This elective provides a forum for the creation of a video entry in the ADA Student Ethics Video Contest and must meet the guidelines of the ADA Video Contest and the approval of the sponsoring faculty. The video should draw attention to the ethical dilemmas that dental students and dentists may encounter and/or new categories that maybe included in the ADA contest. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students are invited to participate in teams to assess the status of geriatric oral health in community centers. Learners will have the opportunity to acquire skills of observation, communication, examination and professionalism. Pass/Fail

This seminar series will illustrate how to ethically generate loyal, lifelong patients. This elective will instruct students on how to identify the individual values, personality, and oral health goals of every patient. Also emphasized will be the verbal skills and visual components that impress the patient, generate patient referrals, and cultivate their trust and loyalty for a lifetime. Instructor's personal training script included. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This elective provides dental students with clinically enriching experiences in diagnosis, treatment planning and management of adult patients with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD), as well as providing contemplative discussions with faculty on the value of interdisciplinary interaction with physicians, behavioral specialists and nurses for collaborative care. Through the Brookwood facility and UTSD collaboration, dental students will acquire skills to diagnose, treatment plan, and manage adult patients with disabilities. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This elective will provide insight, clinic experience, and training when working with medically complex patients. Students will have an opportunity to enhance their exposure to diagnoses, treatment planning, management, and maintenance of patients with complex medical histories. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students are selected based on clinical, course-work completion and GPA. Student may gain experience in prescriptive surgical procedures such as crown lengthening, exposure to more sophisticated soft tissue grafting, and esthetic procedures. Students will have the opportunity to plan and treat an implant case in conjunction with a resident and faculty. Pass/Fail

This elective consists of approximately 12 sessions, with each session led by faculty or program director from each of the advanced dental education programs to educate students on each discipline/program. Each session will have training and insight into the process of PASS, Match, and Interview Process. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This elective course aims to provide students with an introduction to the treatment needs of adults with I/DD and the importance of an integrated care plan with behavioral specialists, physicians and nurses. Students will spend sixteen hours total for the class with three-hour sessions at the Baylor College of Medicine Transitional Care Clinic; and ten, didactic sessions learning proper case selection, facial dysmorphia concerns, treatment planning, incremental desensitization and case coordination. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This elective is designed to teach students to evaluate the factors that create a nice restoration, utilizing minimally invasive prosthodontics techniques. The evolution of minimalistic restorations will be presented. Avoiding problems with each technique will be discussed. Clinical situations will be presented for discussion, analog and digital techniques will be compared, and the student will have the opportunity to prepare one, anterior minimalistic restoration--analog or digital. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students will learn more about advanced pathophysiology of airway and phenotypic factors involved in SRBD leading to Obstructive Sleep Apnea; learn more about diagnostic test used by physicians to diagnose the disorder, learn more in depth about the mechanism, designs, and materials used in different oral appliances, participate in hands on session(s) on taking impression, fabricating MyTap, and morning aligners, learn about possible side effects and how to manage them. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Selected students will be exposed to an advanced level of prosthodontic care and will be required to document a patient's complete treatment, concluding with a case presentation to the department faculty, residents, and fellow honor students. Students will be introduced to clinical teaching and the possibility of advanced training in prosthodontics. Pass/Fail

Selected students will be given the opportunity to perform more complex dentoalveolar surgery procedures; develop skills using a surgical handpiece; and be exposed to parenteral sedation techniques under the supervision of oral surgery attending faculty. The course is intended to allow dental students interested in the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery to gain clinical experience performing more complex dentoalveolar surgery to include third molars. Pass/Fail

