Curriculum (Four Year Program)The school offers a four-year, eight-semester, two-summer-term curriculum leading to the doctor of dental surgery (D.D.S.) degree. This curriculum is designed to prepare graduates in dentistry to deliver patient care with a scientific basis and a caring manner. As such, it provides a sound background in the biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences with an emphasis on comprehensive oral health care. Exposure to clinical dentistry in the first semester of the first year is a hallmark of this curriculum.The first year of dental school focuses on instruction in the biomedical sciences that provide a foundation for clinical studies. The first-year student also studies introductory courses in oral diagnosis and dental restorative techniques in a pre-clinical setting. Early clinical exposure is further emphasized through clinic-based courses in both the first and the second semesters. Acquisition of basic diagnostic skills and background knowledge is a goal of the first year of the curriculum. Biomedical science courses extend into the second year; however, the major thrust of the second year is devoted to pre-clinical technique coursework of increasing complexity. In the preclinical laboratory courses, students continue learning the fundamental procedures of dentistry: operative dentistry, prosthodontics (fixed and removable), and endodontics. Clinically, students are introduced to the basic essential skills needed in preventive periodontics. Classroom lecture sessions are also conducted in each of these areas of dentistry along with didactic courses in periodontics, oral diagnosis, oral radiology, and oral surgery. The primary emphasis of the third year of the curriculum is the clinical practice of dentistry. The general clinic is organized into subunits called teams. Each team includes an established set of faculty and staff. Patients are assigned to students for total care, from diagnosis and treatment planning through procedures necessary for successful case completion. While the emphasis of the third and fourth years of the dental curriculum is gaining clinical experience, students also attend advanced classes in periodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, operative dentistry and oral diagnosis/oral medicine.
The fourth year involves extensive clinical practice. There are a few seminar
sessions and formal courses (e.g., practice administration), but the student's major responsibility is to perfect diagnostic, patient-management and technical-treatment skills and demonstrate competence in all the skills required by the faculty of the School of Dentistry.
An outline of the four-year curriculum by semester is given below.
First YearFall Semester Hours BIO 203 Cell Biology 3.0 BMS 9300 Human Gross Anatomy I 5.0 LSBIOC 304 Biochemistry and Nutrition 4.0 BMS 9308 Histology I 2.5 DENT 6306 Introduction to Ethics and Professionalism 1.0 DENT 6310C Clinical Assisting 3.0 DENT 6316 Dental Morphology I (Lec/Lab) 3.0 DENT 6328 Introduction to Dental Literature 1.0 Total Hours 22.5 Spring Semester Hours BMS 9301 Human Gross Anatomy II 5.0 LSPHYS 401 Physiology Lecture 5.0 DENT 6305 Operative Dentistry I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6305L Operative Dentistry I Lab 2.0 DENT 6314C Introduction to Oral Diagnosis 3.0 DENT 6317 Dental Occlusion (Lecture/Lab) 3.0 DENT 6335 Applied Neuroscience 2.0 DENT 6350 Histopathology (Lecture/Lab) 2.5 Total Hours 23.5 Second YearFall Semester Hours LSMCRB 4180 Microbiology 4.0 DENT 6410 Operative Dentistry II Lecture 1.0 DENT 6410L Operative Dentistry II Lab 2.0 DENT 6412 Anesthesiology I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6414 Pathology I Lecture 4.0 DENT 6416 Complete Removable Prosthodontics I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6416L Complete Removable Prosthodontics I Lab 2.0 DENT 6422 Fixed Prosthodontics I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6422L Fixed Prosthodontics I Lab 2.0 DENT 6426 Oral Radiology Lecture 2.0 DENT 6430C Preventive Periodontics 3.0 DENT 6435 Endodontics I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6436 Orthodontics: Growth and Development 1.0 Total Hours 25.0 Spring Semester Hours DENT 6312 Dental Behavioral Science I 1.0 DENT 6411 Operative Dentistry III Lecture 1.0 DENT 6415 Pathology II Lecture 2.0 DENT 6417 Removable Partial Prosthodontics 3.0 DENT 6420 Periodontics I and II 2.0 DENT 6423 Fixed Prosthodontics Lecture 1.0 DENT 6423L Fixed Prosthodontics Lab 2.0 DENT 6431 Pediatric Dentistry I 1.0 DENT 6439 Medical Emergencies in the Dental Office 1.0 DENT 6440 Oral Surgery I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6441C Treatment Planning 2.0 DENT 6442 Endodontics II Lecture 1.0 DENT 6442L Endodontics II Lab 2.0 DENT 6524 Principles of Medicine and Physical Diagnosis 2.0 DENT 6526 Orthodontics I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6526L Orthodontics I Lab 2.0 DENT 6556 Radiographic Interpretation 0.5 Total Hours 25.5 Third YearSummer Term Hours DENT 6537 Oral Oncology 0.5 DENT 6501C Introduction to Comprehensive Patient Care 8.0 Total Hours 8.5 Fall Semester Hours DENT 6312 Dental Behavioral Science I 1.0 DENT 6318 Dental Biomaterials Lecture 1.0 DENT 6424 Oral Diagnosis and Oral Medicine 2.0 DENT 6460C Review of Pre-Clinical Dentistry 2.0 DENT 6502 Grand Rounds I 1.0 PHARM 5507 Pharmacology Lecture 3.0 DENT 6515 Periodontics III Lecture 1.0 DENT 6521 Oral Surgery II Lecture 1.0 DENT 6538 Orthodontics II 1.0 Clinic 9.0 Total Hours 22.0 Spring Semester Hours DENT 6522 Oral Surgery III Lecture 1.0 DENT 6526C Preventive Dentistry 1.0 DENT 6527 Therapeutics 2.0 DENT 6534 Advanced Prosthodontics 1.0 DENT 6559 Dx & Mgt./Orafacial Pain 1.0 DENT 6595 Implant Dentistry 1.0 DENT 6602 Grand Rounds II 1.0 DENT 6633 Dental Public Health 1.0 DENT 6634 Community-Based Education I 1.0 Clinic 14.0 Total Hours 24.0 Fourth YearSummer Term Hours DENT 6558 Radiographic Interp. II 0.5 DENT 6650 Applied Ethics 0.5 Clinic 9.0 Total Hours 10.0 Fall Semester Hours DENT 6429 Behavioral Science II 1.0 DENT 6514 Pathology III Lecture 1.0 DENT 6584 Case Presentation 0.5 DENT 6603 Grand Rounds III 1.0 DENT 6610 Anxiety/Pain Control in Dentistry 1.0 DENT 6613 Periodontal Treatment Planning 1.0 DENT 6617 Pediatric Dentistry Seminar 0.5 DENT 6630 Practice Administration I Lecture 1.0 DENT 6635 Community-Based Education II 1.0 Clinic 10.0 Total Hours 18.0 Spring Semester Hours DENT 6600 Review of Clinical Dentistry 1.0 DENT 6604 Grand Rounds IV 1.0 DENT 6605 Review of Clinical Dentistry II 1.0 DENT 6614 Dentistry for the Special Patient 2.0 DENT 6618 Dental Jurisprudence and Ethics 1.0 DENT 6631 Practice Administration II Lecture 1.0 Clinic 16.0 Total Hours 23.0 |
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