Jay A. Gershen, Acting Dean
The UCLA School of Dentistry has developed a national and international reputation for its teaching and research activities. Challenging educational, training, and research programs prepare the dental student for a professional career dedicated to patient treatment and service. The curriculum is carefully designed to prepare students for changes in treatment modalities and health care delivery systems. Students become actively involved in preventive and clinical dental care immediately in their training and soon make valuable contributions to the clinical health team. The clinical instruction system emphasizes a patient care approach in which each patient is treated comprehensively. Students interact with their colleagues, faculty, and dental auxiliary personnel in much the same way as they later will interact in a private or group practice.
Opportunity exists for dental students to undertake programs designed to meet their special needs; mandatory fourth-year selectives encourage more advanced training in an area of particular interest. In addition to basic and applied research programs within the school, students participate in community ser-vice programs such as the Wilson-Jennings-Bloomfield UCLA Venice Dental Center, the Roybal Children's Dental Center, and the Mobile Dental Clinic, the latter in conjunction with the University of Southern California. A graduate program and a number of postdoctoral specialty programs foster new lines of research which lead to better treatment options. An active continuing education program directed by UCLA faculty members provides a variety of short courses for members of the dental profession and their auxiliaries.
The UCLA School of Dentistry, which occupies facilities in the Center for the Health Sciences, offers a D.D.S. (Doctor of Dental Surgery) degree program, a number of postdoctoral programs, and Oral Biology M.S. and Ph.D. degree programs. Articulated D.D.S. and M.S. or certificate programs are also available. This catalog provides detailed information only on the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in Oral Biology, for which admission to the School of Dentistry is not required
Surgery (D.D.S.)
Oral Biology (M.S.)
For details on the three-year predental curriculum, see the College of Letters and Science later in this section.
The UCLA dental curriculum leading to the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) is based on the quarter system. The course of study usually takes four academic years of approximately nine months each, with three required Summer Quarters between the first/second, second/third, and third/fourth years. The curriculum is designed to provide students with clinical competence and broad experience in all phases of clinical dentistry within the four years.
The dental curriculum consists of three principal areas: basic health sciences courses, didactic dental courses, and clinical experience. The first two years of the curriculum are chiefly devoted to didactic, laboratory, and general clinical coursework. The final two years emphasize training and instruction in the clinical fields, including endodontics, fixed prosthodontics, operative dentistry, oral diagnosis and treatment planning, oral radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, anesthesiology, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and removable prosthodontics.
For further details on the D.D.S. program and a listing of the courses offered, see the Announcement of the UCLA School of Dentistry, available from the Office of Student Affairs and Admissions, School of Dentistry, A3-042 Dentistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1762.
The School of Dentistry offers the following opportunities for postdoctoral study: a one-year general practice residency program; a one-year advanced education in general dentistry program; a one-year residency in maxillofacial prosthodontics; a four- or six-year oral and maxillofacial surgery residency training program; a three-year periodontics and combined orthodontic/pediatric dentistry program; two-year programs in the specialties of pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics, endodontics, and orofacial pain and dysfunction; and a 27-month program in orthodontics.
Information on these postdoctoral programs can be obtained by writing directly to Postdoctoral Programs, School of Dentistry, A3-042 Dentistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1762.