Surgical Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology (2,000 hours of instruction)

The final goal of this discipline is to train individuals to competently diagnose at the microscopic levels pathological processes affecting the oral and maxillofacial regions. More precisely, the trainees should be able to:

• Competently gross oral biopsy specimens.
• Comfortably diagnose at the microscopic level more than 95% of the cases that are seen as routine submissions in an oral pathology biopsy service.
• Establish a reasonable differential diagnosis of rare oral lesions seen in the oral and maxillofacial regions, and then select, request and interpret appropriate special histochemical, immunocytochemical, immunofluorescence and in situ hybridization studies.
• Draft competent pathology reports of cases reviewed in an oral and maxillofacial pathology biopsy service.
• Understand and apply the administrative and licensing procedures associated with the establishment and directorship of an oral biopsy service.
• Know and apply the legal aspects of the laboratory operation such as malpractice insurance, and laws that protect individual privacy.
• Understand and practice the regulatory procedures which provide for the safety of laboratory personnel.
• Work in an academic environment oriented to teach surgical oral pathology.

Patient Evaluation and Management (360 hours of instruction)

The main goal of this subject area is to provide the trainee with the proper tools and experience to evaluate the physical aspects of oral and systemic diseases. More precisely, the trainees should be able to:

• Assess the systemic status of out-patient and in-patient populations.
• Evaluate the systemic and local medication taken by patients, its indications, contraindications and side-effects.
• Clinically diagnose diseases affecting oral soft and hard tissues and/or establish a clinical differential diagnosis leading to the appropriate treatment of the condition in question.
• Manage unusual cases and participate in multidisciplinary treatment-planning.
• Work in an academic environment oriented to teach clinical oral pathology.

Anatomical Pathology (960 hours of instruction)

The final goal of this discipline is to prepare the trainees to interact with their colleagues in the medical field. More specifically, the trainee should be able to:

• Competently assist in autopsy procedures.
• Execute gross and microscopic examination of surgical and necropsy specimens.
• Diagnose at the light microscopy level local and systemic diseases.
• Use and interpret histochemical and immunocytochemical techniques commonly used for the diagnoses of diagnostically challenging entities.
• Use polarized light for the identification of foreign bodies in human tissues.

Radiology (80 hours of instruction)

The final goal of this discipline is to provide a wide experience in a variety of imaging techniques that are used for diagnostic purposes. In particular, the trainees should be able to:

• Understand and apply radiation safety guidelines in a radiographic imaging facility.
• Interpret conventional dental radiographic studies (bitewing, periapical, occlusal, and panoramic) of the gnathic areas.
• Interpret radiographic images of salivary tissues involving the administration of contrast material (sialography).
• Interpret computerized axial tomographic scans (CAT-scans) of the head and neck region.
• Evaluate head and neck scans involving the administration of radionuclides.
• Interpret magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the head and neck region.