Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD)

The program will accomplish its goals through academic work in four themes and two threads, which are woven throughout the four years of the program. The program includes a variety of educational formats to deliver the curricula, including problem-based learning sessions, team-based learning, independent study, seminars, experiential learning opportunities, traditional lectures, virtual reality clinical simulation, laboratories, standardized patient experiences, and patient-based comprehensive care. An important goal of the curriculum is to help students become better prepared in independent learning, critical thinking skills, and the use of evidence. The curriculum includes the following themes and threads: Themes Health and Well-Being This theme contains all curricula -- both didactic and clinical -- that apply to health and the normal structure and functioning of the body and of the oral complex. The traditional content areas of physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, histology, among other dental science classes, are integrated through cases to form a better bridge between the basic sciences and the clinical sciences. Disease Processes The Disease Processes theme includes content related to general and oral diseases. These topics are often melded with healthy structure and function content to provide students with a global perspective of the implications of disease on usual functioning. Restoration of Health This theme contains content related to therapies necessary for treatment of medical disease and dental disease. A focus on restoring oral health is accomplished through virtual reality clinical skills training, training on models and progression to comprehensive dental care in conjunction with didactic knowledge. Maintenance of Health The Maintenance of Health theme focuses on curriculum which explores strategies for preserving health through general and oral health therapies, patient education, disease risk assessment, and disease prevention. This theme provides viewpoint from which students can develop life-long care plans for their patients. Threads Inquiry This thread that runs throughout the four-year program supports student growth in skills in clinical decision making. Students develop an understanding of what scientific evidence is, how to make clinical decisions, and to value scientific discovery in all aspects of dentistry. Leadership This thread contains curriculum for the development of students as ethical, sensitive, caring practitioners who are stewards of oral health of the individual patient, the community, and society. An important focus in Leadership curriculum is content that helps students advance in their role as a professional. It also supports the integration of all students into the practice management curriculum centered within their clinical preceptor groups.