Doctor of Dental Surgery Program

The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC is an educational approach which provides a vertical integration of the fundamental basic and clinical sciences.  PBL allows students to begin both of these in the first year of the DDS program.  Central to PBL pedagogy is a curriculum that is student-centered and inquiry based.  The objective is to educate students who will be committed to lifelong, self-motivated learning, skilled in the techniques of problem solving in the clinical setting, well-prepared to deal with the future advances in dental therapy and dental care delivery, able to deal with the medical presentations of dental patients, effective in group learning/accomplishment environments, and highly skilled in the delivery of quality dental health care.   Opportunity and encouragement are given to those who might elect to pursue a career in either research or teaching.

Patient treatment is a dominant theme in the dental curriculum and begins during the first trimester. This segment of the curriculum increases until the fourth year, when the students’ total efforts are spent in this activity.