General Practice Residency

Excellence in Dentistry for People with Disabilities
Telephone: (562) 401-7254 / Fax: (562) 401-7679

The Department of Dentistry of Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center (Rancho) has long demonstrated commitment and excellence in training dental professionals to treat patients with special needs. The Department has supported a Pediatric Dentistry Residency since 1969 and the General Practice Residency since 1980. Both programs emphasize clinical excellence in treating Rancho's unique patient population. Both programs are fully accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation and the Department of Dentistry is accredited by the ADA Council on Accreditation of Hospital and Institutional Dental Services.

Rancho is one of six hospitals operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services which serves a population of approximately nine million. Unique within this health care system, is Rancho, the rehabilitation facility for the entire County. Rancho has pioneered the provision comprehensive, coordinated care for each patient through its innovative use of the multidisciplinary team approach. Rancho is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Rancho serves the needs of the medically, physically and developmentally disabled persons. These patients have limited access to dental care in the community or elsewhere within the County system due to their disabilities. The Dental Clinic provides approximately 6200 patient visits per year (approximately 1200 pediatric visits). Rancho is, therefore, an exceptional training site for general practice residents.

The goals of the general practice residency are excellence in clinical dentistry, preparation of the resident to function in the community as an exemplar dentist and to serve the community as a resource professional in the treatment of disabled and medically compromised patients. Residents are given experiences in initiating care for a wide variety of patients; evaluating their medical status; designing and completing appropriate, comprehensive treatment plans; and coordinating the patients care with medical and dental specialists. In addition to attending general dentists, residents have the support of specialists in periodontics, maxillofacial prosthodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, pediatric dentistry and hospital dentistry. Click here to view Statistics of Patients Treated by Medical Diagnosis.

Residents are trained to provide appropriate dental care in a variety of settings. Residents provide dental treatment in the operating room to those patients who are not manageable in the dental clinic. These patients include both children and adults with spinal cord injury, craniofacial anomalies, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, post-brain injury and neurologic disorders. Residents are responsible for pre-operative evaluation, treatment and management of the patient post-operatively. Residents are responsible for answering inpatient and outpatient consultation requests. Residents are also involved in various teaching experiences such as providing table clinics, in-service lectures to pediatric and allied health services and training dental and hygiene students.

I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE:

The resident's primary responsibility is to provide general dental care to patients with medical, physical and developmental disabilities. Greater than 70% of the resident's time is spent in the dental outpatient clinic. Residents complete clinical assignments, including consultation and emergency assignments, and off-service rotations. Clinical experience and supervision are available in general dentistry, endodontics, periodontics, maxillofacial prosthodontics, oral surgery, pediatric dentistry.

DIDACTIC COURSES:

A schedule of didactic courses are be given at the initiation of the program. Course are held primarily at Rancho, although some are held at USC or other sites. Courses include Patient Evaluation, Medical Emergencies, Anesthesia, Patient Examination, Maxillofacial Prosthodontics and Implants, Periodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Oral Surgery, Cleft Palate Evaluation and Treatment, Endodontics and Oral Pathology.

OFF-SERVICE ROTATIONS:

Anesthesia: Each resident will complete a one-month rotation with the Rancho Department of Anesthesia. This rotation gives the resident excellent experience in the overall function of the operating suite, as well as an introduction to anesthesia procedures. The resident will start I.V.'s intubate, and assist the anesthesia staff in inducing, maintaining and monitoring general anesthesia.

Emergency Room: Residents are assigned on a rotating basis to the Oral Surgery Department at LAC/USC Medical Center. The resident is assigned to work with the oral surgery resident on call to the emergency room. This provides the resident with experience in evaluating and treating dental/facial emergencies and trauma.

Medicine: Rancho's Department of Medicine manages the medical problems of severely disabled patients. Residents gain experience in physical evaluation and management of medically compromised patients including those with prosthetic heart valves, chronic liver disease, diabetes, and spinal cord injury that may be respirator dependant. Residents are exposed to the Medical Intensive Care Unit and medical emergencies that may occur in an outpatient setting.

OPERATING ROOM EXPERIENCE:

Residents receive considerable experience in providing general and pediatric dentistry with general anesthesia in an operating room setting. The Department of Dentistry is assigned a surgical suite one day per week with ample time to complete two or three patients. The patients are those who are not manageable in the dental clinic due to mental retardation, cerebral palsy, brain injury, medical problems or immaturity. The residents learn to evaluate patients for general anesthesia and admit patients for outpatient surgery or inpatient procedures. X-rays, diagnosis, treatment planning, and dental treatment are conducted while the patient is under general anesthesia. The residents are also responsible for post-operative care and coordination discharge of the patients with the attending dentist and physician.

PROJECTS/CASE PRESENTATIONS:

Each resident completes a project related to dental services provided at Rancho. The projects are to reflect one year's effort in completion. The residents select one or more cases that involve multiple dental/medical problems. Both the projects and cases are presented to staff and guests at the end of the resident year. Residents also prepare and present table clinics, quality assessment and improvement projects and inservice training to other patient care units.

II. FACULTY

General Dentistry
Terrie K. DeBord, DDS
Chairman, Department of Dentistry
Director, Residency Programs

Eugene Schmidt, DDS
Larry Odono, DDS
Mary Murakawa, DDS
Lori Malinbaum, DDS
Michael Macalalad, DDS
Veronica Greene, DDS, MPH

Maxillofacial Prosthodontics
Vincent Tso, DMD

Endodontics
Larry Odono, DDS

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Dennis-Duke Yamashita, DDS

Pediatric Dentistry
Hugh Kopel, DDS
Ronald Fujioka, DDS
Janice Park-Kim, DDS

Periodontics
Jeffery Pucher, DDS

III. GENERAL INFORMATION

RESIDENT HOURS

Resident hours are generally 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, except on surgery days, when residents are to report by 7:00 AM. Residents are expected to remain at Rancho until all residents have completed their clinical work, documentation, and lab case prescriptions. Residents responsible for operating room patients are to be available until the patient goes home which may be as late as 8:00PM. The anesthesia rotation is from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM for one month. The emergency rotation at LAC+USC Medical Center is from 5:00 PM to 8:00 AM on rotating Saturday night/Sunday mornings. Residents are occasionally scheduled to represent the Department and program at such functions as health fairs, table clinics and career days that may fall on weekends or evenings.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

Benefits include medical, dental and malpractice insurance, and meals in the cafeteria while on duty. The salary is approximately $35,917* per year. Residents may have up to 10 working days approved leave in addition to the 11 County holidays.

SELECTION PROCESS

Rancho participates in both the PASS and the Postdoctoral Dental Matching Programs. Application materials must be received by PASS by November 1 of the year prior to the program start date. Selection is based on academic record, national board scores, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and personal interviews. Graduates of accredited US and Canadian Schools of Dentistry schools are eligible to apply. Graduates of foreign dental schools with a dental license in any state in the US are eligible to apply. Applicants must be eligible for employment with the County of Los Angeles, including the appropriate immigration status.

*Effective October 1, 2002