Dental and Dental Hygiene students have limited exposure to vulnerable patients in other cultures that require cultural competency to impact the social determinants of oral health to overall health. This is a joint project with the University of Puerto Rico School of Dentistry with the UTSD supported by private donation and grant funding for learning in community service. Reported positive outcomes from community and global health learning include increased likelihood to care for patients who are economically and socially disadvantaged in the future, improved cultural awareness, and increased interest in public health and primary care career-related opportunities. In this course we focus on three common student activities for global health learning in dental education: service learning, didactic learning, and experiential learning. Service learning consists of observing direct patient care as a trainee/student under the supervision of a faculty dentist. Experiential learning involves having a concrete experience related to but beyond content taught within the walls of the classroom that informs how students perceive social determinants in class and then visit community members in poverty and learn how that directly and indirectly impacts the health of community members. Optional IRB approved research will be encouraged. This elective course provides second-year through fourth year dental students and second year dental hygiene students with an introduction to global service learning utilizing the resources of the global learning kit from Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Students will spend 25 hours total for the class with one, two-hour lecture; three, one-hour, lunch- and-learn sessions; and completion of five online didactic modules (4 hours each) learning cultural competency, addressing social determinants of health, ethics and primary care. After completion of the elective, students will be eligible to participate in one week of experience learning at UPR to be completed as a separate optional, noncredit-related activity. Evaluation by essays or short quizzes at each session prior to each of four didactic sessions. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students who have demonstrated exceptional academic and Clinical performance with an interest in Orthodontics as a specialty and have the approval of their Practice Leader will be provided advanced training in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment prior to beginning a residency program in orthodontics. Pass/Fail

Student driven research directed by faculty members. Pass/Fail

Students submit a thesis directed and approved by faculty. Pass/Fail

This course is designed for students who want to work on Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial (DOC) health-related research projects with UTSD faculty in the Spring Semester. The student will learn fundamental research skills in conducting experiments, analyzing data, scientific writing, and presentations. Pass/Fail

Students will complete a project with oversight and approval by faculty. Pass/Fail

Health science students may improve their skills of observation in a safe environment by first looking at art, translating into enhanced skills when observing medical and dental photographs, virtual scenarios, and, ultimately, in caring for the whole patient. In collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the UT Medical School, and the School of Dentistry, students can spend three evenings (5:30-7:30 PM) at the MFAH enhancing observation and communication skills. Under the direction of experienced art educators and UT faculty, students experience a unique learning opportunity. Pass/Fail

Each session will focus on pathography of mental illness, including texts such as William Styron's Darkness Visible (a memoir of depression/melancholia) and Kay Jamison's An Unquiet Mind (a memoir of bipolar disorder/manic-depression). This elective is reading-intensive, and each class meeting will be discussion-based, with class meetings conducted as a humanities-style, graduate seminar led by students. Pass/Fail

This elective will serve to provide students a foundation of managing dental insurance as they enter private practice as either an associate dentist or practice owner. Accurate and ethical coding and billing will be emphasized. A working knowledge of dental insurance will also allow students to accurately evaluate the financial implications of plan participation. Pass/Fail

This elective will serve to provide students with a more detailed understanding of the role of insurance and the financial implications in a variety of practice styles, including private practice, DSO's and corporate dentistry. There will be discussions of ethical dilemmas, contracts, staff training and real-world insurance considerations designed to prepare students for life after dental school. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Prior to instructor approval of enrollment in this elective, students must submit a well-designed protocol for an educational research study. Students will conduct the research study during the academic year, culminating in the evaluation of the study and public presentation of the findings. Pass/Fail

This elective is designed to stress the importance of taking care of the individual¿s body as it is subject it to the rigors of performing four-handed dentistry. It will cover principles of how stressors occur; ergonomic preventive guidelines; strength, flexibility and conditioning techniques; and how to take care of the individual for a lifetime of practice. Current evidence-based studies will be part of the elective, along with accepted training principles. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This course will introduce students to various religions of Houston and great Harris County. By visiting places of worship and interacting with faith members, the topic of faith and impacts on health will be addressed. Religions that have been covered in the course in the past include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and Bahaism. Each two-hour, place-of-worship site visit includes discussion with a religious leader. Pass/Fail

