DH 260 - Community Dental Health

Credit Hours: 2

General principles in the field of public health dentistry will be covered. The course will concentrate on methods to improve dental health through organized community efforts. Principles and techniques in the selection of data, appraisal of variability, and correlation will be discussed along with the epidemiology of dental diseases. Other topics will cover the ways and means of developing community dental health programs as well as a study of existing programs. Students will receive experience in developing and/or evaluating a community dental health program. The minimum required passing grade is “C-“.

Course Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:

identify, evaluate, and strategize how to address the oral health needs of the community using epidemiology and dental indices;
describe how human behaviors, technical challenges, and cultural diversity, impact the promotion of oral health awareness and disease prevention in the community;
develop and demonstrate a community oral health program applying the APIIE model utilizing self-assessment and critical thinking to problem solve and meet the needs of the population; and
demonstrate knowledge of basic statistical and dental research principles from evidence-based journal articles and interpret the results of dental research.

Prerequisites: All required fall semesters, second year courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum must be passed.
Corequisites: All required spring semester, second year courses in the Dental Hygiene curriculum.
S (N)

Withdrawal from or failure of a required course prevents graduation from the curriculum. General education courses may be taken earlier than indicated but may not be taken later than the prescribed schedule.