Students are required to enroll in required core courses as well as elective ones, to complete an original research project, and to write and orally defend a master’s thesis.

A minimum of 30 credit hours of course work, including the satisfactory completion of a written thesis based on independent research, are required for the MS degree.

All students must take the program’s required courses. Exemptions or substitutions may be granted by the program director only upon written request from the student based upon valid academic justification. The program director will inform the Graduate School of these substitutions. Each student may take credit hours of elective course work, usually related to the student’s area of research. Elective courses must be chosen after consultation with the student’s major professor and graduate committee.

This is a research-oriented degree program and does not include clinical training.  As such, the didactic curriculum of the Master’s program in Oral Sciences may not necessarily be directly related to a clinical setting.  The overall design of the program is to provide background, expertise and current concepts of basic sciences related to dental research and oral biology.

Due to the nature of the topics covered by the curriculum, students are often simultaneously enrolled in an advanced dental education clinical certificate program which complements their knowledge base.  In addition, the enhanced curriculum allows students to take some courses alongside first year students in our DDS program. The scope of the enhanced curriculum is to prepare prospective dental school applicants in strengthening their application.  

Program Policies and Guidelines

The University’s Graduate Education Policies apply to all students enrolled in the Oral Sciences Program. They are compatible with those of the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School.

A complete description of Graduate School policies may be obtained from the Graduate School:

549 Capen Hall, Amherst Campus / (716) 645- 2939

The Oral Sciences Program involves a group of faculty from several depart­ments of the School of Dental Medicine, all of whom are members of the faculty of the Graduate School. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the faculty, a wide range of research interests are represented which affords students the opportunity to engage in research that is especially suited to their individual interests, abilities, and career goals. Students may choose to pursue research from many different areas, including biological, clinical, and behavioral studies. The research opportunities are numerous and roughly represented by the faculty interests described in the Faculty Interests document.