Bruce S. Graham, DDS, MS, MEd
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry
Dean’s Message
Because the world is changing rapidly, the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry now graduates dentists fundamentally different in professional capabilities than their predecessors. The public is more culturally diverse than ever before, and expects dentists to redress disparities in oral healthcare access.
Our Group Practice Clinical Education Model replicates the “real world” of dental practice in the College clinical setting. Three group dental practices, composed of DDS and dental hygiene students, are aligned with interdisciplinary teams of faculty led by a “Managing Partner” and supported by dental assistants and receptionists.
Students learn how to evaluate the dental literature in a systematic way, employing computer technology to answer patient treatment questions.
The College participates in a program of community-based clinical rotations. This program prepares students to be multiculturally competent to meet the needs of traditionally underserved populations in diverse community settings and community-based clinics. It also provides support for increased underrepresented minority and financially disadvantaged dental student enrollment and retention. The program provides community-based clinical health promotion experiences for students in a 60- or 120-day community-based clinical experience.
Students engage in group discussions of patient care scenarios, employing professional ethical principles to explore solutions to real-life patient care ethical dilemmas.
UIC’s College of Dentistry is changing the way we educate dental students to enable them to become the New Dentist for the 21st Century.
Bruce S. Graham, DDS, MS, MEd
Introduction
The UIC College of Dentistry is a pre-eminent academic center for oral and craniofacial health. Its mission is teaching, research, and public service. The College offers a four-year DDS degree; a two-year International Dentists DDS degree; PhD and MS degrees in oral sciences; and eight advanced education/residency certificate programs.
As part of a public university, the College has a strong commitment to community oral health outreach and to serving the underserved, providing nearly $3 million in uncompensated care to indigent dental patients annually.
The College has a variety of research and treatment centers in various specialties: endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, oral biology, oral medicine and diagnostic sciences, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, restorative dentistry, and a Center for Molecular Biology of Oral Diseases.
Cutting-edge research in oral cancer is funded by a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The College received a $1.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help prepare an oral healthcare workforce competent to treat diverse and underserved populations. A major gift from Astra Tech Inc. is helping establish a top clinical implant dentistry program at the College. The College also is performing leading research in tissue engineering, biomimetics, and wound healing.
Highlights
With an emphasis on pediatric dentistry, UIC College of Dentistry faculty and students participate in health fairs and clinics in elementary schools, long-term care facilities, churches, and Head Start programs. The College also provides dental services for senior citizens and children in collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health. More than 100,000 patients are treated each year in the College’s clinics.
A significantly large gift from medical implants manufacturer Astra Tech Inc. is helping to establish a top clinical implant dentistry program at the UIC College of Dentistry. This will result in better and more affordable patient care, a unique curriculum for students, and opportunities for current practitioners to add clinical implant dentistry skills. UIC is one of the first dental schools to be able to offer clinical implant patient treatment experiences in its DDS program.
The UIC College of Dentistry recently received approval for it’s first-ever PhD program, in Oral Sciences. The program will train new faculty and create new research that will improve the oral health of people throughout the world. The PhD program can be done by itself or concurrently with a DDS program. The College also has upgraded its International Dentist certificate program, which has prepared individuals who have earned dental degrees in foreign countries to become licensed to practice in the United States, into a full DDS degree granting program.
History
The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry evolved from the Columbian Dental College, founded in 1891. The College informally affiliated with the University of Illinois in 1901, and was chartered as an official College of the University in 1913.
It has a rich leadership tradition in dental research, which began in the 1930s when many Viennese oral biologists migrated to Chicago. Nicknamed the “Vienna Group,” its world-famous members later were joined by other top researchers. Their textbooks became classics and provided the basic science education for generations of American dentists, and several of these faculty members were presidents of national or international dental research organizations.
The UIC College of Dentistry was the first in the country to use electric dental instruments.
1903-1906: Dr. Bernard Cigrand, Dean of the College from, is considered the “Father of Flag Day” in the U.S.
1929: Dr. Allan G. Brodie Sr. established one of the nation’s first postgraduate programs in orthodontics in at the College.
1946-1956: The research of Dr. Bernard G. Sarnat, DDS and MS, a 1940 graduate of the College and head of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the UIC College of Dentistry is considered the basis for the modern understanding of craniofacial surgery.
1950s: Dr. John V. Borden, DDS, a 1939 graduate of the College, was the inventor of the high-speed dental handpiece, the basic tool of modern dentistry.
1956-1964: Dr. Isaac Schour, Dean of the College was the discoverer of “growth rings” in teeth. He and faculty member Dr. Maury Massler created a seminal chart of tooth development.
1957: Faculty members Dr. Earl W. Renfroe, DDS, MS, a 1931 graduate of the College, and Dr. Thomas K. Barber, DDS, MS, wrote what is considered the seminal article originating the concepts of preventive and interceptive orthodontics for the Journal of the American Dental Association.
