College of Dentistry

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Our Mission

The mission of the NYU College of Dentistry is to partner with students in achieving academic excellence, providing the best oral health care, and engaging in research, scholarship, and creative endeavors to improve the health of the highly diverse populations in New York City and around the world.

Education and Training

The NYU College of Dentistry is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the United States, educating nearly 10 percent of our nation's dentists. The College has nearly 1,900 students in its various pre- and postdoctoral programs from all over the United States and 40 foreign countries. Nearly 50 percent of all currently enrolled students are women and minorities. NYU Dentistry offers specialty training in the following dental specialty areas: endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, periodontics, and prosthodontics, as well as in implant dentistry; conducts an extensive continuing education program; and is home to the only dental school-affiliated dental hygiene program in New York State.

Patient Care

In addition to educating health professionals, NYU Dentistry endeavors through its faculty, students, and alumni to improve the health of the highly diverse populations in New York City and around the world. The College provides approximately 300,000 visits annually to the most multi-ethnic, multi-cultural patient population in the nation. NYU Dentistry conducts a mobile dental care program, Smiling Faces, Going Places, which travels to dentally underserved areas throughout New York City to provide critically needed dental services; sponsors free oral health and oral cancer screenings for thousands of New Yorkers annually; and has established a global outreach model that delivers essential care to populations in need and provides participants with a unique service-learning experience, opportunities to conduct critically-needed research, and an increased awareness of access to care issues, while fostering a passion for volunteerism and social responsibility. NYU Dentistry has also established a global network of dental colleges to foster worldwide research collaborations and program initiatives.

Research and Innovation

NYU College of Dentistry has one of the strongest, largest and most rapidly growing research programs in the country. At the heart of the College’s research program is a commitment to collaboration. An important part of our research strategy is translational research. We firmly believe that in today's world, groups of researchers must work together synergistically in order to move fundamental basic science research into practice. This collaborative, integrated approach drives the majority of the research conducted today at the NYU College of Dentistry.

The College’s distinguished dental faculty includes more than 735 full- and part-time clinicians and researchers, including many who have made pioneering contributions in the areas of caries research across the age spectrum, salivary diagnostics, cancer, especially oral cancer, bone health, especially osteoporosis research, behavioral research, HIV research, pain control, implant dentistry, the development of new dental materials, the use of fluoride and dental sealants to prevent caries, bonding techniques to restore the appearance of damaged teeth, the correction of facial deformities, and orthodontic services for adults.

Above and Beyond

Only at NYU do you find a community of scholars, scientists, clinicians, and researchers who contribute so significantly to the dental profession, public health, and oral health worldwide.

The initiatives featured below speak to the innovative thinking and creativity they bring to our academic community and to the public we serve.

Institutional Commitment to a Diverse and Inclusive Environment

Since the founding of New York University in 1831, the Institution has held a mission that is in and of the City and in and of the world. The College of Dentistry shares this philosophy and commitment to continually strive to foster a dynamic and rigorous teaching and learning environment that represents a diversity of perspectives, experiences, and approaches to engage in ongoing systematic and focused efforts to attract and retain students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds, and to systematically evaluate comprehensive strategies to further enhance the institutional climate for diversity. The College has a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion within the structure, curriculum, and institutional climate of the College, and works intentionally across the many areas of the institution to provide resources, programs, and support services that help to cultivate and maintain an educational environment that is inclusive of divergent backgrounds and historically underrepresented groups across the areas of race, ethnicity, culture, age, religion, ability, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, socioeconomic status, national origin, and educational background.

NYU Dentistry articulates its expectations regarding diversity across its academic community in the context of local and national responsibilities through its mission statement, "to partner with students in achieving academic excellence, providing the best oral health care, and engaging in research, scholarship, and creative endeavors to improve the health of the highly diverse populations in New York City and around the world."