The Program in Orthodontics is a twenty-four month course of study beginning in July of each year. The program is designed to offer a broad foundation in the basic sciences and to provide a background of detailed knowledge essential to the understanding of orthodontics. Primary emphasis is on clinical training, which is correlated with and supplemented by lecture, seminar, demonstration, and conference instruction. Mastery of the edgewise appliance is stressed. Treatment with functional appliances is also emphasized as an augmentation to fixed appliance therapy. In addition to the treatment of routine orthodontic problems, each student treats several patients with severe malocclusions, requiring a combined orthodontic-surgical approach to therapy. Guest lecturers introduce other appliance techniques currently used throughout the world. The opportunity exists for students to obtain a Master of Science degree through one of the basic science departments of the Health Sciences Center. Such a program requires the approval of the head of the Department of Orthodontics and the head of the basic science department in which the degree is desired. Approximately twelve additional months of full-time attendance is necessary to complete the requirements for the Master of Science degree. Some of the courses offered over the two-year period are orthodontic theory and diagnosis, orthodontic technique, biomechanics, surgical orthodontics, craniofacial morphogenesis, anatomy, and statistics. Each student must also complete a research project. The program is fully accredited by the ADA Council on Dental Accreditation (CODA). All applicants must take the Graduate Record Examination; foreign students must take the TOEFL.

Key Information

American Association of Orthodontists