Through the collaborative efforts of the Department of Dermatology (MD Anderson) and the Department of General Practice and Dental Public Health, dental students will perform a structured, detailed skin assessment of the head and neck. Based on clinical descriptions, the dental student utilizes algorithms to triage referral urgency. The valuable role of a dentist as a frontline health professional for the identification and appropriate referral of melanoma, non-melanoma, and other cutaneous lesions of the head and neck will be emphasized. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This elective is available to all dental students who desire to improve their oral presentation skills and knowledge about current research in a stimulating and critical-thinking environment. Students who participate in his elective will orally present (40-45 min) their own research results if they have sufficient data, including background information from published studies. Presenters will explain the strengths and weaknesses of their data and the rationale for their approach. Pass/Fail

Students will learn some appearance attributes such as gloss, surface roughness, transparency, translucency, opalescence, fluorescence, and phosphorescence. Color corrections of restorative materials and tooth bleaching will be covered as well. The student will learn about clinical shade matching and participate in a color training program using custom designed software. Pass/Fail

This elective is directed toward students who have a strong interest in pursuing a career in pediatric dentistry upon graduation. It is intended to allow the student to further their knowledge in the field, gaining a broader perspective and more detailed knowledge of pediatrics. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

The course is a participation-driven seminar designed to make students more comfortable and knowledgeable when discussing oral pathology. A series of clinical cases will be presented and discussed each week. The discussion will focus on describing pathologic lesions, providing a reasonable differential diagnosis, and knowing the proper course of action to take when oral pathologic lesions are discovered. Those enrolled in the elective will be evaluated by their level of participation and a final oral evaluation. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students under Pediatric dentistry faculty supervision will perform appropriate dental treatment for the San Jose Clinic pediatric patients. San Jose Clinic is a non-profit, community based-dental clinic in downtown Houston. Students will provide their own transportation. A case presentation of treatment rendered will be showed at a group meeting of all participants. Two Saturday sessions per semester are required. Pass/Fail

CAD/CAM Super Users are selected by faculty from each group practice. This elective will serve as a training course for the super users to develop their digital dentistry skills and allow them to troubleshoot difficult, clinical cases. Lectures will focus on an overview of the most common missteps and their solutions. The hands-on portion of the elective will cover scan and design of fixed restorations, evaluation and modification of designs, and design of occlusal guards and wax-ups. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students will learn about advanced digital dentistry software that can be applied to clinical practice. This elective will teach the newest, digital dentistry methodologies. Lectures covering 3D-printing, digital smile design, and wax-ups are followed by a hands-on demonstration and a project. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students, under faculty supervision, will perform appropriate dental treatment for Urgent Care. Pass/Fail

All participants will be required to complete two sessions of full head and neck and oral medical examination on new patients. The sessions will be held in the Urgent Care or Assessment Clinics under supervision by faculty instructors within the elective. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

In this elective, students address ethical issues of confidentiality, access to care, and the forms of informing patients including advertising, financial arrangements and verbal/signed consent. The dental student will discuss ethical decision making that involves judging and deciding when there is an obligation to treat or a valid reason not to treat. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

This course is intended to be an extension of the original DBEB 7211 elective, where dental students were presented with clinical case situations and posed ethical and profession conflict. Students will have the opportunity to define an ethical issue that may occur in dental school or early in their career and develop a response. A special project will be designed by the student under the mentorship of the instructors to provide a format for the resolution and may take the form of a PowerPoint Presentation, a paper suitable for publication, a poster suitable for publication at a dental meeting, or pamphlet or survey used to gain additional information. Pass/Fail, F not in GPA

Students will sign up for one full week (Monday-Friday) with the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) Residency Program. Students will observe and assist AEGD residents in clinical patient care activities. Attend all seminars and conferences. Treat dental emergency patients presenting to AEGD dental clinic under direct faculty supervision. Pass/Fail