Northwest Dental Residency Program: Training Dentists, Serving Communities, Improving Lives
Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic has been home to the Northwest Dental Residency Program for nearly 20 years. The program is a one-year, postdoctoral Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency designed to bridge the gap between dental school and real-world clinical practice.
Dr. Michael Yurth, Northwest Dental Residency Program Director, prepares to update electronic charts.
As Program Director Dr. Michael Yurth explains, dental education has evolved rapidly, while the length of dental school has remained the same. New graduates leave school with extensive knowledge but often limited hands-on experience. The AEGD residency provides the time, mentorship, and clinical exposure needed to build confidence and competence in patient care.
“Those new doctors are coming out of school knowing about everything, but they really haven’t had a chance to do much of it yet,” said Dr. Yurth. “This program gives them a coach and the opportunity to work through that transition period and get the experience they need.”
Benefits for Patients
Patients benefit from increased access to care, advanced technology, and expanded treatment options. With experienced attending dentists supervising residents, we can often provide complex procedures in-house that might otherwise require costly specialist referrals.
The program also supports a limited number of pro bono cases, giving patients access to care they could not otherwise afford and helping save teeth that might have been lost.
Benefits for Residents
Christine Goodwin, a resident in the Northwest Dental Residency Program, pulls a stone denture model from an impression at the Toppenish Medical-Dental Clinic.
The experience residents gain at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic is difficult to match in university-based programs. Rather than competing for limited cases, residents treat a high volume of patients with diverse and challenging needs. They manage full treatment plans from start to finish and learn to navigate the realities of community-based dental care.
“It gives them a chance to do much more real-world work in a public health clinic than they would in a school,” said Dr. Yurth.
Benefits for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic
For Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, the residency program is both a service and a strategic investment. Residents increase provider capacity in our clinics, allowing us to serve more patients with complex dental needs.
As part of the program’s accreditation, we maintain advanced dental technology—including specialized dental microscopes, lasers, and 3D scanners—which benefits all our patients, not just those treated by residents.
The residency program has also created a strong workforce pipeline. Many of our current attending dentists, including Dr. Yurth, participated in this program as residents. For those interested in working at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, the residency often functions as a yearlong interview, allowing both the clinic and the residents to determine whether a career in public health dentistry is the right fit.
Yanina Diaz, a resident in the Northwest Dental Residency Program, trims a stone denture model at the Toppenish Medical-Dental Clinic.
At its core, the Northwest Dental Residency Program reflects YVFWC’s mission by training compassionate providers, expanding access to care, and improving oral health in the communities we serve.