Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) in Dental Public Health

In the M.P.H. program in Dental Public Health, students are admitted for degree courses of 60 credit hours. The 60 hour degree, over at least four terms is offered for dental hygienists with a Bachelor of Science degree or equivalent, and for dentists who wish to become board-eligible for specialty certification by the American Board of Dental Public Health. It also includes a required summer field experience. The 60-hour curriculum is accredited by the American Dental Association as meeting the educational requirements for specialty certification by the American Board of Dental Public Health.

There are four major areas in the 60 credit hour program in Dental Public Health M.P.H. curriculum:

• School-wide requirements, including basic epidemiology and an introductory biostatistics course
• "Breadth requirements" which are fulfilled by taking courses outside the specific focus of epidemiology
• Departmental requirements including computers for epidemiologists, epidemiologic methods, Prevention of Oral Diseases, Administration in Dental Public Health, a chronic or infectious disease course, and advanced biostatistics courses
• Capstone and Integrative Courses including: Planning and Evaluating Field Experience in Dental Public Health

In addition to the core courses listed above, DPH students are strongly encouraged to take as many elective courses within the Department of Epidemiology or elsewhere in the School or University to gain further knowledge and skills based on their interests or future career plans. Examples include courses in molecular epidemiology, social epidemiology, nutrition, and international health.

Graduation requirements for all M.P.H. programs can be viewed by visiting the M.P.H. Graduation Requirements page.

Details of admission requirements can be found here.

Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.)

The doctoral degree available in the Department of Epidemiology is the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Applicants may be dentists or dental hygienists with a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) or equivalent degree. If you are interested in more information regarding doctoral degrees in Epidemiology please follow the link to the Doctoral Program in Epidemiology page.

Certificate Program in Dental Public Health (Pending approval)

Applicants who have completed M.P.H. program in any fields in Public Health or M.S. degrees in related science fields can be admitted for certificate (residency) program that includes core Dental Public Health courses and a summer field experience of some eight weeks. Dentists who have M.P.H. degrees and complete the certificate (residency) program will be eligible to apply for specialty certification examination by the American Board of Dental Public Health. While only dentists are eligible for DPH specialty board certification by the American Board of Dental Public Health, this DPH certificate program accepts dental hygienists and other health professionals who wish to pursue a career focused on public’s oral/dental health.

Courses in this DPH program include:

• Epidemiologic methods in DPH, Prevention of Oral Diseases, Administration in Dental Public Health,  Foundations in Dental Public Health, Collection and Analysis of Dental Data
• Capstone and Integrative Courses including:  Planning and Evaluating Field Experience in Dental Public Health