Photo By Rebecca Perron | 170616-N-GM597-005 Portsmouth, Va. (June 16, 2017) Cmdr. Cecilia Brown and Lt....... read more read more
The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth graduated two residents June 16. Among them was Cmdr. Cecilia Brown, the first African-American dentist to be trained at NMCP in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery specialty.
The residents who completed the four-year program are Brown, who will become the department head of the Oral Surgery Clinic at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida, and Lt. Christopher Maliken, who will care for Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, through his assignment with the 2nd Dental Battalion.
“Your four-year journey is ending, and you are heading to the fleet,” said Capt. Michael Carson, the department head for Oral Surgery, while making the graduation ceremony’s opening remarks. “You are going to be practicing solo and making decisions. You are the future of Navy Medicine. I am excited to have been a part of your lives as we challenged you to get to this point.”
NMCP’s program is one of three that the Navy offers, while there are only 60 to 70 such residency programs nationally in the civilian sector. The hospital-based residency program is the longest residency of any of the dental specialties, a specialty that combines dentistry and medicine.
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons specialize in treating many diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral (mouth) and maxillofacial (jaws and face) region. This includes providing care for patients of all ranges, from babies born with cleft lips and palates to adults with jaw tumors, cancer, extensive dental problems and facial trauma.
“We are dentists, but the specialty encompasses quite a lot more than that,” Brown said. “We fall in between the dental community and the medical community. We do a little bit of plastic surgery, some Ear, Nose and Throat, and some general surgery, and we have to know medicine because we manage the patient’s care. Oral surgery is one of the hardest disciplines in dentistry. We are a unique specialty.”
During their training, the residents help the faculty manage patient care in the clinic, including formulating treatment plans and referring patients for further treatment. The faculty also mentors them during surgical procedures, and teaches the residents hands-on and technical skills.
“At the medical center, we are able to treat both active duty and family members, so it’s very diverse group of patients, from children to geriatrics,” Maliken said. “Being able to take care of the diverse patient population is extremely rewarding.”
Cmdr. Michael Gentile, the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program director, said through the program, these residents become very experienced, well-rounded surgeons.
“In their first year, they learn the basics of safely removing wisdom teeth, they learn surgical techniques, and they also get exposed to medicine and general surgery through rotations in those areas,” Gentile said.
Their second year includes anesthesia training in NMCP’s Anesthesia Department and a month in the Intensive Care Unit at NMCP. The residents also complete rotations at Norfolk General Hospital in shock trauma and learning Ear, Nose and Throat reconstruction.
“The third and fourth years are when they are receiving the more advanced oral surgery training,” Gentile said. “Most of that time is spent on service, but they also spend four months in Asheville, North Carolina, getting experience treating facial trauma at the University of North Carolina’s School of Dentistry.”
Traveling to the civilian institutions for training was a highpoint of the program for Maliken who got his first glimpse of being a dentist through a civilian oral surgeon.
“The rotation in Asheville gave me a look at what it’s like in civilian practice and also made me appreciate what we have here at NMCP,” Maliken said. “When I was first interested in dentistry, I had the opportunity to shadow an oral surgeon in a private practice. As I was applying to dental schools, I had at the back of my mind this field of oral surgery which is much more interesting and varied that the general practice. A close friend of mine is a Navy dentist, so that motivated me to join the Navy.”
Brown became interested in becoming a dentist and possibly an oral surgeon while completing her studies as a physician assistant (PA).
“I was a PA for 10 years in the Air Forces’ Public Health Service,” Brown said. “My sister was in her first year of dental school as I was in my last year of PA school. She’d bring home her instruments, and then I got interested in dentistry also.”
After she completed her active-duty obligation as a PA and transferring into the Air Force Reserves, Brown realized she was still interested in dentistry.
“I applied for various scholarships and the Navy’s was the best offer, so I decommissioned from the Air Force and graduated from dental school in 2008,” Brown said. “I completed the Advanced Education General Dentistry Residency at Naval Station Norfolk Branch Health Clinic in 2009 and was assigned to the 3rd Dental Battalion at Cherry Point. I then completed the Navy Exodontia Advanced Clinical Program and was assigned to a branch health clinic under Naval Hospital Jacksonville.”
During the course of the residency, Brown estimates that she cared for more than 1,000 patients. But the experience of one of her first surgery cases gave her insight into the true impact the specialty allows her to have on her patients’ lives.
“The one case that sticks out to me is the first baby I treated who was born with a cleft lip,” Brown recalled. “The parents had seen their baby from the time she was born until she was about three months with a disfigured lip. The look on the mother’s face when she walked into the PICU and saw that her baby’s face looked normal, that touched me because I felt like I had given this child an opportunity.”
Maliken also had a great experience working with patients and staff at NMCP.
“The faculty here is great, and they each have their own areas of expertise,” Maliken said. “Completing the program is a huge accomplishment, and I am ready to move on to the next phase of my career. It’s all Marines there, so I’m looking forward to taking care of that patient population.
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.20.2017 16:02 |
| Story ID: | 238561 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 903 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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