USC Ostrow School of Dentistry at USC: 115.Eminence

115. Eminence.

Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC “I’ve been working here for 10 years, and every two years we get a new group of students. We get to work with them so closely that when the two years are over we’ve become like a family.

That’s what it boils down to.”

Fatima Santamaria, RDA Clinic Support Staff

Since 1897, the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC has informed and inspired what is thought, taught, and practiced in the oral health professions. From the pioneering use of technology in dental care and life-altering advances in restorative dentistry to groundbreaking biomedical research, the Ostrow School is setting the standard for dental education and the provision of oral health care nationwide.

currently includes two fourthgeneration SCions – and the school’s classrooms and clinics are filled with alumni faculty who remain deeply committed to the school’s mission.

The school also is committed to training and practice that transcend the classroom and the clinic.

Reaching out to provide oral health treatment and education to thousands of people in need – not only in Los Angeles and Southern California, but also across international borders – USC’s dental school offers community-assistance programs that benefit vulnerable populations while fostering among its students a lasting dedication to service.

A testament to the school’s quality and reputation, it has graduated thousands of dentists who are recognized luminaries in the field, serving their communities as dental practitioners and researchers around the world. Generations of children and grandchildren of alumni come to USC for their dental education – in fact, the dentistry student body

33% dental school faculty who are USC dental alumni

Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC “I’ve been working here for 10 years, and every two years we get a new group of students. We get to work with them so closely that when the two years are over we’ve become like a family.

That’s what it boils down to.”

Fatima Santamaria, RDA Clinic Support Staff

Since 1897, the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC has informed and inspired what is thought, taught, and practiced in the oral health professions. From the pioneering use of technology in dental care and life-altering advances in restorative dentistry to groundbreaking biomedical research, the Ostrow School is setting the standard for dental education and the provision of oral health care nationwide.

currently includes two fourthgeneration SCions – and the school’s classrooms and clinics are filled with alumni faculty who remain deeply committed to the school’s mission.

The school also is committed to training and practice that transcend the classroom and the clinic.

Reaching out to provide oral health treatment and education to thousands of people in need – not only in Los Angeles and Southern California, but also across international borders – USC’s dental school offers community-assistance programs that benefit vulnerable populations while fostering among its students a lasting dedication to service.

A testament to the school’s quality and reputation, it has graduated thousands of dentists who are recognized luminaries in the field, serving their communities as dental practitioners and researchers around the world. Generations of children and grandchildren of alumni come to USC for their dental education – in fact, the dentistry student body

33% dental school faculty who are USC dental alumni

Creating the Future: Our Students “Having been at USC for my undergraduate degree and having grown up in the Midwest, I was considering the East Coast for dental school. But at the end of the day, I just love the Trojan Family too much to leave. With the people I met through my undergraduate experience, I knew I’d get the best experience at USC.” Nehikhare “Nehi” Ogbevoen DDS Class of 2015

The faculty and students who came together in 1886 and pressed for the founding of a dental school at the University of Southern California were forward-thinking in recognizing the need to develop a systematic program of study for oral health practitioners. At the time, most dentists trained through apprenticeship. Only about one-third were college educated, and most of the schools that did exist were private, profit-making ventures not affiliated with a major university.

Today’s students at the dental school represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences coming together to create a close-knit community of learners. These men and women are not just the best and the brightest.

They are the most dedicated. Their commitment to providing patient care of the highest caliber, engaging in community service, and conducting research with real-world consequence will make them tomorrow’s leaders in oral health.

When the USC College of Dentistry opened its doors in fall 1897, its inaugural class of 18 students embarked on a rigorous and comprehensive course of study that encompassed lectures, labs, and clinical work spanning topics ranging from chemistry, anatomy, and physiology to orthodontia, dental pathology and therapeutics, and operative and prosthetic dentistry.

Much has changed in dental training and practice since then, but the school’s commitment to providing students with an education that couples basic biomedical knowledge with intensive clinical experiences and use of the latest techniques and technologies has never wavered.

3.40 average GPA, DDS Class of 2015

1897 The USC College of Dentistry, co-located with the university’s medical school in a three-story building on Buena Vista Street, opens its doors.

1905 The dental school moves into a new building at the corner of Fifth and Wall streets.

1907

USC’s Dental Alumni Association is founded.

“I don’t think there’s another school that can compete with the USC dental hygiene program.

People pay to attend lectures by our faculty, and here we get to work with the best faculty every week.”

Micaela D’Egidio

Dental Hygiene Class of 2012

3,000 applications each year for 144 spaces in the DDS program

1915 The school moves into larger quarters – more than three times the space of the old facility.

1920 The school moves yet again, into the Science and Technic Building facing Exposition Park and adjoining the University Park Campus.

