Curriculum

The didactic portion of the AEGD program is conducted throughout the year. The program includes continuing education courses given at the University, at Community Dental and at other institutions. Residents participate in weekly patient care conferences (including guest lectures) both in-person and through a distance-learning website created for the program. Emphasis is placed on ideal, alternative and actual treatment planning via case presentations for both dental and medical management for all patient populations.

The goals and objectives of the Tufts AEGD will prepare graduates to become an important part of the communities they choose to serve. Emphasized goals prepare practitioners to:

• Act as a primary care provider for individuals and for groups of patients
• Apply their exposure to advanced dental treatment modalities to the practice of dentistry
• Have a working knowledge of developmental disabilities, mental illness and physical disabilities and the impact these conditions have on the provision of comprehensive dental care
• Function effectively within health care environments
• Function effectively as a member of an interdisciplinary health care team
• Provide emergency oral health care
• Promote disease prevention and oral health promotion for patients in the clinical environment as well as the community
• Manage the delivery of oral health care by applying concepts of patient and practice management
• Understand the fundamentals of quality care and the concept of quality assurance
• Apply scientific principles to learning and oral health care
• Utilize the values of professional ethics, patient’s rights, lifelong learning, patient-centered care, adaptability and acceptance of cultural diversity in professional practice

Each trimester, faculty members review individual personal and professional goals specifically designed by each resident. Each resident is able to focus on his/her own needs and interests in dentistry and medicine and to further enhance the variety of definitions he/she may consider necessary to be successful in post-graduate training.