The Louisville metropolitan area really affords the complete gamut of clinical scenarios that you're going to see throughout your career.
We are at a level one trauma center. We are exposed to a wide variety of cases of traumatic injuries, and that just further sharpens our surgical skills.
Each year, the resident gains more responsibility and that affords the residents more decision-making capabilities as they grow up in the program.
You'll be expected from day one to be able to contribute in a helpful and meaningful manner. We, as upper level residents, do our best to work as a team and fully teach our lower level residents the right way of doing things. We like to call that "the Louisville Way."
They talk about "the Louisville Way," which is essentially the residents doing the majority, if not everything, involved in the procedure, and being assisted by the faculty.
The residents get a very wide scope of training here and I think come out prepared to do anything that they would want to do in their practice. They have a lot of independence here, at the same time with having faculty that's always readily available, willing to answer questions, willing to sit down and talk about cases.
This is a fairly rich program. We generate a lot of money. We also have a nice endowment which permits us to purchase equipment innovations, so we have all the latest of everything.
There is ample amount of technology available at this program that allows for good conversations beforehand when they're doing their planning.
Some of the technology that we use now is digital imaging and then also what we call virtual surgical planning. Some of our reconstructive cases as well as our orthognathic cases and even trauma cases, CT scans to develop models, reconstruct those models and actually build custom reconstructive plates or implants that are needed for their rehabilitation.
Once you start in this program, you're part of our family. The attendings and the residents go out of their way to make sure that you are in an environment that is most conducive to your learning and to you becoming the best oral surgeon possible.
You work long hours, especially the residents. They're here early and they're here until very, very late. But I think that the collegiality that we have amongst the residents and the faculty makes the six years go by quick.
The faculty and the residents are a close-knit group. We're a small number.
They're always available. They're always a phone call away. They're willing and wanting you to call them and ask questions.
They all treat us very respectfully, even as a first year. They're all willing to teach and invest time.
Very few places offer big-city culture with a small-town feel. And that's one of the things I love about Louisville.
It is a medium-sized midwestern city. There's a great restaurant scene here. There are major sports teams. Over half the residents here bought their own homes. So it's certainly very affordable. There is a fantastic park system here.
I would say to any dental student or dentist considering a career in oral and maxillofacial surgery you ought to look strongly at the University of Louisville. You get broad-based training, you get exposure to a wide variety of patient situations, conditions. We have excellent balance in the scope of our training and it is generally a nice place to live and train. I am proud to say that we have produced excellent oral and maxillofacial surgeons that are practicing coast to coast, providing excellent patient care and they're a great service to their community.
