Program History

The Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) program was established in 1995 as a one-year program fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). An optional second year is also available.

On July 1, 1995, AEGD opened with four residents, a dental hygienist, and four front desk staff and dental assistants. Since then, we have received three Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Title VII Residency Training Grants for improvement and expansion of the program. Our latest grant (2010-2015) of nearly $1.3 million made it possible for our residents to rotate through off-site clinics to care for underserved populations while gaining cultural competency.

HRSA Title VII Residency Training Programs 

Curriculum

The Advanced Education in General Dentistry curriculum is heavily centered on clinical protocols and experiences, supplemented with relevant didactic seminars or seminar series. Frequently, seminars are integrated with other dental specialties, especially with the General Practice Residency (GPR) program.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Anesthesia, Pain Control, and Pharmacology
• Asepsis, Infection and Hazard Control
• Clinical Dentistry
  • Endodontics
  • Implant Dentistry
  • Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
  • Oral Pathology/Oral Medicine
  • Periodontics
  • Preventive Dentistry
  • Prosthodontics (including full mouth rehabilitation and cosmetic dentistry)
  • Restorative Dentistry
• Dental Photography
• Medically Compromised Patients
• Oral Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Conferences (2-4 hrs/week)
• Practice Management
  • Dental Clinic Design
  • Associateships
• TMJ/Myofacial Disorders
• Technologies in Clinical Dentistry

Curriculum Sample

Goals and Objectives

The overall objectives of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program are:

• Advanced training in general dentistry practice at the postdoctoral level;
• Clinical experiences in comprehensive oral health care for a wide range of patients: the dentally complex and those with medically, physically and mentally compromising conditions, including age and socioeconomic status;
• Extensive clinical and didactic opportunities for interdisciplinary interaction between the resident and other healthcare providers;
• Promotion and guidance of critical thinking for advanced treatment planning to provide a wide range of diagnosis and treatment needs for patients;
• Up-to-date, evidence-based dentistry review, and use of technologies in dentistry;
• Didactic information and clinical guidance in communication, behavioral management and practice-management skills, and the opportunity to apply them to the practice of dentistry;
• An appropriate environment for critical review and presentation of literature and the pursuit of individual research interests and career goals.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand Scholarship Positions
Under the International Scholarship Training Program (ISTP)

One to two residents per year may be recruited from candidates who obtain scholarships through the Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and/or Thailand undersigned official Agreement of Cooperation and Program Agreement between The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Kuwait Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission, or Thailand Office of Educational Affairs. 

Residencies of one or two years are offered. Second-year residencies are predicated on performance and success in the first year. Residents may apply for admission to other UTHealth schools or programs, such as the master’s degree in public health (MPH) at the School of Public Health, or the  Joint Certificate in Dental Informatics program offered by the School of Dentistry with the School of Biomedical Informatics, subject to the available capacity at UTHealth and in accordance with standard admissions criteria for applications, policies, procedures and laws to which UTHealth and its academic programs are subject. Residents who successfully complete two years of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program may apply to take the American Board of General Dentistry written and/or oral examinations, in accordance with requirements of the board.

A pre-residency program of six to 12 months may be required of some candidates before entering AEGD. For more information, contact Program Director Sudarat Kiat-amnuay, DDS, MS, ISTP Faculty Leader, or Residency Academic and Admissions Advisor Jessica Coleman.

Admission from Non-ADA Accredited Schools

Graduates of schools not accredited by the American Dental Association are encouraged to complete UTSD's minimum six-month preceptorship in general dentistry before applying for the AEGD program. Visit Go.uth.edu/Preceptorships for information about current availabilities at UTSD, or contact AEGD Program Director Sudarat Kiat-amnuay, DDS, or Continuing Education Coordinator Kassie Broussard. Completion of a preceptorship does not guarantee admission to the graduate general dentistry programs.

Program Facilities

University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston

The University of Texas School of Dentistry is a public professional school founded in 1905 as the first dental school in Texas. It became part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in 1972. 

