Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SDM PE 993: Research: Periodontology
  Approved research in periodontology.
• SDM PH 512: Professional Ethics Development
  Professional Ethics Development is designed to explore the personal and professional values of the dental student and the dental health professional. The course provides a historical and conceptual framework of dentistry, and presents the profession's code of ethics as well as explores some current ethical and legal issues affecting professional practice. The purpose of the course is to assist students in the transition from undergraduate school to professional school and ultimately into knowledgeable, skilled, and caring professionals. Students discuss the school's code of conduct and identify common values of the class, participate in case-based discussions and writing assignments to raise awareness about the personal and professional values involved in dental school and dental practice.
• SDM PH 514: Preventive Dentistry
  This course will introduce students to the principles and practice of preventive dentistry, as applied to the care of an individual patient as well as the broader community population. It will also introduce the student to the basic principles and methods of epidemiology and demonstrate their application to dentistry. Completion of this course will enable students to read, critique and meaningfully extract information from scientific literature and be able to interpret it to lay individuals including their patients.
• SDM PH 517: Evidence-Based Dentistry
  The lecture component of this course is an introduction to assessing and evaluating published scientific and dental literature. Students learn to examine the general concepts in experimental design, scientific methodology, and the appropriateness of basic statistical methods used to evaluate the conclusions of studies. In the seminar component of the course, students meet in small groups led by faculty members who serve as facilitators. Published scientific evidence is used to help develop sound reasoning and critical thinking skills in students. Students analyze scientific literature and learn about general patterns of clinical judgment, critical thinking, decision-making, and application of scientific evidence into everyday practice.
• SDM PH 520: Integrated Problems in Practice Management 2
  The central theme (focus) for the IPPM II course is on professionalism and ethical issues that commonly occur within the context of providing oral health care. This is a multi-disciplinary course designed to introduce conceptual elements in practice management by integrating the APEX field experience into the course content. The instructional design for this course is seminar based where real life cases are discussed (defined as case-based learning). In utilizing a "case-based" design for this course, we are making the necessary linkage between this course and a series of related courses and rotations in the pre-doctoral curriculum. They include Comprehensive preclinical dentistry, APEX rotation, Professional Ethics Development, Behavioral Sciences, Health Care Law, and IPPM IV (with a focus on practice management for the recent graduate).
• SDM PH 521: Behavioral Science
  SDM PH 521: Behavioral ScienceThis course identifies the behavioral framework for the effective delivery of health care. Discussions include behavioral modification models with respect to doctor and patient communication as well as behavioral aspects of managing patient pain, fear, phobia and anxiety. The course provides students with knowledge to also assist them in their personal and professional behavioral management as they transition from student to health care provider by utilizing examples of healthcare professional conduct from the media, as well as drivers of health behavior. Other topics discussed are the behavioral approaches for rendering care to special needs populations such as individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and geriatrics.SDM PH 521: Behavioral ScienceIn this course, students uncover the keys to inspiring positive changes in patients' oral health behaviors. Through a blend of real-life stories, interactive activities, and application of theory, students will leave this course with practical strategies on how to empathetically connect with patients, understand their motivations, and effectively encourage them to embrace optimal dental habits. Behavioral science is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses the study of human behavior and its underlying psychological, social, and cultural factors. At GSDM, behavioral sciences is defined as patient centered approaches for promoting, improving, and maintaining oral health encompassing self-efficacy, motivational interviewing/brief counseling and reflective listening. These principles are applied through the application of the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change. Through this course students will have the opportunity to learn the theoretical underpinnings of behavioral science and work towards application as they prepare to enter the GSDM patient treatment center.
• SDM PH 530: Healthcare Law
  This course continues to build the student's understanding and consideration of ethical issues in dental practice and introduces related legal principles. Through lecture and case discussion, the student will focus on ethical problem-solving in more complex patient-based cases and introduces legal concepts affecting the practice of dentistry including licensure, contract and tort law, patient abandonment, malpractice, informed consent and refusal, mandatory reporting laws, patient confidentiality and prudent behavior, diversity and discrimination laws.
• SDM PH 541: Gerontology & Geriatric Dentistry
  This course integrates biomedical, clinical, and behavioral science principles into the evaluation and treatment planning of older adults and adults with special needs. PH 541 builds on didactic and clinical information acquired in their prior dental school curriculum. The students' didactic knowledge and understanding of special populations is assessed through a web-based examination platform. Evaluation of the students' clinical competence is based on attendance, participation, and an online assessment of an older adult patient or adult patient with special needs. This course focuses on patient-centered ways to promote, improve, maintain, and modify oral health care. This course also provides opportunities for critical thinking and foundational knowledge regarding inter-professional care and referrals, the social and behavioral implications of aging, polypharmacy, and management of oral health and quality of life for medically compromised older adults and adults living with special needs.
