DMD: Curriculum

The first year of the predoctoral curriculum is primarily biomedical and preclinical dental sciences, and course work to prepare the students to matriculate to one of the SDM’s community sites in the second year. Year 2 of the curriculum continues the basic and preclinical science training but includes approximately 40% of time devoted to direct patient care activities. In years three and four, the students spend most of the academic schedule in direct patient care activities, with some clinical courses and time for research. During all three years at the community-based clinics, students will engage in Interprofessional Education (IPE) activities with other health professionals and health professional students. Co-management of patients will be a key component of the clinical program. Weekly Grand Round sessions will reinforce this by having students present cases to all health professionals present at the clinical site.

During the final year of the curriculum, D4 students will have the opportunity to take elective/selective courses of their choosing, which will allow them to enhance their learning in specific areas of dentistry. In addition, at any one time, one-half of the D4 class will be conducting external rotations at one of the school’s partner sites. These sites will include Indian Health Service clinics, other FQHC and community-based clinics, and rural private practices.

The DMD curriculum will include didactic content on communication and behavioral modification strategies, social determinants of health, practice management, evidence-based dentistry, ethics, law, and regulatory concepts throughout all four years of the curriculum. This will provide students with the necessary foundational knowledge and skills to effectively deliver patient-centered care and promote, improve, and maintain oral health. Clinical experiences within the three community-based clinics, supplemented with community-based rotations and supported by didactic coursework, will permit our students to apply these concepts to promote, improve, and maintain the oral health of diverse patient populations.

The SDM clinical learning strategies will follow a learner-centered approach, which advocates for active learning, reflection, self-assessment, formative feedback, high-fidelity summative assessments, and encouragement and support for continual learning. Clearly defined rubrics will be the predominant assessment tool to evaluate skill development.

The clinical curriculum will also focus on training professional interaction skills, such as “chairside manner” for dental students, with patients, faculty, clinical staff, support staff, and peer colleagues. In the clinic, faculty will evaluate students daily by utilizing evaluation criteria for professional behaviors and clinical attitudes included in each formative assessment. The faculty will review the evaluation criteria with the student to determine areas of competency and/or deficiency. The instructor will also provide immediate counseling as needed to promote the student’s appropriate professional behavior and attitudes and follow up to ensure positive behavior change on the part of the student.

Students will be exposed to diverse patient populations at all three clinical sites, such as patients with special needs (e.g., developmental disabilities) and the elderly. Dental students will not only have various opportunities for educating patients with special needs but will be required to have assessment and treatment experience in this area. Students could also be assigned rotations at local care facilities which focus on the care of geriatric and special needs patients, such as Children’s Village in Yakima.