1928 The Division of Dental Hygiene is established.

1:8

faculty-to-student ratio on the clinic floor of the Norris Dental Science Center

Students graduate from the dental school well equipped to excel. But the average student also leaves the school with more than $280,000 in debt – a factor that may profoundly impact his or her professional choices after graduation.

Our program is highly competitive, and we want the exceptional, diverse students who are admitted each year to be able to attend without the burden of significant debt. Endowed scholarship aid plays a crucial role in offsetting the cost of a first-rate education. We are committed to investing in our students, knowing that the returns – for their patients as well as their communities – will be invaluable.

1934 The school offers its first postgraduate program – in orthodontics.

Courses of Study Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) USC’s DDS program is one of the most rigorous in the world, incorporating the latest techniques in restorative dentistry. Students complete a comprehensive didactic course of study and develop their skills on simulators before transitioning to direct patient care by the end of their first year in the program.

Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID) Designed to teach qualified dentists from other countries the knowledge and skills found in the United States, the eight-month ASPID curriculum incorporates technical and academic education with clinical training leading to the DDS degree.

Advanced Specialty Certificate and Graduate Programs Specialty certificates and graduate programs include endodontics, general practice, operative dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral medicine with an emphasis in orofacial pain, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, prosthodontics, and craniofacial biology.

Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene USC’s dental hygiene program spans the basic sciences as well as clinical and general education, and is one of only 48 programs in the United States (among 315 overall) that confer the bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene.

1942-46 Responding to the increased need for dentists during World War II, the school offers an accelerated three-year curriculum and accepts two entering classes each year.

1948 The USC College of Dentistry becomes the USC School of Dentistry.

Sustaining Excellence: Our Faculty “One of the things that sets USC’s dental school apart is our heavy involvement with technical restorative dentistry. We have very high requirements in terms of the number of given procedures students have to perform. The intent is to produce graduates who have practical skills, who are ready to go out and start practicing.”

The faculty of the dental school are dedicated educators, visionary researchers, and renowned clinicians who not only are held in high regard by their peers, but also are professionally and personally committed to their students’ success.

Working at the forefront of the dental sciences, these faculty are developing cutting-edge technologies and pioneering fields ranging from pediatric dentistry to craniofacial surgery to tissue regeneration.

The school’s Hall of Fame, which recognizes alumni and faculty whose professional contributions have revolutionized the field, includes: •

Spencer R. Atkinson, a leader in orthodontic techniques and inventor of the Universal Appliance;

•

Rafael L. Bowen DDS 1953, inventor of modern composites;

•

Clifton O. Dummett, a prolific author, educator, historian, advocate for civil rights and social justice, and one of the first three dentists elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences;

•

Floyde E. Hogeboom DDS 1919, credited with creating the modern specialty of pediatric dentistry;

•

Beverly B. McCollum DDS 1907, considered the “father of gnathology”;

Gerald “Jerry” McClellan, DDS ’63 Clinical Instructor

•

Charles L. Pincus DDS 1926, “dentist of the stars,” inventor of veneers, and founder of the American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry;

•

Anna M. Pattison BS 1967, coauthor of the book Periodontal Instrumentation, which has been translated into seven languages and is used worldwide; and

•

Marsh E. Robinson DDS 1942, an oral surgeon who developed the vertical osteotomy for correction of mandibular deformities.

Thanks to the leadership of its faculty, USC’s dental school today is home to an array of groundbreaking research centers where investigators are unraveling the mysteries of human genetics, promoting the early detection of disease, and developing targeted treatment through the use of nanoscale devices. Dental faculty also are rapidly translating laboratory discoveries into more effective patient care.

549 full- and part-time faculty at the dental school

1952 The school moves into its current location on West 34th Street, today’s Norris Dental Science Center.

1953 A separate endodontics section is established within the periodontics program.

1954 The school’s advanced residency program in oral and maxillofacial surgery is organized – the first of its kind west of the Mississippi.

The school’s most valuable resource is its faculty. It is the faculty who interact with students on a daily basis, oversee our clinics and outreach activities, and ensure that patients receive the best possible care. Their research uncovers possibilities and solutions for a constantly changing world. And it is the faculty whose stellar reputations enable us to attract the most promising students and secure the school’s place within the top tier of dental schools in the United States.

Endowed chairs and teaching awards, research funding, and support for academic programs help build the school’s capacity to recruit, retain, and foster the careers of outstanding faculty whose work will further raise the stature of the dental school.

1955 The Century Club is founded as USC’s first support group.

Research Highlights Craniofacial Development Bringing together evolutionary and developmental biologists, human geneticists, computer modelers, and tissue engineers, research teams at the dental school are working to understand the underlying causes of craniofacial malformations, develop methods for treating and preventing them, and lay the foundation for regeneration of craniofacial tissue. Research currently under way at the school one day may allow doctors to reverse a cleft palate before the baby is born.

