BCD AT A GLANCE
Watch: the HSC-Baylor College of Dentistry Centennial Celebration Video
(12 minute streaming Flash video)
As a distinguished resource for dental education in Texas for more than 100 years, Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas is dedicated to combining higher education and research with community service.
The college opened its doors in 1905, was affiliated with Baylor University from 1918 to 1971 and spent the next 25 years as an independent, private institution.
In 1996, HSC-BCD entered an entirely new era as a member of The Texas A&M University System. In 1999, the college became a founding component of the Texas A&M Health Science Center.
Educating Dental Professionals, Scientists and Academicians
HSC-Baylor College of Dentistry is a synergistic environment where students learn life lessons -- in addition to dental medicine -- from a diverse patient population. These patients help prepare HSC-BCD students for the real-life challenges and opportunities awaiting them upon graduation.
Enrollment for the 2006 academic year was 531. Approximately 90 percent of the dental and dental hygiene students and 55 percent of the postdoctoral/graduate students are Texas residents.
Since its founding, HSC-BCD has graduated more than 8,000 dentists and dental hygienists. The college is known internationally for producing excellent clinicians. More than half of all the dentists in the Dallas/Fort Worth area received their dental education at the college, and nearly one-third of all dentists in Texas are HSC-BCD graduates. The college also graduates the largest number of dental hygienists with bachelor's degrees in the state. HSC-BCD recognizes the importance of making opportunities available for graduates to enter a post-graduate experience prior to licensure. Therefore, in addition to the doctor of dental surgery and bachelor's degree in dental hygiene, the college offers a variety of postdoctoral certificate and degree programs.
First-year dental students work with sophisticated software and technology available in HSC-BCD's recently renovated basic sciences and preclinical technique laboratory. Dental anatomy and histology instruction in particular benefit from the state-of-the-art lab, which features a flat-screen digital display at each bench, Corian bench tops with mounted high-intensity task lights, and digitally integrated audiovisual equipment that can be managed from a touch-screen controller. Network connections allow each student to access the local-area network and the Internet. Virtual microscopy enhances the mechanics of histology instruction, offering efficiency and convenience to students as well as faculty.
HSC-BCD's Dental Simulation Clinic opened in fall 2002 as the first in Texas and one of only about 22 in North America. This innovative facility gives preclinical students close-to-real-life clinic experiences through the use of mannequins, hand pieces, air/water syringes and rolling stools, with each of the laboratory's 100 stations designed much like a dental operatory.
The college continues its commitment to a competency-based curriculum. This curriculum is tailored to match specific competencies that the college has developed through an inclusive process involving faculty and students, as well as input from alumni and the practicing dental community. HSC-BCD's comprehensive-care program encourages a patient-centered approach to clinical education, advances the role of faculty as mentors, integrates dental hygiene into the comprehensive-care team, and facilitates computerized patient tracking.
In an effort to attract young people from underserved populations and/or underserved areas into the dental profession, HSC-BCD established its Bridge to Dentistry: Awareness to Graduation program. The program's activities include summer enrichment programs for high school and college students to increase their competitiveness for admission to dental school, a yearlong program that promotes college graduates' admission into dental school, and a variety of programs aimed at encouraging and enabling school-aged children to pursue dental careers. In 2006, Bridge to Dentistry reached more than 3,800 children and young adults.
Increasing Access to Oral Health Care
HSC-BCD is the single largest provider of oral health care services in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, receiving 96,000 patient visits per year. The college completes approximately 5,000 emergency patient visits annually, about 45 percent of which are by low-income patients.
Faculty members also direct dental clinics at two local children's hospitals and provide oral health care services to Community Dental Care clinics, the Parkland Health & Hospital System, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dallas, Baylor University Medical Center and Denton State School. HSC-BCD produces the nation's only weekly dental health news program, Dental Health Check, which airs on Dallas' ABC affiliate, across the state, and even around the world via the Internet.
HSC-BCD served 170,680 people in the 2005-2006 academic year through health fairs, public school programs, Dallas children's hospitals and community health clinics and programs. The college's community service programs encompass everything from oral health screenings to clinical dental and dental hygiene services to health promotion and disease prevention activities. Through ongoing dental screening and sealant programs, HSC-BCD faculty and students place protective sealants on the teeth of hundreds of high-risk children from Dallas-area public schools.
For each of the past 15 years, HSC-BCD has renewed the HIV/AIDS Ryan White Dental Reimbursement grant to support care for patients who are HIV positive. The reimbursement currently exceeds $153,000. With more than 700 patients covered, the grant allows people who are HIV positive or have the AIDS virus to receive quality, low-cost dental care while contributing to diversified clinical experiences for students. In 2005, HSC-BCD's Caruth School of Dental Hygiene was the first hygiene program in the nation to apply for and receive Ryan White grant funding.
Practicing dental professionals and their patients benefit from a variety of patient-care services offered by HSC-BCD through its specialized centers and programs.
Seeking Innovation through Dental and Craniofacial Research
Research expenditures in 2006 exceeded $3.2 million. Through research, HSC-BCD faculty members are opening new doors in a range of areas including implant procedures, periodontal disease management, dental materials improvement, maxillofacial prosthodontics, craniofacial growth and deformities, tobacco cessation and salivary dysfunction treatment. Many of the college's scientific endeavors transcend dental medicine. Basic scientists at the dental school, many of whom receive funding through NIH grants, also are conducting research that may affect the prevention and treatment of diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome, temporomandibular disorder, cancer and heart disease.
HSC-BCD is participating in the first class of clinical scholars supported by a $9.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to UT Southwestern Medical Center. The prestigious program is designed to bolster the next generation of leaders in patient-oriented research.
The dental school's Office of Technology Development was established in 2006 to facilitate technology transfer by working cooperatively with researchers whose work possesses commercialization potential. The office is housed within HSC-BCD's Office of the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.
Downtown Dallas from Baylor College of Dentistry
