Program Overview

Program Overview

The Doctor of Science in Dentistry (DScD) in Pediatric Dentistry at Boston University is designed to prepare educationally qualified pediatric dentists who are competent in providing both primary and comprehensive preventive and therapeutic oral healthcare for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special healthcare needs, in the context of family, culture, and community.

Program Objectives

The objectives of the DScD program in Pediatric Dentistry are to train students who are not only competent in providing oral healthcare services to infants and children, including those with special needs, but who are also highly competent in the practice of scientific research and teaching as well. The specific objectives are:

• Gain a strong scientific background and knowledge of pediatric dentistry through coursework and seminars, including in-depth knowledge in basic sciences, clinical pediatric dentistry, bioethics, healthcare management, and research methodology, specifically epidemiology and biostatistics.
• Participate in and gain an understanding of approaches to design and implement experimental strategies to answer fundamental questions in their discipline or field of inquiry by participating and contributing to a research project.
• Learn how to present objectives, experimental design, and results of scientific inquiry, both orally and in writing, including how to hypothesize scientific questions, conduct data collection, and analyze and present the results of the analysis orally and through written papers, including the required thesis.
• Participate in and contribute to research projects which result in new knowledge that advances their discipline or field of inquiry, as seen ultimately in publications stemming from their dissertation.
• Participate in national and international scientific meetings and contribute significantly to the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Program Requirements

The DScD in Pediatric Dentistry requires a minimum of 36 months of full-time enrollment. The program entails a research project, thesis, and thesis defense.

Curriculum

The curriculum includes:

Research Requirements (4.00 units)

• SDM PD 992 Research: Pediatric Dentistry
• SDM PD 993 Research: Pediatric Dentistry
• SDM PD 994 Research: Pediatric Dentistry

Electives

• SDM OS 828 Anxiety/Pain Control
• SDM PE 827 Applied Dental Pharmacology
• SDM PH 808 Health Care Management
• SDM PH 812 Oral Epidemiology Completion is not tracked by unit accumulation but by successful completion of individual courses and duration requirements.

Accreditation

Boston University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).