Checking in on Pennsylvania ’ s Dental Schools
Oral Pathology * + school-based , non-hospital Oral Pathology ( 3 years for each program ); General Practice Residency ( GPR )* ( 1 year ); Endodontics ( 2 years ), Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics ( 3 years ); Pediatric Dentistry ( 2 years ); Periodontics ( 3 years ); and Prosthodontics ( 3 years ). * Hospital-based programs
Pitt Dental Medicine ’ s dental hygiene program is a 2-year ( 5.5 term ) program . Students have the option to continue their education to pursue a B . S degree by completing an additional 40 credits through the University of Pittsburgh ’ s College of General Studies .
The dental assisting program at Pitt Dental Medicine is a 3-month didactic program followed by 1 month of clinical externship .
Ismail : The DMD program requires four years to complete the experiences and tests necessary to meet the Commission on Dental Accreditation Standards . Students in the DMD program study and practice for five days a week pass a complex array of basic sciences , preclinical , and clinical didactic courses , as well as preclinical and clinical experiences and competency examinations . The specialty programs have different time requirements which can range for one year for the AEGD program to six years for the oral maxillofacial surgery program with the MD qualifications . The other specialty programs require 26 months ( orthodontics ), two years ( endodontology ), and three years ( prosthodontics and periodontology ). The dental public health residency requires one year to complete .
PDJ : How have your graduation requirements evolved ? Can you speak to the requirements and what you are doing to ensure that your graduates are prepared and entering the workforce as competent dentists ?
Wolff : We are a competency-based education system , meaning that after learning a technique and gaining a minimum number of experiences to gain proficiency in the procedures , students must be able to demonstrate the ability to successfully and independently complete the procedure .
Our mandated competencies are defined by both the Commission on Dental Accreditation and the school , based upon what we believe to be the minimum skills necessary to be a competent general practitioner . We teach and train students in many skills beyond the “ minimum ” competence level , like CAD / CAM , implant restoration and treatment planning , esthetic dentistry and methods to deliver care to children and adults with disabilities .
Oakley : The predoctoral program is carefully designed to ensure that students are prepared to enter the workforce as competent general dentists . Students acquire foundational knowledge and practice hand-skills in a wide assortment of didactic and preclinical lab courses . As they progress through the program , students address the comprehensive and urgent care needs of patients and complete clinical experiences in various dental disciplines ( for example , restorative dentistry , endodontics , periodontics , dentistry for patients with special health care needs , etc .).
Students must also demonstrate that they have the necessary knowledge , skills , and values to enter the workforce via a number of high-stakes competency assessments . The curriculum , to include graduation requirements , is subject to ongoing formal review by administration and faculty . Various additional factors also influence graduation requirements that include alumni survey results , feedback from program directors , evidence-based trends across the profession , and daily student and clinical board performance . Students are not eligible to graduate from the program unless they have successfully completed all requirements . Pitt Dental Medicine ’ s extraordinarily high success rate on national and regional boards helps to validate the program ’ s efforts to ensure graduates are prepared to enter the workforce as competent entry-level general dentists .
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2024 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 17