Fast Facts

In Education…

• Founded in 1968, the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry has educated more than 75% of the dental professionals practicing in Louisiana today. Since its inception, the school has educated over 4,300 dentists, dental hygienists, and dental laboratory technologists.
• LSUSD offers degrees in dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental laboratory technology, and advanced education certificates in pediatric dentistry, endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, prosthodontics, and general practice residency. It also offers a combined certificate in oral and maxillofacial surgery and doctor of medicine degree. Via distance learning, LSUSD offers the dental hygiene degree program to students in Lafayette and Baton Rouge.
• LSUSD is a primary provider of continuing education for dental professionals in Louisiana, offering over 1,800 continuing education hours annually. Since 1969, the continuing education program has sponsored over 1,000 courses, with over 52,000 registrants. Distance-learning statewide has now become a reality with the advent of new technology and resources.

In Patient Care…

• Each year, LSUSD students and residents are responsible for nearly 100,000 patient visits in 15 locations throughout Louisiana, many of which are underserved areas.
• The Department of Pediatric Dentistry partners with Children's Hospital to provide care to underserved children throughout the Greater New Orleans region at the hospital and via a mobile dental unit, "Tooth Bus." The bus travels to five locations throughout the city to provide care.
• Faculty and general practice residents provide care to the mentally challenged at both the Pinecrest Supports and Services Center in Pineville and the North Lake Supports and Services Center in Hammond.
• Oral and maxillofacial surgery residents and general practice residents provide care through four hospitals statewide--Earl K. Long and Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge and University Hospital and East Jefferson Medical Center in the New Orleans area.
• LSUSD provides oral health care to patients with HIV through the Ted Wisniewski Center of Excellence for the Treatment of Immunodeficiency Diseases in New Orleans and conducts research to address the oral health care issues of HIV patients. LSUSD developed the first LSU HIV Dental Clinic at the Medical Center of Louisiana, New Orleans in 1994. The school also provides care to HIV-positive individuals at Huey P. Long Hospital in Pineville and through a mobile dental van in New Orleans.
• LSUSD serves as the primary provider of forensic dental services to police and emergency personnel in Louisiana and Mississippi.

In Research…

• The LSUSD Center of Excellence in Oral & Craniofacial Biology is the only collaborative research initiative in Louisiana to focus on oral health. It creates a rich research environment for the education and development of students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty researchers in dental and craniofacial biology - while enhancing oral health care for citizens everywhere.