The St. Barnabas Hospital (SBH) Orthodontics Residency Program has been providing comprehensive didactic and clinical training to orthodontic trainees since 2001. Our program is proud to be part of the SBH Health System, a nonsectarian, 461-bed acute care community hospital located in the Bronx, New York. The northernmost borough in the city, the Bronx is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse areas in the country. We pride ourselves on providing necessary and compassionate care to a community with a high degree of dental need. Among our top priorities is fostering a feeling of inclusion and belonging for our patients and among our diverse group of 12 residents.
As a career dental academician and graduate of Columbia’s Teachers College, I place a high priority on providing students with the foundational orthodontic knowledge needed to form a deep understanding of our profession. Residents have lecture or a case presentation every morning at 8am during their first year. The didactic course load decreases in 2nd and 3rd year but continues to be a vital part of the program. St. Barnabas Orthodontic residents are consistently among the top performing residents nationally on their written orthodontic board exam, and they have a 100% passing rate for the clinical ABO Board exam.
Along with the strong didactic focus, SBH offers orthodontic residents a rigorous clinical experience. The orthodontic buddy system allows residents to enter the clinic early in July and begin administering direct care with the support of a third-year peer. Residents receive expert one-on-one training in all aspects of fixed and removable orthodontic treatment from a dedicated team of faculty members who have experience in academia and private practice. Residents have the opportunity to gain experience with all types of treatment modalities, including traditional edgewise orthodontics, functional appliances, clear aligner therapy, lingual braces and temporary anchorage devices.
We have a digitally integrated workflow with 2 Itero scanners, cloud-based lab submissions and a CBCT machine. Residents are required to present cases in a mock clinical board format during their 3rd year or the program, as a graduation requirement. Completion of a research project and preparation of a manuscript is also required.
The orthodontic residency program is part of the larger dental department at SBH, which includes residencies in General Practice, Pediatrics and Dental Anesthesia. In total, there are over 40 dental residents enrolled at SBH per year. Dental faculty members cover the full spectrum of dental specialties including Periodontics, Endodontics, TMD, Oral Surgery and Prosthodontics. First year residents attend interdisciplinary Core Curriculum lectures with their dental colleagues on topics of shared interest such as oral pathology, periodontics, orthognathic surgery and lasers. The residents are highly interconnected, working at the same sites and sharing many complex interdisciplinary restorative and orthognathic cases.
At SBH we graduate competent, confidents orthodontists, ready to take on the world. Please visit our FAQ page for more insight into studying orthodontics at SBH.
June Harewood, DDS, MS Orthodontics, MA Science Education
Program Director, SBH Department of Orthodontics
jharewood@sbhny,org