College Takes Steps to Establish Pediatric Residency Program

The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry has been educating students on how to provide high-quality dental care since 1972. As the state’s only professional dental education program, the college is positioned to lead the state of Oklahoma in expanding access to affordable oral health care and it is with this goal in mind that a pediatric dental residency program is scheduled to commence in 2024.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma is declining in oral health preventive services when compared to the national average. The state ranks 49th in the country for access to dental care, and in 2020, the Oklahoma Oral Health Coalition reported that children of all ages in the state experience more dental caries and more untreated caries than the national average. This trend continues to grow worse and particularly effects children from Hispanic, Black and Native American communities, as well as children from low-income households.

There are several reasons that oral health continues to decline for children in Oklahoma. There is a shortage of providers to meet the need, there is significant waiting time for dental surgery at the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health and there are geographical barriers, which lead to a potential lack of access to care.

The shortage of pediatric dentists is a growing concern in Oklahoma with an estimated six FTE pediatric dentists per 100,000 children, compared to the national average of nine per 100,000 children. Health Resources and Serviced

Administration have reported that 1.3 million Oklahomans live in counties that are considered dental health professional shortage areas, which hinders access to care. Without intervention, the oral health of Oklahomans will continue to decline.

A Governor’s task force was established in 2008 to address the growing concerns, and the need for a pediatric dental residency program was identified to meet the rising demands. Pediatric residency programs have been long established in some of the surrounding regions, including Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Colorado. A more recent pediatric dental residency program was established in Kansas, so it is timely that Oklahoma is taking steps to introduce one.

The college has teamed with Oklahoma Children’s Hospital to offer the state’s first pediatric dental residency program. The 24-month program will include didactic curriculum, clinical training, hospital and medical rotations, research, teaching and advocacy experiences. More than 80% of total resident time will be spent in clinical activity with clinical training conducted in the Pediatric Dental Clinic at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital and in the college’s Dr. Jerome B. Miller Pediatric Dental Clinic. Residents will gain experience working in collaboration with other pediatric medicine specialties and rotations including anesthesiology, pediatric medicine, operating room, inpatient care, emergency room, treatment of patients with special needs, private practice rotation, cleft lip and cleft palate clinic and oral surgery clinic.

The curriculum is designed by board-certified pediatric dentists in accordance with the American Dental Association

Guidelines for Advanced Specialty Education Programs and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Guidelines for Advanced Education in Pediatric Dentistry. The program will not only expand access to affordable oral health care to Oklahomans, but it will address the extensive oral health care needs among children and help meet the workforce demand for pediatric dentists within the state.

“The college is excited about adding pediatric dentistry to our growing list of advanced graduate and residency programs,” said Paul M. Mullasseril, D.D.S., M.S., dean of the OU College of Dentistry. “This residency program will train highly skilled dental professionals and researchers, helping to meet the workforce needs of our state. Further, this program helps the college fulfil its goal to increase access to oral health care, especially pediatric dental care, which is an area of health care that is lacking in our state.”

The pediatric dental residency application has been submitted to the Commission on Dental Accreditation and is under review, with the goal for the initial approval by October of 2023 and a program commencement date of July 2024. Once the approval is finalized, the admissions cycle will begin with acceptances to residents sent out in January 2024. There will be three positions available each year to participate in the highly specialized program.

The goals of the pediatric dental residency program are to develop competent diagnosticians and clinicians by providing didactic and clinical patient education experiences in all areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral conditions in healthy infants, children and adolescents, plus those with special health care needs, and to encourage a lifetime of scholarly pursuits, advocacy and active professional involvement to help advance the field of pediatric dentistry in Oklahoma.

David Ciesla, D.D.S., M.S., FAAPD, assistant clinical professor of pediatric dentistry, has been appointed residency program director. Dr. Ciesla has worked extensively in pediatric dentistry and has advocated for increased funding at both a state and national level. “I am excited and honored to be given the opportunity to develop the first pediatric dental residency in Oklahoma and am passionate about training the next generation of pediatric dentists,” he said.