Graduate Program in Operative Dentistry and Biomaterials
The Graduate Program in Operative Dentistry and Biomaterials aims to be a globally leading postgraduate program that generates students who excel in the areas of education, patient care, research and service.
Our program prepares graduates for a successful career in dental education and other areas through the use of contemporary operative dentistry skills and technologies. The UNC Operative Dentistry Department has a strong tradition in the field and has published seven editions of The Sturdevant’s Art and Science of Operative Dentistry, which traditionally has been the world’s top-selling dental textbook, and its faculty members have received numerous teaching awards throughout their careers.
Graduates also have the potential for careers such as clinical or technical research directors in companies with a dental emphasis, consultants to dental corporations, insurance providers, public health policy organizations, professional dental societies, philanthropic dental research, and education funding agencies.
The Graduate Program in Operative Dentistry and Biomaterials curriculum includes core courses and discipline-specific courses. The program emphasizes the development of expertise in a variety of topics including:
- Caries risk assessment and management
- Treatment planning and smile design
- Conservative operative dentistry
- Biomaterials
- Diastema closure
- Porcelain veneers
- Tooth whitening
- CAD/CAM restorations
- Restoration of fractured anterior teeth
- Implant planning and restoration
- Digital dentistry
In addition, graduates can enroll in a wide range of elective courses based on their research and career interests, including courses in public health, epidemiology, clinical research methods, material sciences, oral biology, biostatistics, and education.
Graduates are required to complete the didactic and research components of the master’s degree prior to graduation.
The design of the program is consistent with the stated objectives in the Curriculum Guidelines for Postdoctoral Operative Dentistry (J Dent Educ 1993 Nov;57(11):832-6).