Saliva Diagnostics Faculty are working to develop simple, affordable saliva diagnostics – less invasive than common blood tests – to identify conditions ranging from drug use to a person’s susceptibility to dental cavities. Testing saliva during the first three years of life, for example, ultimately may reveal what diseases a child may be susceptible to throughout his or her lifetime.

1957 USC produces the first nationally televised dental education program, demonstrating fourhanded dentistry.

Tooth and Tissue Restoration Researchers are investigating methods for regenerating teeth and bone structure using patients’ own stem cells. The goal is to create new techniques for repairing and replacing damaged tissue for people who have lost teeth or suffered trauma to the mouth and surrounding orofacial tissue.

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Building on the school’s long tradition of improving the delivery of oral health care to everyone, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status, researchers are developing a wide range of techniques – ranging from focus groups and partnershipbuilding to bioengineered haptic devices – to encourage families and communities to commit to good oral health practices, increasing access to dental care, and improving the way dentists communicate with their patients.

1964 The school establishes its Department of Human Behavior, the first of its kind in a U.S. school of dentistry.

“Research is an integral part of education at USC. It helps you think with a different perspective.�

Diana Lyu DDS Class of 2012

1964 USC launches a two-year DDS program for foreign-educated dentists, now called the Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists.

1966 The newly created Department of Community Dentistry is founded, under the direction of Clifton O. Dummett, DDS.

1968 The USC Mobile Dental Clinic is founded.

The Heart of the Enterprise: Community Outreach and Patient Care “We have a national reputation for service learning. In addition, many of our students volunteer in remote areas – Mexico, Honduras, Vietnam – where there is little access to care. It’s quite inspiring.”

Mahvash Navazesh, DMD

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Life

From the beginning, the provision of outstanding community service and patient care has been integral to the mission of the dental school. Under the supervision of faculty dentists, students provide care ranging from routine checkups and cleanings to specialty treatments and urgent care for thousands of patients each year.

The dental school also has a rich tradition of serving the neighborhoods surrounding USC’s campuses, sending students out into a wide range of community-based oral health programs where they treat the homeless, the elderly, children from low-income families, and patients who are medically and mentally compromised. These universitycommunity partnerships not only instill in students a deeply meaningful perspective on patients in need, but also benefit the most vulnerable members of society.

While providing care for disadvantaged members of our community constitutes part of the core clinical curriculum at USC, many dental students routinely volunteer for additional community service above and beyond the school’s requirements. Community sites include Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Early Head Start programs, community health fairs, and programs at affiliated

1969 A three-story addition is added to the school’s building, which is rededicated as the Norris Dental Science Center.

hospitals. Faculty and students also partner with Ayuda, Inc., to offer services to underserved children at local elementary schools and in Central and South America.

1974 The USC Mobile Dental Clinic adopts a new logo – a special drawing of “Thor” by B.C. comic strip creator Johnny Hart.

65,000

patients served in the school’s community clinics each year

1975 The Dentistry Associates support group – now known as Friends of Dentistry – is founded.

“One aspect of my USC dental education that was fantastic was the community outreach.

Our profession is about helping – and my community-outreach experience solidified that. It also afforded us as students more patient-care experience.

Because of that, I was able to start my dental practice with much more confidence and speed.”

Joseph Field, DDS ’08

60,000

children served by the USC Mobile Dental Clinic since its founding in 1968

1975 The USC Dentistry Hall of Fame is established to honor USC dental graduates who have made outstanding professional contributions to the field.

The School is among the top five feeder institutions, seeking the best and the brightest.

1982 The school’s programs in special patient care and geriatric dentistry – both considered new disciplines in the field of dentistry – are launched.

1988 The school refurbishes its second-floor clinic and names it the Rex Ingraham Dental Clinic.

$7million value of community health care provided by the school in 2010-11

The dental school has a longstanding commitment to providing excellent dental care for its patients and increasing access to oral health services for underserved populations, especially in Southern California. Donor support for patient care, awareness and prevention activities, and partnerships with public- and private-sector agencies has an immediate beneficial impact on the lives of people in our community and beyond.

1990 The USC Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology – now an internationally recognized center of excellence in the field – is founded as one of only three NIDCR-supported centers in the country.

Community Outreach Programs USC Mobile Dental Clinic Marking an important first step in encouraging a lifetime of good oral health, the USC Mobile Dental Clinic provides more than $1 million in care to underserved children in Southern and Central California each year.

QueensCare + USC Mobile Dental Clinic The dental school partners with the QueensCare Foundation and the Los Angeles Unified School District to provide comprehensive dental care for more than 1,400 local schoolchildren each year.

Hollenbeck Palms Home The school provides on-site emergency dental services for senior citizens residing at the Hollenbeck Palms Home.

