School of Dentistry

School of Dentistry website

From the Dean

Marquette University School of Dentistry is pleased to present you with its 2023-2024 bulletin. The School of Dentistry continues to meet the challenges and to grow through the exciting opportunities found in contemporary dental education. In doing so we reaffirm our institutional commitment to provide the finest dental education possible, based on a tradition that invites innovation, and fosters growth and ongoing progress.

Contemporary dental education requires us to adopt new paradigms of instruction and learning, thereby creating an enriched academic, research and clinical culture — preserving the best of the past while integrating the opportunities and challenges of the future. Welcome!

William K. Lobb, D.D.S., M.S., M.P.H.

Dean
School of Dentistry

Vision

The Marquette University School of Dentistry strives to be a premier academic oral health center.

School of Dentistry Mission Statement

The Marquette University School of Dentistry is committed to excellence in education, research and service, resulting in high quality oral health care.

Dental Competencies

The curriculum of the School of Dentistry is competency based. Competencies are the end products of clinical training and experience that represent the ability to independently perform or provide a particular, but complex, service or task. Students who have achieved competence in all areas should be qualified for the safe, independent practice of dentistry. Defined competencies serve as the goals for the dental program at the School of Dentistry. The school educates and trains a technically competent, socially sensitive practitioner of dentistry who adheres to the highest standards of professional conduct and ethics. The new dental graduate must demonstrate solid problem-solving skills, be biologically oriented and function effectively as a member of the nation’s health care delivery system. To meet this purpose, it is necessary to identify the knowledge and skills graduates must possess to be able to promote the oral health of patients. These competencies identify and organize the knowledge and skills that graduates of the School of Dentistry must acquire to become competent and caring dentists who treat the whole patient.

Graduates of the School of Dentistry must be able to:

Diagnosis and Treatment Planning

  1. Gather, evaluate and integrate the best available research and biomedical science knowledge to facilitate an evidence-based approach to achieving and maintaining oral health.
  2. Gather all pertinent patient information from history, interview, clinical and radiographic examination, and appropriate diagnostic tests to accurately diagnose oral diseases, recognize implications of systemic disease, identify risk factors, and determine prognosis, while collaborating with other members of the healthcare professional team and making referrals, as necessary.
  3. Recognize hard and soft tissue abnormalities of the orofacial region, including temporomandibular disorders, and determine appropriate management and follow-up.
  4. Apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to develop comprehensive treatment plans and obtain informed consent for the accepted treatment option.
    Oral Health Management
  5. Monitor and evaluate therapeutic outcomes and utilize the results to reassess and modify initial diagnosis and treatment, as necessary.
  6. Recognize and manage medical and dental emergencies and provide basic life support interventions when needed.
  7. Manage pain and anxiety utilizing pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods, recognizing the impact of prescribing practices on substance abuse disorders.
  8. Perform a caries risk assessment and restore teeth to proper form, function and esthetics using appropriate treatment strategies.
  9. Restore partial or complete edentulism to proper form, function, and esthetics with fixed or removable prostheses including implant procedures by using appropriate materials and techniques, managing the associated laboratory procedures, communicating with laboratory technicians and evaluating the resultant prostheses.
  10. Complete a periodontal evaluation, assessment and treatment of early and moderate forms of periodontal disease and manage advanced periodontal disease with a clear recognition of the end points of therapy.
  11. Complete an endodontic evaluation, assessment and treatment of uncomplicated endodontic cases.
  12. Complete a surgical evaluation, assessment and treatment of uncomplicated cases and manage complicated oral surgical cases.
  13. Complete an orthodontic evaluation, assessment and space management analysis of patients differentiating between minor and major malocclusions.
    Practice and Profession
  14. Apply legal and ethical principles to the provision of oral health care services, with an understanding of the professional obligation to the patient.
  15. Using a patient-centered, humanistic approach, apply appropriate communication and behavioral principles to effectively interact with diverse populations, including patients from various cultural backgrounds, with special needs, and in varying stages of the lifespan.
  16. Provide care for all patient populations including patients from various cultural backgrounds, special needs and in varying stages of the lifespan emphasizing prevention of oral diseases and promoting the maintenance of existing systemic and oral health of individuals, families and groups in the community.
  17. Apply the basic principles and philosophies of practice management, evaluate models of oral health care delivery, assess emerging resources and trends in healthcare, and provide leadership to the dental health care team.
  18. Complete a self-assessment of skills, performance, and knowledge for the construction of a personal development plan to improve professional competencies.

Degrees Offered

Doctor of Dental Surgery

The degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery is conferred upon completion of the four-year curriculum. The candidate must demonstrate competency as defined in "Dental Competencies". In addition, the candidate must have successfully completed all course work and have met all graduation requirements.

Master of Science

The School of Dentistry offers graduate programs in dental biomaterials, endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics and prosthodontics. These programs can be modified to allow conjoint interdisciplinary graduate work to be undertaken in any other unit of the university.

Academic Accreditation

The School of Dentistry and its recognized advanced education programs are approved by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association. The School of Dentistry is a member of the American Dental Education Association.

Location

The School of Dentistry is located at 1801 West Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233. The phone numbers for the School of Dentistry are (414) 288-3532 and (800) 445-5385. A map and directions to the School of Dentistry can be found at https://www.marquette.edu/visit/map.php