Art and Science of Preventive Dentistry

Offered in the fall semester to first-year dental students. Course is an overview of the
preventive issues relating to etiologic factors in Dentistry. Students are taught infection control, positioning of the operator and the dental chair, use of the mouth mirror and plaque disclosing agents and how to perform personal oral hygiene. Procedures are learned on student partners in the clinic

Periodontal Theory

Offered in the spring semester to first-year dental students. Course is an overview of normal and abnormal periodontal tissues and the relationship of local and systemic etiologic risk factors to the development of periodontal disease. The classification of periodontal diseases is discussed along with information regarding periodontal examination procedures and initial periodontal therapy procedures. Periodontal examination procedures are learned on student partners in the clinic.

Introduction to Community Health

The course is a Department of Rural Health course currently taught by a Periodontics faculty member. It is offered in the spring semester to first-year dental students. Students review prevention in the life cycle, learn about special needs patients and develop an oral health education program. Students participate in health fairs and give individual presentations to groups in the Morgantown area and in the students’ local communities.

Introduction to Clinical Dentistry

Offered in the fall and spring semesters to second-year dental students. This is a multi-disciplinary course where students gain hands-on experience with patients by providing limited restorative procedures along with providing periodontal maintenance and adult prophylaxis procedures. Students also work with fourth-year students during screening of new patients and assist, observe and provide limited care in oral surgery, radiology, orthodontics and pediatric dentistry.

Introduction to Patient Care

Offered during the summer term to second-year dental students. This is a multi-disciplinary course with periodontics faculty teaching non-surgical periodontal instrumentation procedures to students working on manikins and on student partners.

Surgical Periodontics

Offered during the summer term to third-year dental students. This is a didactic course in periodontal surgery that reviews with the students the anatomy relevant to periodontal surgery along with proper diagnosis, treatment planning and surgical technique. Information on new and innovative periodontal surgery techniques are discussed along with periodontal surgery relevant to the general dentist’s practice.

Special Topics in Periodontics

Offered in the fall and spring semesters to third-year dental students. This course includes topics relating to the diagnosis and therapy of periodontal diseases. Topics include immunology, smoking cessation techniques, specific information regarding diseases that exacerbate periodontal diseases, use of lasers in periodontics, and the interrelationships of restorative, endodontics, and orthodontics to the periodontal tissues.

Periodontics for the Dental Hygienist

Offered in the fall and spring semesters to third-year dental hygiene students. This course includes didactic and pre-clinical teaching regarding necessary knowledge for dental hygiene students related to periodontal evaluations and therapy in a practice setting. The course is taught by both dental hygiene and periodontics faculty.

Additional Didactic Instruction provided by Department of Periodontics Faculty:

Periodontics/ Orthodontics Seminars

One semester seminar course facilitated by periodontics for orthodontic graduate students.
Seminars relate evidence-based research on topics specific to the interrelationships of periodontal and orthodontic therapy.

Additional Seminars and Instruction

Individual seminars regarding periodontics and the relationships to oral surgery, endodontics and restorative dentistry are given by periodontal faculty to graduate students in these disciplines during the academic year.

The faculty in the Department of Periodontics also provide guest lectures on topics in periodontics in various disciplines throughout the dental curriculum including basic sciences and other health professions in the Health Sciences Center.

The faculty in the Department of Periodontics have presented numerous continuing education courses to dentists and dental hygienists throughout the State, region, nationally and internationally through the years.