Promoting Your Teaching Health Center Dental Residency
This guide provides a practical, step-by-step framework to help community-based dental residency programs attract, engage, and recruit mission-driven dental students into training opportunities in rural and underserved communities.
Here's an overview of what's included in this toolkit:
Compile Your Unique Selling Points
Teaching Health Center Benefits and Impact
- What is Public Health Dentistry?
- Types of THC Community-Based Outpatient Clinics
- Community Impact of Teaching Health Centers
Residency Program Benefits
- Why Consider a Dental Residency at a Teaching Health Center?
- Benefits to You as a Dentist
- How a Residency Complements Dental School
- Who Is This a Good Fit For?
Showcase Value Beyond Clinical Training
- Financial Advantages
- Professional Advantages
- Mission & Community
Strategic Marketing & Outreach
- How to Use Your Unique Selling Points in Outreach
- Effective Marketing Strategies to Build Awareness, Trust, and a Pipeline
Marketing Strategies to Reach Students
- Build a Strong Campus Presence
- Leverage Peer-to-Peer Influence
- Utilize Digital Campaigns
- Optimize Your Web & Recruitment Funnel
- Attend Student Conferences & Sponsor Events
- Create a Pipeline From Pre-Dental to 4th Year
- Offer Rotations + Externships
- Collaborate With Rural & Public Health Organizations
Marketing Calendar & Recruitment Funnel
Core Activity Ideas for Your Marketing Calendar
- January - April: Awareness & Infrastructure Development (Pre-Application Phase)
- March - May: Application Kickoff & Early Interest
- May - August: Application & Interview Promotion (Peak Recruitment Period)
- September - October: Pre-Ranking Influence Period
- Late October – Early November: Final Recruitment Push Mid-November Post-Ranking / Phase II Outreach December – Early January: Match & Pipeline Development
- Why This Matters
Why Teaching Health Center Dental Residencies Matter
Teaching Health Center Dental Residencies Offer:
- Broad, real-world clinical training
- A mission-driven career path
- Strong mentorship and support
- Financial and career advantages
- Meaningful community impact
Bottom Line: Teaching Health Center dental residencies don’t just train dentists—they develop skilled clinicians, community leaders, and long-term contributors to the healthcare workforce.
Teaching Health Center Planning and Development Impact
Since 2010, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program has helped communities grow their health workforce training in outpatient settings with a focus on rural and underserved communities to increase access to care in areas with dentist and physician shortages.
Since 2021, the HRSA Teaching Health Center Planning and Development (THCPD) program has provided start-up funding and technical assistance to create new accredited medical and dental training programs in these settings.
ShepsGME
ShepsGME, based at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, provides technical assistance to strengthen graduate medical education (GME) and expand the physician workforce in rural and underserved communities at both the federal and state levels.
The Center operates two federally funded technical assistance programs supporting the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Residency Planning and Development and Teaching Health Center GME programs.
THCGME
The Teaching Health Center Planning and Development-Technical Assistance Center
(THCPD-TAC) is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under cooperative agreement #U3LHP45321-01-00.
The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education - Technical Assistance Center
(THCGME-TAC) is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under contract #75R60224C00016.
The contents are those or the presenters and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.