Closure of a general practice residency and outpatient program

This paper describes the various fiscal and programatic strategies used by a carefully managed, institutionally integrated, and financially viable dental department that was suddenly told to close its outpatient program and General Practice Residency Program. This case history emphasizes the importance of external factors and the need for the dental leadership in an institution to be certain that the dental department's goals are consistent with the mission of the host institution, especially in times of change. As new programs develop and existing departments expand, the reasons for the success as well as failure experienced by others should be evaluated carefully. This paper adds to this understanding.