New York - Upstate - Hometown Health - AEGD

For over 40 years, Hometown Health Centers has proudly been the primary care provider of choice for more than 17,000 local children and families. As the only not-for-profit, federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Schenectady County, HHC has set a standard for quality healthcare in the community. Hometown Health Centers is nationally recognized for providing high quality, cost-effective primary health care to all in need, with particular concern for low income residents. Its services include primary care, OB-GYN, behavior health, vision, pharmacy, dental and school based health. Dental services include primary and preventative dental care to the Center’s patient population. Updated equipment includes digital x-rays, Sybron and Pro-taper rotary endodontics, Picasso Laser, and nitrous sedation. Residents receive experience in adult comprehensive care, emergency care, simple and complex endodontics, fixed and removable prosthetics, pediatrics, and oral surgery. We have four full-time staff dentists and two part-time staff dentists that are readily available to help and teach the residents. We also have an oral surgeon with over forty years experience to teach residents many different types of surgery. With the new Medicaid policy covering implants, residents may be able to gain experience placing and restoring implants. The residents’ schedules stay busy between scheduled patients, walk in patients, and call-ins.

The AEGD residents are primarily based within the Hometown Health Center site, with a rotation to our Emblem Health office in Albany, NY. Their rotation through Emblem Health allows the resident to experience more complex prosthetic work like implant restoration and long-span fixed partial dentures. Emblem Health is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health insurers and covers over three million people in New York State.

The Capital Region is a great place to live. Its location is central to almost anything you are looking for. Boston, Montreal, and New York City are only three hours away. Adirondack Park is America’s largest state park and is only a short drive away, as is the Catskill Mountains or Berkshires. Saratoga Springs is a beautiful, famous resort town just north of Albany that has world-class horseracing, and amazing shopping and restaurants.

Story from Our Dental Director and 2014 graduate

Name:

Rory Ogden Shmit

Class Year:

2013-2014

Current Title:

Chief Dental Officer at Hometown Health Centers; Residency Coordinator for NYU Langone Dental Medicine

Story: 

"During my residency, I had a very special patient that ignited my passion for a career in community health dentistry. This patient was a young, beautiful woman in her early twenties that destroyed her teeth due to drugs. The patient was in a drug rehab program, was taking suboxone, and wanted to turn her life around. She had caries on every tooth. It took me my entire year of residency to complete all her extractions, fillings, root canals, and prosthetic work, but we stayed committed to each other to finish the treatment plan. In the end, she gave me a big hug because she could finally smile proudly. This allowed her to find a job, a house, and remain clean. What she didn't know, is she changed my life more than I changed hers. She gave me the gift of finding my dream career path."

Story From a 2018 graduate

Name: 

Tom Clemente

Class Year: 

2017-2018

Story:

"My 1 yr. AEGD residency at Hometown Dental Clinic has allowed me to enter my career with great confidence and a much increased ability to work both competently and independently. In discussions with my peers I have since discovered that the volume and cross-section of clinical procedures provided during my post graduate year had far exceeded the work supplied by any other dental residency in the state. The clinical director and attending staff made themselves constantly available in the effort of developing sound treatment plans and diagnostic strength. My dental school’s curriculum offered a minimal amount of procedures for graduation and I felt upon graduating that I lacked sufficient repetition of procedures to be fully prepared to begin my career. My residency at the Hometown Clinic allowed me to become immediately effective as a resource to my patients and employer."