Examine the Curriculum

Innovation in dental education makes WesternU’s College of Dental Medicine an excellent choice if you want to practice the dentistry of today and tomorrow. The curriculum and facilities were designed to incorporate innovative ideas and the latest equipment.

We offer a full-time 4-year clinical program leading to the Doctor of Dental Medicine degree (DMD) in a learning environment that is student-centered. International Dentist Program students complete a 10-week course from March to end of May and then join our regularly enrolled student class as they enter clinical experiences in June.

During your first term which begins in early March, you will study an intensive didactic and preclinical curriculum designed to calibrate you to the first two years of our curriculum and ensure you may safely begin patient care. Close supervision of student performance by the IDP Program Director and IDP teaching faculty will ensure that you receive the individual attention you need to fulfill the expectations of this intensive course.

Student is working on teeth

The following areas are included in the course: preclinical sciences, integrated biomedical sciences and treatment of medically complex patients, oral pathology, clinical service learning and community dentistry, and interprofessional education. These areas mirror the first two years of curriculum for regularly enrolled students. Much of the curriculum is presented via Realizeit digital adaptive learning platform. Using built-in assessment, Realizeit personalizes curriculum based on each learner’s current level of knowledge and its adaptive capabilities are ideal for the IDP student’s varying skills and past experiences.

Upon successful completion of the preparatory curriculum, you will join our existing D2 class in primarily clinical activities in June. From that time until graduation you will participate in the same curriculum as that of regularly enrolled students.

The College of Dental Medicine and our curriculum:

  • treats students as members of the profession from the first day.
  • features a wide variety of educational methodologies, including traditional lecture, seminars, case-based learning, on-line modules, laboratory, clinical simulation, standardized patient exercises, direct patient care and service learning.
  • emphasizes principles of clinical medicine by integrating dental students in the study of human systems.
  • focuses on the links between oral health and overall health and offers interprofessional learning with other health professions.
  • integrates early direct patient-care experiences to provide contextual relevance for the foundational knowledge and clinical skills you are learning in human systems courses and pre-clinical simulation training.
  • integrates early service-learning opportunities in community-based locations in the first two years that stresses community assessment, education, and preventive programs.
  • offers extensive clinical experience in community-based locations.
  • emphasizes compassionate care, treating the patient as an individual first.
  • integrates patient and practice management into clinical experiences, building critical skills such as; communication, professional ethics, leadership and business management that are required for successful practice.
Review the Course Listing in our Catalog

For more detail regarding the curriculum, please review the course descriptions (PDF) in our University catalog. Upon completing the Advanced Standing Essentials of Clinical Dentistry course, IDP students join the second year class in their Summer Semester.

Learn Alongside Students in Other Health Professions

WesternU’s interprofessional curriculum will provide a forum for you to collaborate and learn from students in eight other health-care programs.

This curriculum provides an opportunity for early networking with other health professionals and ultimately prepares you to better serve your patients through interprofessional collaboration and referrals.

Academic Support

The Office of Learning Enhancement & Academic Development Office (LEAD) is another resource for on-campus and distance students. LEAD helps students connect academic success with wellbeing.  In individual counseling sessions, students learn time management, test taking, and studying strategies. LEAD facilitates training in managing stress, increasing focus, and professional skills.  Also, LEAD offers a 5-week program for incoming students, Summer Preparedness and Readiness Course (SPaRC).

Outstanding Facilities

WesternU is a thriving academic health center spread out over 22 acres in Pomona, CA. The main campus currently includes 19 major buildings and construction was completed in 2010 on two building projects totaling an investment of more than $100 million. These buildings are shared by students in optometry, dentistry, osteopathic and podiatric medicine. The design fosters interprofessional education and patient care.

Health Education Center (HEC)

  • our-story, 180,000 square feet
  • wireless equipped
  • eight auditoriums
  • research labs and faculty offices
  • more than 50 small-group meeting rooms
  • pre-clinical space that mirrors clinical space
  • College of Dental Medicine Simulation Clinic with the capacity for 80 multi-media patient simulators, a multi-media instructor station, digital radiology, and a support wet-lab that mirrors clinical space for high-fidelity simulation

Patient Care Center (PCC)

  • three-story, 68,500 square feet
  • Interprofessional Diagnostic Suite with three large examination rooms designed for a collaborative health care team
  • adaptive equipment for the treatment of people with disabilities
  • state-of-the-art oral health clinic with 68 operatories designed to support the latest in clinical technology including digital radiology, surgical microscopes, electric and air-driven dental hand pieces, CAD-CAM units, and chair-side computers with access to electronic patient records, patient education, and clinical reference publications

In addition, a seven-story, 600-space parking structure was built to serve these buildings. Please join us for an information session where you can tour the facilities, chat with faculty & students, and learn more about WesternU’s DMD curriculum and admission requirements.

Patient Care Center