Give Kids a Smile Day Every February, during National Children’s Dental Health Month, dental students volunteer for Give Kids a Smile Day, providing oral health education, screenings, preventive services, and treatment to underserved children.

USC + Union Rescue Mission Dental Clinic In partnership with the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row, the school operates a community-based dental clinic where students, residents, and faculty provide comprehensive dental services to 1,300 homeless patients each year.

1992 The school launches a five-year combined DDS/ MBA program, developed in partnership with the USC Marshall School of Business.

1995 For the first time, the school ranks first among private dental schools in the United States with respect to federal research funding, and fifth among all U.S. dental schools.

The Academic Environment “The access to awesome faculty and the great facilities at USC – including the “sim lab,” where students start working on typodonts and full mannequin setups – really make the transition from preclinical to clinical an easy jump.”

Bridger Jensen

DDS Class of 2012

An exceptional academic environment provides a foundation for outstanding education, research, and patient care.

Just as the dental school has updated its academic programs to incorporate technological advancements over the years, it also has consistently modernized its facilities to keep pace with new developments in the oral health field.

With the advent of information technology, for example, the school has transformed its lecture halls into spaces where students can watch live videos of procedures under way in other parts of the building or even miles away. Modern, adaptable laboratories have provided the tools researchers need to develop new procedures, devices, and treatments.

In the clinic, CAD/CAM units have made it possible for dental crowns to be completed in a single visit - traditional methods typically would require multiple patient appointments. And comprehensive electronic medical records are further streamlining patient care.

Perhaps most important, access to state-of-the-art facilities and equipment helps ensure that graduates of the dental school embark on their careers armed with the knowledge and proficiencies they need to provide high-quality dental services from day one, as well as to continue to excel in a rapidly evolving field.

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CAD/CAM units available to students in the school’s clinic areas

2000 The school partners with the Union Rescue Mission to create the first-ever comprehensive dental clinic on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

2000 Service learning is incorporated as a requirement in the USC dental curriculum.

2002 The USC Neighborhood Mobile Clinic begins its regular visits to local elementary schools.

“New technologies allow dentists to perform ‘digital’ dentistry.

Restorations now can be fabricated in less than 20 minutes and placed minutes, rather than days, after the preparation is completed. This is the future of dentistry. We want to prepare our students not just for the present, but also for the future.”

Richard S. Lin, DDS ’02, Pros ’08

Assistant Professor of Clinical Dentistry

The School is among the top five feeder institutions, seeking the best and the brightest.

2004 USC’s two-year, dual-certificate Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Program launches, the first of its kind in the United States.

2004 The school establishes an interdisciplinary center to study biofilms – the country’s first.

2007 USC’s dental students establish the Student Professionalism and Ethics Club, one of the first of its kind nationwide.

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operatories in the school’s Rex Ingraham Dental Clinic Since the founding of USC’s dental school, its leadership has recognized the need to provide students, faculty, and patients with a cutting-edge environment in which to carry out their work. Continued investment in the school’s facilities and equipment will foster extraordinary advances in dental science as well as in patient care, in turn improving the quality of life for individuals and families in our community and around the world.

Flagship Facilities Century Club Auditorium and Guggenheim Hall The newly renovated Century Club Auditorium and Guggenheim Hall, located on the fourth floor of the Norris Dental Science Center, facilitate the integration of clinical training into the school’s preclinical curriculum.

Rex Ingraham Dental Clinic Located on the second floor of the Norris Dental Science Center is the school’s main clinical services area – where third- and fourth-year DDS students spend the majority of their time. Generous support from alumni and friends funded major renovations in 1988 and again in 2010, incorporating new technologies to support teaching and patient care, making the space more comfortable for patients, and creating a more effective environment for teaching, learning, and clinical practice overall.

2007

2010

2011

The dental school collaborates with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to establish a new minor in craniofacial and dental biotechnology.

The school receives a $35 million gift from alumnus and trustee Herman Ostrow DDS ’45 and is named the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC.

The school launches a new educational pathway admitting high-achieving dental hygiene graduates into the DDS program.

A Continuing Legacy “When you’re a part of the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, you know you are part of something exceptional.

For the last 115 years, we’ve written the book on dentistry, and we will continue to do so for years to come.”

Dean Avishai Sadan, DMD

As the Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC celebrates its 115th year in 2012, it also embarks on an effort to raise $115 million in private support for four major priorities: student scholarships, faculty and research programs, community outreach and patient care, and the academic environment.

Part of the $6 billion Campaign for the University of Southern California, this initiative represents the largest fundraising effort undertaken by any dental school, ever. It will ensure that the dental school continues to be a place where faculty and students push the frontiers of dental medicine and where research discoveries move quickly from the laboratory into clinical practice.

the campaign for the University of Southern California FA S R E G N A T R O JA E

More information: (213) 740-0428 • dentdev@usc.edu • ostrow.usc.edu