| ADEA PASS | Yes (U.S. Citizens, Canadian Citizens, or Permanent Residents) |
| Application Deadline | October 1 |
| Program Start | July 1 |
| Length of program | 1 year |
| Location | Washington State |
| Accreditation | CODA-accredited |
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Overview
Northwest Dental Residency offers a one-year residency beginning the first part of July. You will be part of busy, challenging practices that serve people living in the Washington State communities of Yakima, Toppenish, Grandview, Wenatchee, and Chelan, Spokane, and Walla Walla.
You will work with an energetic faculty gaining experience in endodontics, periodontics, oral medicine, pediatric dentistry, prosthetics, sedation techniques, restorative dentistry, oral surgery, 3D dentistry, and practice management.
Our residents work with a variety of patients, including those who are medically compromised, phobic patients, and individuals with developmental disabilities.
Residents will have the opportunity to work on in their clinic placement home sites treating a variety of patients, including pediatric patients; additional scheduled Clinical Experiences will introduce you to different aspects of Dentistry, together with your daily clinical schedules. Residents also attend didactic sessions that will further enhance your professional knowledge. Residents should be amenable to traveling at times for scheduled events; the program pays travel costs.
Philosophy
We believe in the right to wellness for all in a comprehensive, preventative approach to health. We value cultural diversity and teamwork, and we respect the dignity of our clients, patients, and residents. The selection process for our program is in compliance with federal, state, and local non-discrimination policies. All candidates are judged according to the merits of their own application packages.
Program Goals
- Provide residents didactic and clinical experiences that will enable them to provide comprehensive dental care to a broad-based population, including special patient groups such as children, adults, medically compromised patients, special-needs patients, and those who are financially challenged.
- Provide residents with an understanding of practice in rural communities with an emphasis on public health, cultural competency, and multidisciplinary health issues
- Provide residents with training in quality assurance protocols, ethics, and risk management techniques.
- Enhance the graduate’s ability to make sound clinical judgments in arriving at a diagnosis, treatment plan, making decisions during the course of treatment and assessing post-treatment outcomes of patients with complex oral health and medical issues.
- Provide both didactic and clinical training in practice-management skills to prepare the resident to become a productive member of the dental profession.
Patients
The patient population varies by program site but can be broadly defined as low-income and underserved patients of all ages. Our patients are primarily Hispanic, Spanish-speaking migrant/seasonal farmworkers, and their family members. However, Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinics serve patients from a wide variety of races, ethnicities, and cultures. The patients served at our clinics often cannot access dental care anywhere else. The majority of our patients are on Medicaid or have no dental insurance, many of whom are living below the federal poverty level. For more information about our patients, view patient information in our Community Report.
Qualifications
Northwest Dental Residency’s AEGD program is open to graduates of CODA accredited dental schools. (See PASS for specific program requirements.) Candidates must possess a DDS or DMD degree or equivalent prior to beginning the program.
