Behavioral Sciences (BEH05-DN)

This course introduces first-year dental students to the fundamental elements of epidemiology and develops student skills in critically evaluating the dental, medical, and public health literature as it relates to the practice of dentistry. At the end of the course, the students should be able to understand the scientific basis for the diagnostic, preventive, and treatment procedures they will perform in the future. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program. Core curriculum.

Dentists, as healthcare professionals have an obligation to serve the public to the best of their ability. Dentistry is both a learned profession and a healing profession and as such, presents both ethical challenges and opportunities to the practitioner. Leadership cultivates a sense of agency or self-efficacy that helps immunize against the detrimental effects of stress or a loss of confidence and encourages a willingness to turn outward to help others. Ethics offers a sure foundation for professional decision-making and an assurance that actions taken are intended for the benefit of patients—still recognizing that ethical behavior can entail ambiguities and differences of opinion. Accountability refers to a willingness to be held responsible for decisions and an ability to explain and justify them on rational grounds apart from self-interest or ulterior motives. Professionalism refers to an awareness of and a willingness to abide by the normative values and behaviors expected of all health care professionals. As we proceed through the course, distinctions will be made between the overlapping domains of legality, morality, and ethics. We will compare and contrast the codes of ethics of the American Dental Association and the American Dentists. Whatever our own personal perspectives may be on various contentious issues of the day, entering the profession requires that ethical practitioners treat patients (and each other) with the highest level of respect and perform necessary treatments with the greatest level of expertise. “Topics in Controversy” will be presented as optional reading for personal reflection. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program. Core curriculum.

This course will help students become skilled managers of the technology used at NYU Dentistry. Students will learn how to access electronic information. Students will gain foundation knowledge in basic NYU applications, collaborative learning tools, Security, Privacy and Confidentiality, as well as learn how to use ExamSoft, Mediasite and other applications. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program. Core curriculum.

Elective. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery Program.

This course is designed to reinforce the basic skills initially acquired in the foundation course Clinical Epidemiology 1 (BEH05-DN 1509) which included an introduction to “Evidence Based Dentistry.” This course will focus on the search and evaluation of all type study designs that evaluate diagnosis/ diagnostic tests screening, therapy and prognosis. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program. Core curriculum.

Elective. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery Program.

Continuation of BEH05-DN 2512 and BEH05-DN 2612. Elective. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery Program.

This course will build upon prior course knowledge that was presented in previous Epidemiology and Health Promotion courses including Clinical Epidemiology, 1 and 2 (BEH05-DN 1509 and BEH05-DN 2608), as well as other courses which teach the concepts of Evidence Based-Dentistry. Specifically, this course will focus on the appraisal of observational studies and systematic reviews and will reinforce the applicability and the advantages of evidence-based clinical decisions. This course is open only to students in the Doctor of Dental Surgery program. Core curriculum.