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Department of General Dentistry and Management Science

Chair: Warren I. Scherer, D.D.S., Professor of General Dentistry and Management Science; Associate Head, Division of Reconstructive and Comprehensive Care

Overview
Freshman and sophomore students are presented with an integrated approach in learning the clinical sciences. This coordinates and integrates knowledge that was previously presented by multiple departments into one course under one umbrella. During freshman year, topics such as dental anatomy, biomaterials, pediatric dentistry, operative technique, and health promotion are discussed. During sophomore year, prosthodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, aesthetics, and endodontics are added to the course content. Teaching lecture and laboratory materials in this manner help to provide clinical relevance, avoid redundancy, and ensure consistency of material and concepts presented. The lecture content is reinforced by the clinical procedures performed in the simulation or bench laboratory. Material presented is supplemented with video presentations and outside readings often made available to the students via Blackboard, an interactive course-based Web site accessed through the NYU home page.

One of the important goals of the department is to prepare students to provide comprehensive care to patients in a modern group practice setting. As a result, junior and senior students are integrated in group practices under the direction of group practice directors. Group practice directors mentor students in each of their groups toward competency and discipline requirements with the assistance of generalist and specialty faculty. In this regard, General Dentistry interacts closely with all the specialty areas to meet the established goals and objectives of the department. Critical thinking is augmented through small group case discussion and through Interdisciplinary Seminars in the senior year. Additionally, group interaction, with junior-year students acting as junior members of the group, and Practice Management Seminars and assignments provide all members of the group the opportunity to gain the fundamental elements of managing a dental practice. The department also provides a Licensing/Board Preparation course for senior-year students to assist students to prepare for written and clinical components of licensing examinations in dentistry.

Curriculum
The following courses are offered by the Department of General Dentistry and Management Science.

First Year—General Dentistry Simulation
Clinical Foundations, Dental Anatomy, and Dental Biomaterials
This multidisciplinary course provides the students’ first introduction to the dental environment. Course content begins with discussions of health promotion and epidemiology that is designed to establish a foundation for the remaining portion of both the freshman and sophomore curricula. Laboratory and lecture content focus on the structure of the human dentition and surrounding structures with an emphasis on tooth morphology and function
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Single Tooth Restorations I and Biomaterials
This is next in a series of three General Dentistry Simulation (GDS) courses presented in the first year curriculum. Here, students take their knowledge of dental anatomy and biomaterials and learn the principles and procedures for single tooth restorations for both the permanent and primary dentitions. Procedures are performed in a simulation environment with careful supervision of each step in cavity preparation. Exercises are evaluated using the same Clinical Competency forms that students experience in their clinical training during the third and fourth years. All techniques and materials are identical to those performed on patients in the group practice areas.

Single Tooth Restorations II and Biomaterials
Third in the series, this GDS course builds on the student’s experience. The techniques and concepts taught in lecture and laboratory extend to more complex procedures that are still limited to single tooth restorations.

Second Year—General Dentistry Simulation
Complex Restorations I
Starting in the second year, students learn the principles of crown preparation, occlusion, and fixed prosthodontics. Continuing the theme of an integrated curriculum, within Complex Restorations I (CRI), the concepts of clinical endodontics, periodontics, and pediatric dentistry are introduced where appropriate. The course is sequenced to provide optimal learning; as an example, endodontic procedures are taught immediately prior to dowel fabrication. Biomaterials considerations are presented in an integrated fashion, whenever appropriate throughout the course. During CRI, students fabricate three unit splints, create provisional restorations and dowels.

Complex Restorations II
Taking place parallel to the CRI course, CRII presents the principles of removable prosthodontics. Students are guided from diagnosis, preliminary, and final impressions through the wax up of both removable partial prosthesis and complete dentures. Again, related concepts in biomaterials and biocompatibility are discussed.

Aesthetic Dentistry
The aesthetic dentistry component takes place toward the latter portion of the sophomore-year curriculum. Students learn how to perform an aesthetic evaluation on a patient, using clinical examples of relevant cases. This includes the collection of data and dental records with specific emphasis on micro- and macroaesthetic zones. In addition, there is a focus on smile design with specific emphasis on midline discrepancies, arch discrepancies, facial form, tooth size and shape, lip line, and axial inclination of teeth. Embrasure space, as a component in aesthetic outcomes, is also addressed. Students learn how to perform both in office and at home bleaching techniques.

Students are presented concepts of diagnosis and treatment planning for patients who would benefit from varying levels of orthodontic services and are introduced to principles and concepts involved in the clinical evaluation of the patient, cephalometric analysis, space analysis, and the use of the invisalign technique.

Cariology/Restorative Dentistry
This component of GDS provides a transition from the Simulation Lab to patient care. It builds on the foundation knowledge gained in the first year with emphasis on classic and contemporary preparations in restorative dentistry along with preventive resin restorations. Students update their familiarity with cariology, caries diagnosis, caries risk assessment, and remineralization techniques.

Third and Fourth Years
General Dentistry Clinic
The General Dentistry Clinic course has been formulated and designed to prepare the student to provide comprehensive care to patients in a modern group practice setting. While most care is usually delivered by a single student, some patients may be treated by other members of the group depending on the complexity of the required care and other factors. The members of the group are responsible for the delivery of comprehensive dental care including continual maintenance of the treated patient’s oral health.

Fourth Year
Interdisciplinary Seminars
The department has formulated this series of seminars and patient case reports to provide information to students to enable them to access, evaluate, and apply evidence-based findings from the biomedical, social, and clinical sciences as a strategy for lifelong learning when making health care decisions. In addition, the course has a section dealing with the role of the dental professional in helping society during a bioterrorist attack. Seminars are provided to the senior-year class by each of the clinical disciplines at the beginning of each academic year.

Practice Management
This course is designed to assist the general dental practitioner in acquiring the skills and knowledge necessary to manage a sound business operation, which facilitates the delivery of quality oral health care. Students are also taught emergency procedure in case of a bioterrorist attack. Seminars are given by outside experts affiliated with the College. This course is provided to students during the spring semester of the academic year.

Licensing/Board Preparation
The goal of the Licensing/Board Preparation course is to prepare students to pass written and clinical components of licensing examinations in dentistry. As such, students are provided with an opportunity to receive lecture, simulation, and mock board experiences that provide beneficial experiences should they partake in regional board examinations.

Honors in Hospital Rotation (Lincoln Hospital) and Senior Selective in Faculty Practice
The Lincoln Hospital rotation gives a few select students the opportunity to practice general dentistry in a hospital setting for two-month periods of rotation. Students provide comprehensive care to those individuals seeking care from the hospital as well as those patients cared for by the hospital. The Senior Selective in Faculty Practice permits senior students to rotate to the University Faculty Practice office to provide comprehensive dental care to varying student populations who have affiliations with New York University.

Research
Even though the primary focus of the department is devoted to preparing students to provide comprehensive care to patients in a modern group practice setting, the department fosters in-vivo and in-vitro industrial biomaterials research, for example, tooth-whitening (bleaching) studies, tooth bonding, and new technology (CAD/CAM) as well as innovative and new on-line teaching methodologies. Faculty and students alike are supported in such endeavors and are encouraged to submit for publication case reports gleaned from daily clinic activity.