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Residency Program in Dental Public Health

Program Information

The advanced education/residency program in dental public health at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) has three different tracks to meet different candidate's needs:

• • One year full-time for dentists with an accredited master's degree in public health (MPH) or equivalent
• • Two year part-time for dentists with an accredited master's degree in public health (MPH) or equivalent
• • Two year full-time for dentists without an MPH or equivalent degree

Students in the two-year full-time program will primarily be working towards the accredited MPH program at the CWRU School of Medicine during the first year of the residency program. During the second year, these students will be primarily engaged in the dental public health residency activities at the School of Dental Medicine and will also be completing any pending requirements of the MPH degree. Those successfully completing the advanced education/ residency program will be educationally qualified to take the examination of the American Board for Dental Public Health (ABDPH).

The residency program in dental public health is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation and has been granted the accreditation status of "initial accreditation". The program is administered by an experienced program director and a cadre of excellent faculty members. The training program will be tailored to meet each individual resident's career goals and will include didactic curriculum and practical experiences/exercises in: 1) research, 2) program planning, 3) program evaluation, 4) public health administration, 5) teaching, and 6) community-oriented primary care.

The didactic instruction for the residency program will encompass competencies of the American Board for Dental Public Health and will also include concepts such as population health, cultural competency, and health literacy. The courses offered by the program include, but are not limited to: 1) Research Methods and Oral Epidemiology, 2) Communication Methods in Dental Public Health, 3) Graduate Preventive Dentistry, 4) Oral Health Care Systems, 5) Dental Public Health Administration, and 6) Data Analysis and Report Writing. The primary training site is the CWRU School of Dental Medicine, with extramural sites in other parts of Ohio. The field experience sites have been carefully chosen to increase residents' cultural sensitivity and understanding of certain underserved populations.

The city of Cleveland is an excellent location for health care and the training of health professionals. Local health care providers and training facilities include: the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and MetroHealth. Residents will have access to and be able to participate in numerous research and learning opportunities that are available at CWRU, the premier research institution in Northeast Ohio.

Within CWRU, the Department of Community Dentistry houses faculty members with expertise in dental public health, epidemiology, health services research, behavioral sciences, etc. The department has several large-scale research projects in clinical and health services research, which include clinical trials of xylitol and family intervention, longitudinal assessment of dental caries in very low birth weight and normal birth weight children, and a dental practice-based research network. The department also administers an excellent service learning program to the first year dental students, the Healthy Smiles Sealant Program, and the residents will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the experiential learning referred to as A Cornerstone Experience (ACE). The department has another ACE, the Family First program, for the second year dental students. The ACE for the third year dental students, Geriatric Dentistry, is currently being developed. The dental public health residency program has excellent collaborations with the component schools/departments/centers at CWRU, particularly with the School of Medicine's Departments of Family Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, and the newly funded Prevention Research Center.

Following is the list of the primary faculty members of the program and their respective expertise:

Financial aid (tuition and stipend) may be available for U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents, depending on the availability of funds; no financial aid is provided to international students enrolled in the dental public health residency program at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Where applicable, a letter of "proof of support" must be submitted when a student is accepted into the program. Applicants must establish that they have adequate financial resources to complete the training program without any interruption. All on-campus work-study employment for international students must be approved by the individual Program Director and the CWRU Office of International Students.

For additional information about the program, please e-mail dentalph@case.edu or call (216) 368-1311.

General Application Guidelines, Deadline November 1st

• 1. Applicants to the two-year full-time program must have a DDS, DMD, or equivalent degree from an accredited institution.
• 2. Applicants to the one year full-time or two year part-time program must have a DDS, DMD, or equivalent degree and an MPH or equivalent degree; the latter should be from an institution accredited by an agency recognized by the Council on Education for Public Health.
• 3. The applicant should possess a good record of scholastic achievement that would indicate success in the dental public health training program.
• 4. Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend a personal interview, when time and/or distance permit. The decision to conduct interviews will be made after a review of the completed applications by the admissions committee of the program.
• 5. Only those application packets that are complete and received by the deadline will be forwarded to the program director for consideration.
• 6. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all materials are submitted promptly and that the file is complete.

All applicants must submit the following materials on or before the application deadline to the Office of Graduate Studies:

• 1. Completed Application Form
• 2. Applicants to the two-year full-time program must also complete a separate application form for the MPH program, which can
  be found at http://mph.case.edu/apply.html
• 3. Personal Statement discussing educational goals and career objectives
• 4. Non-refundable application fee of $125.00 payable to "CWRU School of Dental Medicine"
• 5. Official undergraduate transcripts
• 6. Official dental school transcripts
• 7. Official graduate school transcripts, if applicable
• 8. Current Curriculum Vitae
• 9. Official NBDE scores, if available
• 10. An official GRE score, if available
• 11. Three evaluation forms from previous instructors or public health professionals; a Dean's letter may be counted as one of the three
• 12. International students must also submit: (a) TOEFL scores* and (b) a letter of financial support

*International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores are acceptable in lieu of a TOEFL score. To be considered for dental public health residency program, an applicant must have one of the following minimum scores:

• TOEFL Paper-Based Test: 550
• TOEFL Computer-Based Test: 213
• TOEFL Internet-Based Test: 90
• IELTS Test: 6.5

• The TOEFL identification number for Case Western Reserve University is: 1105
• The Department code for the School of Dental Medicine is: 38

Notice to Unsuccessful Applicants: Applications to the dental public health residency programs are kept on file for two years. In order to re-activate an application, an applicant must send an email request to the office of Graduate Studies (dentalgrad@case.edu) and forward an application fee of $125.00.

We recommend that applicants take the National Board Dental Examinations (NBDE) with a minimum score of 85 on each part. If an applicant has not taken the NBDE, s/he is required to submit the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores.

All materials should be sent to:

Office of Graduate Studies
School of Dental Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106-4905 USA

Phone: 216-368-1168
Email: dentalgrad@case.edu

Early applications are recommended. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

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© 2008 Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, 216-368-2000, (legal notice)