The University of Maryland School of Dentistry now offers an innovative new program designed to educate non-dental healthcare professionals on the intricacies of oral health – an initiative that, in the end, provides better clinical outcomes, quality of life and oral function for the patients they treat.

UMSOD’s new Certificate in Oral Health Science Program is a post-baccalaureate program targeting non-dental healthcare professionals who seek greater expertise in oral health as well as being a team player in the scope of overall health management.

With growing recognition that chronic oral infection contributes substantially to poor systemic health and to inferior patient healthcare outcomes, interprofessional healthcare teams are increasingly seeking knowledge in the oral health sciences.

UMSOD is uniquely suited to train and educate non-dental healthcare professionals – specifically nurses, but also physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech pathologists, for example – in order to build core oral health competencies that will allow these professionals to better address patient needs and more holistically manage patient care.

Throughout the five-course, 13-credit curriculum, participants will garner the knowledge to recognize both chronic and acute oral conditions and diseases. This graduate program will promote knowledge and expertise, as well as provide participants with communication and management tools needed within the integrative scope of interprofessional healthcare.

Course content will be delivered online with clinical experiences at UMSOD and the Universities at Shady Grove (USG). This is a stackable post-baccalaureate certificate program that satisfies the core content of UMSOD’s pending Master in Oral Health Sciences, which will prepare students to be leaders in and pursue innovation in healthcare delivery to improve outcomes.    

• Students will be able to assess, triage needs and implement avenues of patient referral for appropriate care.
• Students will be trained in oral dental radiology and will be prepared to sit for dental radiology certification.
• Students will be familiar with the range of therapeutic options for pathologies and anomalous conditions of the oral and maxillofacial area.
• Students will be able to recognize adverse side-effects consequent to therapeutic management of orally-related disorders.
• Students will gain knowledge of common oral presentations that reflect potential underlying systemic disease.
• Students will understand and be able to describe the biologic mechanisms that govern oral-systemic interactions.
• Students will be able to appraise new and developing scientific literature on the inter-relationship between periodontitis and systemic disease conditions.
• Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to competently provide oral health education and supportive oral care to acute- and long-term care patients.
• Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to interact with other members of the interdisciplinary healthcare team to ensure that the oral healthcare needs of patients are effectively managed.
• Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to serve as a point of contact for healthcare professionals about oral health care in the medical care settings.