• SDM PH 544: Integrated Problems in Practice Management 4
  This course provides information necessary for a new graduate to obtain a position as an oral health-care provider. Topics discussed include jurisprudence, issues surrounding employment law pertinent to the new graduate, risk management (disability and liability insurance coverage and products), how third party reimbursement works, various provider compensation models, personal finance (retirement and student loan repayment), interview techniques, and employment contract assessment and negotiations
• SDM PH 610: Applied Professional Experience (APEX)
  At the end of their first year, students participate in an 8-week internship at GSDM-approved private practices or community health centers. Through a combination of written assignments, seminars and experiential learning, students learn about practice management, patient communication, social determinants of health and oral health inequities. Students also explore the roles of the dental and health care team and the U.S. dental care delivery system, as well as perform a series of observational and hands-on activities that reinforce their knowledge and application of the production and evaluation of intraoral radiographs, patient evaluation, caries risk assessment, patient centered counseling and preventive dentistry.
• SDM PH 644: Externship
  Students are assigned to community-based clinics such, as community health centers and hospital-based dental clinics, for 10-week rotations. These rotations provide opportunities for the continued growth of students' clinical, treatment planning, diagnosis, critical thinking, patient and time management skills. This course also provides the students with experience in treating diverse patient populations. During Externship, students also develop and implement a community outreach project that addresses a public health problem experienced by the community served by their Externship site.
• SDM PH 650: Elective Externship
  Elective externships are offered for students in the final year of dental school. These are short-term externships. Selection of GSDM students is competitive and requires formal application to GSDM Office of Global and Population Health. This elective externship consists of rotations in various areas of dental medicine at one or more of our partner site(s).
• SDM PH 660: International Externship Exchange Program
  This is a school-sponsored global initiative available to students in the final year of the 4-year dental program. This elective externship consists of rotations in various areas of dental medicine at one or more of our partner site(s). Partner sites are world-leading sites with advanced teaching facilities and diverse patients. GSDM students will be exposed to these institutions' recognized strength in clinical services, with outstanding clinicians, state-of-the- art facilities, and comprehensive approach to all aspects of Dental Medicine. Selection of GSDM students is competitive and requires formal application to the GSDM Office of Global and Population Health during the third year.
• SDM PH 763: Bioethics and Law
  Introduces models of applied ethics used within the field of dentistry. With lectures, case studies, and class discussion, students engage in identification and analysis of ethical dilemmas. Topics include professional responsibility and ethical principles, the doctor-patient relationship, the dentist and the community, and ethical conduct in science. 1st sem.
• SDM PH 803: Biostatistics
  Designed for master's and doctoral students. Introduces the concepts and techniques of biostatistics used in dental research and referred to in dental literature. Emphasizes the fundamentals of statistical logic and presents the basic principles of experimental design, statistical inference, and probability. Examples from current basic sciences research, survey research, and clinical trials augment the presentation of statistical theory. 1st and 2nd sem.
• SDM PH 804: Applied Statistical Analysis in Dental Public Health
  Prerequisite: SDM PH 803 or graduate level biostatistics. In-depth application of statistical concepts using publicly available datasets to develop a hypothesis, analyze data and produce a manuscript. The course focuses on the analysis of oral health related data, and includes a detailed discussion of estimation techniques, regression and correlation, analysis of covariance, and survey methods. Analyses are performed with SAS statistical analysis software available through the Boston University Office of Information Technology. 1st and 2nd sem.
• SDM PH 806: Environmental Health
  This introductory course to the field of environmental health provides an overview of major environmental issues and their influence on the practice of dentistry. Students will better understand how alterations to our environment impact human health and the health of the biosphere, the multifactorial process of decision-making surrounding risk and regulations, potential exposures and mitigation approaches specific to the dental field, and possible environmental advocacy roles for dental public health providers. 1st sem
• SDM PH 808: Health Care Management and Finance
  This course is designed to acquaint students with the basic concepts of health care administration, emphasizing financial administration. The course provides an overview of basic principles of accounting and financial management and their applications. The students will analyze problem sets that represent a practical application of financial administration principles as discussed in the course. These exercises will lay the analytic foundation for a final case study on a specific financial oral health issue. Topics covered include cost benefit and cost effective analyses, and break-even analyses using data provided by the instructor. 2nd sem.
• SDM PH 810: Fundamentals of Dental Public Health
  This course presents a comprehensive view of dental public health. Through lectures, class discussion, and exercises, students will investigate the core public health functions and become familiar with the concepts of surveillance, dental indices, access and systems of care, oral health disparities, social determinants of health, and public policy. In completing their final project, students will develop the practical skills needed for population-based public health programing such as needs assessment, writing goals and objectives, implementation planning, program evaluation, creating logic models, budgets, and timelines.
• SDM PH 812: Oral Epidemiology
  This course will provide the student with 1) the principles of epidemiology, relating these principles to the diseases of the oral cavity and 2) demonstrate the designs for clinical and community-based studies. Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to understand the strengths and limitations in the design of such studies. 1st sem.