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Application Deadline is September 15, 2024.

Eastman Institute for Oral Health / Educational Programs / Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program

Pediatric Dentistry Residency Program

 

Cynthia Wong
Cynthia L. Wong, DMD, MS, FRCD (C), FAAPD
Department Chair

Erin Shope
Erin Shope, DMD, MSM, MSEd
Associate Chair

Isamar Rivera-Ramos
Isamar Rivera-Ramos, DMD, PhD
Program Director

Our program's mission is to use innovative teaching and learning to create empathetic and critically-thinking pediatric dentists, who embrace change and become advocates for the “whole child” in the communities they serve. We aim to holistically prepare our residents for their next stage of practice, regardless of focus and setting. 

Ranked #1 by Universities.com 2024Our residents, faculty, and social workers work closely together to deliver and advocate for the best possible oral health care for children in our community. Rochester, the third largest city in New York State, is located in western New York. As our program draws patients from across the state and even Pennsylvania, we serve a very diverse population. Patients may be local or they may have to drive anywhere from 2-3 hours each way to receive care. Working closely with our center’s social workers, our residents learn to provide inclusive and comprehensive care for our patients taking into consideration each child’s individualized needs.

We also value the power of interdisciplinary care and aim to have our residents see themselves as an equal and active part of the child’s healthcare team. Our residents have extensive hospital-based experiences ranging from the operating room, emergency department, inpatient floors, craniofacial team, and hemophilia team. Our residents learn how to integrate oral health care with overall health, continuously communicating with other health professionals. 

Our program is truly a combined pediatric dentistry residency program in that there is a strong didactic component which supports extensive chairside experiences in various clinical settings. Clinical experiences range from comprehensive care in our pediatric dentistry clinic, to elimination of barriers through our community dentistry sites and teledentistry, to complete oral rehabilitation under general anesthesia and oral conscious sedation, to inclusive care for children with special health care needs. We believe that understanding the needs of the whole, developing child is what sets pediatric dentists apart and for this reason we have a strong focus on developing behavior guidance skills that allow our residents to meet the needs of every child. These clinical experiences are supplemented by purposeful and scaffolded didactic experiences designed to fully synthesize didactic knowledge and critical thinking skills with clinical experiences.

Our program operates under the following assumption:  

We are all "intelligent, capable, care about doing [our] best and want to improve." (Eppich et al 2013)

Our Program By The Numbers - Pediatric Dentistry

14

Total Residents

2400

Total Patient Visits Per Resident

84

Total OR Cases per Resident

What Sets Us Apart

Curriculum

Diverse training exposure resulting in a variety of career pursuits upon graduation – from private practice, public health, hospital-based dentistry, to academics.

Mentor Relationships

Our residents most commonly reference the personal relationships and valuable mentoring they receive as one of the top reasons why they would recommend University of Rochester.

Resident Life

Join our close-knit "family" that has fun in and outside of work amid the cultural, sporting, and natural attractions that permeate Rochester with a low cost of living

Discover the Pediatric Dentistry Residency

What Our Residents Say...

bartley

"One of the things we learned was compassion - at Eastman we always treated the child and not just their teeth. I continue to use this philosophy in my practice today."

"One of my favorite memories was Thursday orthodontic classes with Dr. Cynthia Wong and my co-residents. It was our weekly group meditation session."

Kadeem Bartley, Class of 2018

Current Title/Organization: Board certified pediatric dentist/owner at Windsor Pediatric Dentistry in East Granby, CT

Dental School: University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine

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