Students in Pre-Clinic.

Third Year

In the third year, study of most clinical subjects continues, with courses in oral pathology and radiology, pharmacology, oral medicine, and anesthesia. Lecture courses lessen in quantity, and the clinical practice of dentistry begins to take precedence in time and effort. Third-year students spend three full days (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) in the clinic each week, with the remaining two days spent in classes and labs.

ON THIS PAGE:

Clinical Experience

  • In year 3, students experience a heavy load of didactic courses. They continue their clinical experience, with rotations in: Pediatrics and or, Urgent Care, Oral Surgery, and the Mobile Unit Dental Van. Students also begin preparing board exam preparations during the third year.
  • Third-year students continue in the practice groups assigned during their second year. Each practice group—composed of approximately twenty third-year students, twenty fourth-year students, a director, and a group of faculty—functions like a large group practice. 
  • Each group works together to provide care to the patients assigned to the practice group. Two practice groups are located on the first-floor clinic; the other two practice groups occupy the second-floor clinic. Each student is assigned an operatory for his/her exclusive use for the third- and fourth-year clinical experience.
  • Clinical skills are developed as third-year students provide comprehensive care to between fourteen and eighteen patients and are directly involved in each major discipline of clinical dentistry, including operative dentistry, periodontics, endodontics, orthodontics and pediatric dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and fixed and removable prosthodontics. 
  • Third-year students perform patient care in all phases of clinical dentistry, gaining the same scope of experience as fourth-year students but taking a little longer and performing less sophisticated procedures. 
  • While third-year students still require significant faculty supervision, by the end of the third year they have gained sufficient clinical experience to provide treatment to patients with more demanding and comprehensive treatment needs.

3rd Year Photo Gallery

Click below to view our third year slideshow!

Off-Campus Clinical Experience

  • Third- and fourth-year students are assigned one week out of every four to the dental clinics in a number of Buffalo-area hospitals. This provides an opportunity to treat a larger group of patients with a wide variety of dental-treatment needs and other medical complications. 
  • Students treat patients and assist postgraduate students and attending dentists as they care for patients. Students spend time at Erie County Medical Center; Kaleida Health’s Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Buffalo General Hospital, and Millard Fillmore Hospitals; the VA Western New York Healthcare System; and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. 
  • In these settings, students become familiar with dental care provided in a hospital environment and are given the opportunity to gain operating-room experience, provide restorative care to medically compromised patients, and receive training in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Year 3 Curriculum

Take a look at the tables below to view the curriculum for both fall and spring of the third year at UB Dental. Click the links below to view full course descriptions for each semester as well!

Fall Semester

CLD 831 Comprehensive Care Clinic A & B
CLD 835 Treatment Planning & Cases I  
ODS 832 Oral Radiology Clinic  
ODS 836 Oral Pathology II  
ODS 837 Clinic Diagnosis I  
OSU 831 Oral Surgery I  
OSU 833 Oral Surgery Clinic I  
OSU 837 Oral Surgery Boot Camp (Early Fall)
PDO 831 Pediatric Dentistry & Clinic Pract I  
PER 831 Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy  
PER 833 Periodontology Clinic I  
PER 835 Endodontics II  
PER 836 Endodontics Clinic I  
PMY 831 Principles of Pharmacology  
RDN 828 Implant Dentistry I (Early Fall)
RDN 831 Implant Dentistry II  
RDN 833 Fixed Prosthodontics I  
RDN 834 Indirect Restorations Clinic I  
RDN 835 Cariology & Direct Restorations I  
RDN 836 Direct Restorations Clinic I  
RDN 837 Removable Prosth. II
RDN 839 Removable Prosth. Clinic I  

Spring Semester

CLD 832 Comprehensive Care Clinic II
CLD 838 Treatment Planning & Cases II
CLD 847 Professionalism in Practice
ODS 831 Management of the Medically Complex Patient
ODS 832 Oral Radiology Clinic III  
ODS 834 TMD and Orofacial Pain
ODS 838 Clinical Diagnosis II
ODS 846 Geriatric Dentistry
ODS 842  Dental Management of Patients with Special Needs
OSU 832 Oral Surgery II  
OSU 834 Oral Surgery Clinic II  
OSU 836 Anesthesia/Pain Control  
ORT 832 Orthodontics and Orthodontics Technique
PDO 832 Pediatric Dentistry II  
PER 832  Surgical Perio. Therapy  
PER 834 Periodontics Clinic II  
PER 837 Endodontics Clinic II  
RDN 833 Fixed Prosthodontics II
RDN 834 Fixed Prosthodontics Clinic II  
RDN 835  Cariology and Direct Restorations IV  
RDN 836 Operative Clinic II
RDN 838 Removable Prosthodontics IV  
RDN 839 Removable Prosthodontics Clinic II  
RDN 845 Implant Dentistry Clinic I  

Contact Us

Phone: 716-829-6925
Fax: 716-829-2731
Email: sdmadmit@buffalo.edu
Hours:
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., M-F

DDS Admissions
School of Dental Medicine
315 Squire Hall
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY  14214