In 2012, the School of Dentistry moved into a new, 300,000 square-foot building at 7500 Cambridge St. The six-floor facility has state-of-the-art technology and spacious design to accommodate programs in dentistry, dental hygiene, endodontics, dental informatics, oral and maxillofacial pathology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, and two general practice residencies (AEGD and GPR).

The Denton A. Cooley, MD, and Ralph C. Cooley, DDS, University Life Center (a conference facility), and the UTHealth Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Building (a research facility) are attached to the dental school, which also owns and operates four off-site clinics in the Houston area.

Texas Medical Center

The Texas Medical Center, today the largest medical city in the world, started with a dream to create a place where people from all walks of life could have access to the best health care anywhere, whether rich, poor, famous, alone, young, or old. Since that dream originated in the 1940s, it has been realized many times over. The Texas Medical Center today has nearly 50 member institutions, each existing to serve all of mankind.

All TMC member institutions are not-for-profit and are dedicated to the highest standards of patient and preventive care, research, education, and local, national, and international community well-being. These institutions include several renowned hospitals and specialty institutions, medical schools, nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and virtually all health-related careers. It is where one of the first, and still the largest, air emergency service was created; a very successful inter-institutional transplant program was developed; and more heart surgeries are performed than anywhere else in the world.

UT Professional Building 

The multi-story UT Professional Building at 6410 Fannin Street is home to University Dental Center (UDC) in Suite 310. UDC is a 13-operatory clinic serving both the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) and General Practice Residency (GPR) programs with appropriate supporting staff. The building is connected by enclosed skywalk to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center across the street. 

“Looking Back: A History of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Training Program at The University of Texas-Houston 1949-1999” and "Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston, 2000-2015," both by Robert R. Debes, DDS, with Donald P. Butler, DDS, are now available in PDF format. 

In May 1948, Edward C. Hinds, MD, DDS, a graduate of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas A&M College of Dentistry, became the first chair of the Department of Oral Surgery at The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (formerly known as the "Dental Branch"). Launched July 1, 1949, the department offered the first formal oral surgery training program in Texas.

Since then, the length of the residency has evolved from a single track, two-year program to twin programs lasting four or six years. The six-year program enables the resident to earn a medical degree from the McGovern Medical School, and both tracks award graduates a certificate of training from a fully accredited program. A special program allows qualified residents to earn a PhD during residency.

The residents rotate through the School of Dentistry and different hospitals in the Texas Medical Center, including Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital, the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Ben Taub General Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital and the Shriners Hospital. 

The department also enjoys a close research affiliation with Rice University, and several of the department’s faculty members hold adjunct appointments with the Department of Bioengineering. Current research activities focus on tissue regeneration, cancer immunobiology and management of head and neck infections. The Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery receives funding from a variety of sources, including the NIH and the U.S. Department of Defense.

The training program at UTHealth is the largest and one of the most highly ranked in the United States. Currently, six residents are selected from an applicant pool of 150-200 candidates. A highly motivated alumni organization, the Edward C. Hinds Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, strongly supports the department’s educational, service and research activities through a separate foundation, the Hinds Foundation.

Since the program’s founding in 1948, the department has had three chairs:

The Program Directors since 1949, responsible for residency training, are as follows:

The department’s members and alumni have been active in various national and international associations representing the specialty. The Association of American Society of Oral Surgeons was founded in 1918 and later became the Association of American Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Two alumni have served as president:

The American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, the certifying agency for the specialty, was founded in 1946 and two of our alumni have served as President:

The current department chair, Mark E. K. Wong, BDS, is a past president of the ABOMS.

Residents who have completed the program are in practice throughout Texas and the U.S., and a few practice in foreign countries, including Taiwan, Thailand, Italy, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Canada and Switzerland. The success of our graduates in their communities has strengthened the reputation of the department and helped make Houston's one of the most sought-after residency programs for oral and maxillofacial training in the world.

Six-Year Integrated OMS/MD Program Outline