Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Curriculum

The Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Residency’s off-service rotations are designed to provide you with the most comprehensive Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery training possible. The rotations were developed within guidelines of the AAOMS, offering you some flexibility to customize your rotations based on your career goals.

You’ll work individually with one of our anesthesiologists and CRNAs in the main operating room during your anesthesia off-service rotation to learn airway management, support of the anesthetized patient, regional anesthesia, management of medically compromised patients, as well as respiratory care and care of ICU patients. Challenging cases are discussed at monthly conferences

As a first-year resident, you’ll learn to treat outpatients, participate in ward rounds, operating room procedures and attend clinical conferences. During this period, you’ll assist at operations, receive instruction and guidance in admissions and discharge of patients, perform minor surgery, and be introduced to the management of facial trauma and the role of the oral & maxillofacial surgeon in the hospital. 

Toward the end of your first year, you’ll be assigned to the chief resident in medicine, participating in the Department of Medicine's rounds and conferences. General medicine has four inpatient services, each with an attending physician who changes every 3 weeks. Each service averages 15 patients with two admissions per day and 4 to 9 patients on night call. As an oral surgery resident, there’s an emphasis on cardiovascular and pulmonary medicine. 

During the resident’s third and fourth year of residency, the PGY3 and PGY4 will have the opportunity to spend four weeks each year in Otolaryngology and Plastic Surgery (two weeks in each department each year).  The resident’s understanding will be increased in the areas of Facial Cosmetic Surgery; Head and Neck Surgery; Paranasal Sinus pathology, management, and surgery; and enhance their knowledge on utilization of health system resources.  

This 12-week rotation enhances the PGY2’s understanding of Perioperative Evaluations and Management, Evaluation and Management of the Trauma patient, History and Physical Assessment Knowledge Base and Skills, knowledge on utilization on health system resources, and Technical Skills.  Time is spent on Acute Care/Trauma/Vascular Surgery, Gastrointestinal (Bariatric, Foregut and Colorectal) and Pancreatic-Biliary, Vascular and Pediatric teams and Surgical ICU to ensure a broad experience.

This rotation is part of the Surgery offering.  During this four-week rotation, the PGY2, as a member of the Trauma team, will gain experience in evaluation and management of the patient with traumatic injuries. ATLS will be taken during this rotation.  

The 1-month Emergency Medicine rotation is a mandatory portion of the education and training of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residents. It is an important aspect of the training in preparation for assessing and managing patients. The resident will function at the second-year resident level with appropriate duties and responsibilities. The resident should participate in all portions of the Emergency Medicine academic program and any assigned on-call responsibilities. Residents will gain Emergency Medicine knowledge and skillsets by spending time at Gundersen Emergency Services. They will staff patients with Emergency Physicians who will guide rotating learners through history taking, physical exam skills, emergency procedures and documentation.