The Division of Operative Dentistry at ULSD is committed to graduating students who are competent in improving the oral health of the population by: 1. Adopting an evidence based curriculum that teaches students diagnosis, prevention and early intervention in treatment of dental caries. 2. Providing a professional educational clinical environment to deliver simple and complex operative treatments to the pediatric, adult and geriatric patients . 3. Introducing the most current dental material and technologies when providing treatment to the public.

The Preclinical Treatment Planning course provides foundation knowledge in comprehensive treatment planning, prognosis, and informed consent. Patient assessment techniques are introduced that build on the foundation knowledge that students have obtained in previous didactic and preclinical courses. These techniques illustrate how to determine the patient's chief complaint, how to identify and manage urgent treatment needs, and provide a treatment environment that allows free communication between provider and patient. Techniques are introduced to: 1) analyze the results of diagnostic data collection in order to arrive at a definitive diagnosis; 2) utilize data from the assessment and diagnosis to develop a sequential plan of treatment, addressing urgency of treatment needs and acknowledgement of the patient's chief concerns; 3) develop a prognosis of treatment choices with a consideration of the patient's dental values and motivation based on patient assessment data such as caries risk and oral hygiene skills; and 4) provide an environment for the patient to provide informed consent. Methods are presented to illustrate to the patient the nature and severity of their disease, the causative factors leading to their disease, the alternatives to treatment, possible complications of treatment, and the risks and benefits of treatment choices.

Synthesis of treatment modalities for direct patient care with emphasis on collation of all pertinent facts. Patient management and case presentation techniques are utilized in a primary care setting.

This course will consist of lectures that will be given twice a week to cover the basic principles of Removable Partial Denture (RPD) diagnosis and treatment planning. It will also cover RPD components, classification, biomechanics and design.

Students will demonstrate progressive proficiency in clinical application of foundational knowledge in treatment planning, designing and delivering removable partial dentures. Students will implement preclinical laboratory techniques while delivering patient care. Students will be exposed to both formative and summative experiences as part of the clinical curriculum. Students will be immersed in both non-patient and patient based formative assessments honing their critical thinking and self-assessment skills. Students will b challenged on a summative competency assessment during the D4 examination without assistance.