring the Air Force has top quality dentists," Krivitzky said. "It's a force multiplier to have dentists with experience in multiple fields of specialized dentistry."
This program, one of 10 in the U.S., is based in Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling with JBA serving as a training site. This year's residents were split between the bases.
"One of the overlooked aspects of this program is how it benefits the general public," Krivitzky said. "After our residents separate from the military, they still have this amazing training. In a way, we're really impacting dentistry as a whole."