Year Two

Building on earlier instruction in human devel­opment, general histology, and clinical human anatomy, the specific attributes of craniofacial growth and development and of dental and oral tissues are highlighted for you in lec­tures, laboratories, video segments, and conferences. Throughout the course, clinical correlations are presented to reinforce the educational goals of the course.

The primary goal of the course is to train the future oral healthcare professional to conduct a thorough, accurate medical history and physical evaluation. You will learn an approach to acquiring clinical information, organizing and processing this information, and then presenting it clearly and concisely. Drawing on and integrating your core knowledge of physiology and pathophysiology, you learn to apply this to clinical observation and practice. This course helps strengthen your communication skills, professionalism, and cultural competence — all essential attributes of an oral health care practitioner.

Cariology is the study of disease of dental caries, the principal reason for the practice of dentistry. Cariology encompasses concepts you will learn in operative dentistry, periodontics, and nutrition.

This course focuses on the caries process and how we have come to understand it and prevent its progression, including through fluorides to prevent smooth surface caries and sealants to reduce the number of pit and fissure caries. You will look at caries from the perspectives of epidemiology, microbiology, histology, and ultimately that of the practicing clinical dentist.

This lecture-based course is designed to provide the foundational knowledge and skills needed to place and restore dental implants. The biologic and clinical principles taught prepare you for clinical restorative care of patients with dental implant needs. A leading dental implant manufacturer gives a one-day presentation including a two-hour hands-on session covering restorative components.

Oral Radiology I presents the fundamentals of oral and maxillofacial radiology up to, but not including, radiologic interpretation. The topics include: radiation physics, radiation biology, radiation protection, radiographic image formation, the principles of tomography (including panoramic radiography and computed tomography), magnetic resonance imaging, and normal radiographic anatomy of the maxillofacial region.

Primary Care Medicine in Dentistry is a series of seminars on screening and intervention for common medical conditions. This course is a collaborative educational program, both in design and execution, with all the schools of Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC)— the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the College of Dental Medicine—as well as the Institute of Human Nutrition and the School of Social Work.

This course teaches you about the oral manifestations of systemic diseases and conditions. It consists of eight online modules, each with a self-assessment, as well as four classroom discussion sessions. Lectures will cover the clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic features of numerous common oral mucosal and jaw entities. Differential diagnosis and treatment options are emphasized.

The Body In Health and In Disease II begins in August of your second year and continues until December. This multidisciplinary course incorporates aspects of embryology, histology, pathology, pathophysiology, and therapeutics. Through this course, you and your fellow students gain a working understanding of:

• Normal organ development, structure, and function
• Changes in organ structure and function with disease processes
• Approaches to therapy including use of pharmaceutical agents

The course will also provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate the abilities to work collaboratively, apply knowledge, and to solve clinical problems.

Instructional methods include lectures to provide the core knowledge, case-based small group discussions, team-based learning exercises, and independent readings. The course structure and content are closely related to the curriculum of the concurrent courses, Foundations in Clinical Medicine and Psychiatric Medicine.

Through 10 lectures, you are introduced to the basic principles and procedures involved in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Didactic lecture series familiarize you with the basic concepts of management of a surgical patient, including patient assessment, peri-operative patient management, and aseptic technique/infection control protocol. Emphasis is on the armamentarium, techniques, and complications of exodontia.

This course is a 10-hour lecture introduction to local anesthesia. At the end, you should become knowledgeable in the safe and effective administration of local anesthetics in dentistry. Specifically, you will gain an understanding of:

• Neurophysiology of pain perception
• Pharmacology of amide and ester local anesthetics and vasoconstrictors
• Relevant maxillomandibular anatomy and its relation to orofacial pain and anesthesia
• Prevention and management of complications associated with the use of local anesthetics
• Techniques of local anesthetics administration. (Note: The hands-on clinical exercise in local anesthetic administration takes place in the spring.)

The Child Abuse Reporting Education (CARE) Project is an online resource designed to teach graduate students in the Columbia University School of Social Work and the College of Dental Medicine how to recognize the symptoms of child abuse and how to report abuse when acting in their professional capacities. Social workers, dentists, and all other human service professionals are required by law to report suspected abuse or maltreatment of minors to the New York State Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.

The CARE Project provides a guided structure to child abuse reporting requirements courses at Columbia University, providing you with access to online training modules created to enhance understanding and practice of child abuse reporting standards. Each module contains informational text and images, interactive learning activities, and pre- and post-course evaluations that allow you to test their understanding of what you have learned. Once the training modules are completed, students then discuss the CARE material in class with instructors.

This course offers lectures and seminars on the fundamentals of endodontics. Demonstrations and exercises in endodontic technique on extracted teeth are included.

Lectures and preclinical training introduce you to the construction of appliances to correct dental irregularities. You are also taught the diagnosis and treatment planning of dento-facial deformities and learn to distinguish between simple malocclusions, which may be treated within the scope of general dentistry, and those which are complex and require comprehensive treatment with an orthodontic specialist.

Your educational experience in pediatric dentistry is presented in several phases. Preclinical Pediatric Dentistry begins in the second semester of the second year and offers you a carefully coordinated sequence of lecture-lab simulations to help you prepare for pediatric clinical care. This is followed by brief courses in Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting, Pediatric Patient Management, and Nitrous Oxide Training — eventually leading to the course entitled Clinical Practice of Pediatric Dentistry, offered during the third and fourth years of dental school. Journal club meetings, rotations, and various activities related to the pediatric dentistry student chapter supplement these experiences.

This course is designed to teach you the fundamental principles of periodontics and prepare you for management of the periodontal needs of their patients in the predoctoral clinic. At the conclusion of this course, you should be able to:

• Establish a periodontal diagnosis
• Describe the etiology and pathogenesis of gingivitis and periodontitis
• Establish a periodontal treatment plan
• Simulate periodontal scaling, root planning, and polishing

This course begins your preparation to be competent in treatment and management of patients who require comprehensive diagnosis, treatment planning, and sequence of treatment in general prosthodontic therapy found in general dental practices. The didactic, preclinical, and laboratory curriculum includes the following:

• Fixed prosthodontics
• Removable prosthodontics
• Removable partial dentures
• Complete dentures
• Implant prosthodontics

Foundational lectures and activities introduce you to basic theory and principles of fixed, removable partial, and removable complete prosthodontics, as well as further expansion of the concepts of restorative dental procedures including evidenced based approaches. The second semester involves case-based activities, which integrate previous concepts with advanced approaches to treatment planning, sequencing, and procedures. Traditional sessions involve an initial lecture(s)/slide presentation(s) which describes in detail, background, didactics, and clinical application/technique. Emphasis is placed on developing relevant patient care skills and laboratory communication skills.