About us

Paul Covello, DDS, MD, program director,

Geisinger Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery services a population of approximately 1.3 million patients in central and northeast Pennsylvania. Residents rotate at Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Level I Trauma Center), Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center (Wilkes-Barre, Level II Trauma Center) and Geisinger Community Medical Center (Scranton, Level II Trauma Center).

Currently, we accept two residents per year for the four-year, single-degree oral & maxillofacial surgery program. In collaboration with Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, residents have the option of completing a two-year, post-residency medical school program, during which they would obtain a medical doctorate (MD) and receive one-year of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited training in general surgery.

All faculty in our program are American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (ABOMS) board-certified. Our scope of practice includes dentoalveolar, implants, outpatient anesthesia, orthognathic surgery, obstructive sleep apnea, TMJ (i.e. minimally-invasive arthroscopy and total alloplastic joint reconstruction), trauma, benign/malignant pathology, salivary gland surgery (i.e. minimally-invasive sialendoscopy and major salivary gland surgery), complex reconstructive surgery (i.e. microvascular surgery and nerve reconstruction) and multi-disciplinary secondary cleft and craniofacial surgery.

Program strengths

• Collaborative, respectful and enjoyable culture of residents, faculty and administrators
• Collegial environment for residents with level-appropriate surgical autonomy
• Well-developed and diverse curriculum
• Strong support for research initiatives
• Extensive operative experience covering the expanded scope of the specialty with our OMS faculty