Mission

The mission of the Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health supports the mission of The University of Texas School of Dentistry (UTSD), and includes:

The education of students to become competent healthcare professionals.
The scholarship of discovery, integration, translation and application of advances in social, biomedical and clinical sciences.
The delivery of best practices in patient care, and provision of community services.

Goals

In Education

Programs targeted for growth include behavioral science curriculum, public health dentistry curriculum, and cariology/preventive dentistry curriculum.
Faculty needs in these areas include recruitment, when possible, of faculty members with: significant experience in general practice; with DDS and MS, PhD, or equivalent experience in behavioral sciences; DDS and DrPH or equivalent; and DDS and MS in Operative Dentistry or Restorative Dentistry or Cariology.
Regarding student assessment, the department will implement improvements in the clinical competency assessment, including further implementation of a student “portfolio” of patient care and treatment outcomes.

In Research

The department will continue its participation in research and grants related to postdoctoral training and faculty development, dental public health, diagnostics, CAD/CAM dentistry and other topics in behavioral sciences, general practice, dental public health, and prevention.

In Practice / Service

The department will continue its active participation in the UTSD faculty practice, as well as its extremely active role in service to UTSD and UTHealth committees, and in community service.
Newly recruited full-time faculty members will participate in the faculty practice, both to promote faculty development and to promote revenues beneficial to the department and UTSD.

In Collaborations

With other UTHealth and Texas Medical Center schools in development of geriatric educational programs and geriatric patient care access and treatment.
Meeting the oral health needs of the community while educating students and residents, through community service-learning in select community practice settings.