Geisinger's advanced four-year certificate program in oral and maxillofacial surgery provides our residents with an excellent, balanced didactic and clinical education in a hospital setting. The program is based at a rural location and attracts patients from all over Northeast and Central Pennsylvania. Geisinger Medical Center is a Level I Regional Trauma Center that encompasses all levels of complexity with maxillofacial trauma. The scope of our program is comprehensive in nature with exposure to patients in need of reconstructive surgery in all areas of our discipline.

Such services include total joint reconstruction, reconstruction of bony and soft tissue defects, corrective jaw surgery for congenital conditions, obstructive sleep apnea, microvascular free-flap surgery for ablative defects and treatment of the cleft palate patient. Our craniofacial team includes partners in plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, genetics, orthodontics and neurosurgery. Our oral and maxillofacial program is unique as being part of the largest rural health center in the United States. The opportunity to treat the afflicted patient with oral and maxillofacial surgery conditions continues to expand with our ever growing population to those we serve.

The oral and maxillofacial surgery program at Geisinger Health System strives to fully train enrolled residents for the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery in those areas that represent the full scope of the profession. This is accomplished through provision of patient care services based on sound scientific principles, basic science, clinical care and didactic instruction, while contributing to new knowledge through research, and advancing the profession by way of professional service. Residents are trained in accordance with the American Dental Association and American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery standard guidelines. As a graduate of our program, residents will be proficient in all aspects of oral and maxillofacial surgery as evaluated by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Program strengths

• Outstanding hospital environment
• A large patient population
• All-encompassing clinical exposure to treating healthy and medically compromised patients
• Lectures from medical specialties within the hospital
• Extensive operating room experience