The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry accepts three residents each year for its oral and maxillofacial surgery residency, a four-year certificate program fully accredited by the American Dental Association.
As a resident, you will receive training in the full scope of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, participating in a structured didactic program and a variety of clinical rotations.
Program Director: Dr. William Chung
Program Coordinator: Lori Mucci
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry
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Our didactic program is designed to meet your educational needs as a surgeon in training.
The function of the weekly case conference is to discuss all preoperative and postoperative cases. A chief resident on a rotating schedule organizes the conference, and a chief or senior resident presents the cases with an in-depth discussion of the diagnosis and management of the patient.
This is a 2 hour weekly seminar that provides instruction in basic medical and surgical principles. The lecture schedule is arranged in blocks and covers the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery, including trauma, orthognathic surgery, cleft craniofacial surgery, pathology and reconstruction, esthetic surgery, TMD, dentoalveolar surgery, implant surgery, and infections.
A basic anesthesia seminar course is provided during the summer for all incoming dental and oral and maxillofacial surgery residents. In addition to this introductory seminar the department schedules one to two monthly seminars or conferences on advanced anesthetic topics such as pharmacology, techniques, monitoring, emergency management, patient assessment, and medicine. Residents participate in biannual simulation training in airway emergencies at the IU Health Simulation Center, as well as practicing quarterly emergency simulations in the clinic.
This seminar/case conference has two components:
OMFS faculty present this cadaver dissection course that reviews surgical anatomy and illustrates surgical techniques.
This seminar occurs quarterly to review the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and other pertinent journals.
A special 3-hour seminar dedicated entirely to Oral Pathology occurs quarterly, and includes lectures, CPCs, and histopathology sessions on the microscope.
This elective seminar is held monthly in conjunction with the ENT and Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Services.
During the four years of the residency program, you will spend a minimum of 30 months on the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery service. You also will be assigned to formal rotations in anesthesia, pediatric anesthesia, medicine, general surgery, trauma surgery, oral pathology, head and neck surgery, and the ICU.
Your clinical rotations will take place at facilities in IU Health, Eskenazi Health, and Ascension St. Vincent Hospital systems. Among them, these facilities have four level-one trauma centers, a cancer center, and a cleft/craniofacial center.
You’ll get comprehensive training in all aspects of anesthesia during your residency, spending a total of five months on the anesthesia service, including one month at Riley Hospital for Children. In addition to the formal anesthesia rotation, you’ll participate in office-based ambulatory anesthetics located in IU Health University Hospital oral and maxillofacial surgery outpatient clinics, which have full anesthesia capabilities and perform LMA and intubated care.
The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry is an integral part of the cleft and craniofacial anomalies team at Riley Hospital for Children. During your residency, you will participate in primary and secondary alveolar cleft repair and orthognathic surgery of the cleft patient under the supervision of departmental faculty.
You’ll get extensive experience in treatment planning and surgical placement of osseointegrated implants. Many of the patients you treat during your residency will require various types of bone grafts. You’ll also work closely with the School of Dentistry’s Department of Prosthodontics to place facial implants.
As a resident, you’ll get extensive experience in dentoalveolar surgery at three outpatient clinics: the Oral Surgery Resident Dental Clinic at the School of Dentistry and clinics at IU Health University Hospital and the IU Indianapolis Health Sciences Building.
You’ll have opportunities to perform orthognathic surgery at several different facilities. Cases at IU Health University Hospital are treated in conjunction with the School of Dentistry’s Department of Orthodontics and Oral Facial Genetics. You’ll also work closely with several private practitioners that operate at Methodist Hospital and at an ambulatory surgical center. As a resident, you will participate fully in treatment planning and preoperative and postoperative office management.
During your residency, you’ll get extensive training in the management of maxillofacial pathology and do a two-month rotation on head and neck surgery.
As a resident, you'll have opportunities to perform numerous reconstructive procedures, including hard and soft tissue grafts.
You’ll participate in the full scope of diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular disorders during your residency.
You’ll perform the full scope of maxillofacial trauma management during your residency. Most mandible fractures are referred to the department, and craniofacial trauma is divided between three services equally.
In addition to treating cases at affiliated hospitals, the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Hospital Dentistry is a resource for many surgeons throughout the state.
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To be eligible to apply to the oral and maxillofacial surgery residency, you must:
If you do not meet these requirements but have significant clinical experience, you may be considered for admission if you have strong references to support your application.
You will use the American Dental Education Association Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS) and the Postdoctoral Dental Matching Program (the Match) to apply for the oral and maxillofacial surgery residency.
Learn how to applyThe Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery offers a one-week hospital-based extern program in oral and maxillofacial surgery. The program is designed for those highly motivated students who plan to apply to an oral and maxillofacial surgery residency and who seek a more intensive exposure to the specialty beyond what is traditionally incorporated in undergraduate dental education.
These one-week externships provide dental students with an invaluable experience shadowing residents and faculty. Externs will observe a broad scope of advanced surgical procedures and gain insight into the daily life of a resident by assisting the on-call resident, scrubbing in on OR cases, participating in daily clinics, morning hospital rounds, all educational didactic activities, and conferences. In addition, the extern will receive exposure to pain control with outpatient general anesthesia in the operating room, and the techniques used for conscious and deep sedation in clinics.
We accept externs throughout the year, with a limit of 1 extern per week. Externships are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The student must be a third or fourth-year dental student at an American Dental Association accredited school of dentistry at the time of their externship.
To apply, please submit the following documents:
Each extern is required to reserve appropriate housing accommodations during your scheduled visit. Please request a list of surrounding hotels from the Program Coordinator if needed.
Please submit your request along with documentation to Lori Mucci (residency program coordinator) at lmucci@iu.edu.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou
