UF’s College of Dentistry’s new Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Residency Program received its initial accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation earlier this month.
The program, which is one of only seven nationwide, will be housed in the College of Dentistry. It will train dental residents to become board certified in OMR, the American Dental Association’s newest specialty discipline.
The first class in the program will be selected late Spring and start this Summer, said Dr. Madhu Nair, chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diagnostic Sciences.
An oral and maxillofacial radiologist is a dentist who specializes in collecting X-ray images and studying the images for conditions that could affect the head and neck, according to the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology’s website.
OMR specialists are in high demand.
“There’s a huge shortage of radiologists in this country, especially in maxillofacial radiology,” Nair said.
The program will also work in collaboration with UF’s College of Medicine’s Radiology department.
The residents will work with radiologists and earn more experience working with Cat Scans and MRIs as well as other X-ray images.
“Our residents can learn a lot from the expert medical radiologists when they go on rotation,” said Dr. Rujuta Katkar, a clinical assistant professor in the department.
Nair, Katkar and Dr. James C. Pettigrew Jr., director of the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, along with three other medical radiology faculty members, will teach residents.
“The new residency program will be a great opportunity for students at UF and across the world who are interested in a career in oral and maxillofacial radiology,” Katkar said.
