The dental school curriculum is based on three pillars: knowledge education, technical education, and attitude education, and is designed to cultivate compassionate dental professionals who contribute to the community. Here, we will introduce an overview of the curriculum, main subjects, practical training, and classes.
Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Map / Curriculum Tree
- curriculum map
This shows how the competencies that students should acquire by graduation relate to each course of study.
Dental School Curriculum Map (Japanese) - A curriculum tree
This is a systematic visualization of the sequence of content and the relationships between subjects in a course.
Dental School Curriculum Tree (Japanese)
Subjects and Practical Training
Liberal arts subjects
Dental professionals need empathy, understanding, and communication skills to interact with patients and collaborate with many people to advance treatment. They require not only specialized knowledge and skills, but also a broad perspective, social skills, and a strong sense of ethics.
For the first year and a half after enrollment, students receive an education that cultivates these human qualities. At the same time, they study the fundamental subjects necessary for specialized education, encountering a different kind of "academics" than what they studied in high school, and developing a true spirit of learning.
Basic subjects
You will learn about the structure and function of living organisms, the pathogenesis and prevention of diseases, the pharmacological effects of drugs, and biomaterials used in restoration. Dentistry is a branch of medicine, and knowledge common to medicine in general, not just oral health, is necessary. It is a foundational subject for learning clinical subjects and is essential for acquiring and improving the appropriate judgment skills of a dental healthcare professional. Regardless of whether it is basic or clinical, we aim to be dental healthcare professionals who always have a research mindset, and we will thoroughly study basic subjects.
Clinical subjects
Building upon the knowledge gained in foundational subjects, students will learn the fundamentals of clinical dentistry necessary for their future careers.
The curriculum covers a wide range of dental fields, including preventive dentistry, the Division of Pediatric Dentistry, orthodontics, pulp and periodontal disease, denture diagnosis and treatment, and the latest dental treatments such as oral implant therapy. It also includes knowledge of the oral and maxillofacial region, oral care for the elderly, and overall health management. Furthermore, it covers the knowledge necessary for practicing dentistry, considering future career paths, as well as related medical fields.
As a culmination of these efforts, a common examination will be administered, and those who pass will proceed to the next step: clinical training.
Clinical training
From their fifth to sixth year, students participate in clinical training where they directly treat patients. This includes practical training in various specialized departments, as well as the Division of Comprehensive Dentistry, which focuses on primary care.
It is important to understand the weight of responsibility as a dentist by actually listening to patients' complaints, understanding their pain and worries, and experiencing them firsthand. At the same time, you will learn about specialized diseases and treatments that you would not often encounter in general practice. In addition, how to talk to patients, how to make phone calls, personal grooming, the basics of infection prevention, and communication with supervising dentists and dental hygienists are also important parts of the learning process.
Class introduction
Oral Implantology
Oral implantology involves learning about preoperative diagnosis and treatment methods related to dental prosthetic treatment using implants. The curriculum incorporates as many interactive lectures as possible, often involving students asking questions and engaging in discussions. Practical training is designed to allow students to experience the entire process from preoperative diagnosis to treatment (implant surgery), including CT image analysis and interpretation of actual cases.
Dental Therapeutics
Dental treatment is the core of dental care. Prevention, oral care, and new treatment methods that will be developed in the future can only be achieved if dentists possess the skills to provide patients with accurate dental treatment. In "Therapeutics," which is offered to third-year dental students, we provide basic education in knowledge and skills related to dental treatment, such as restorative treatment, endodontic treatment, and an introduction to aesthetic and prosthetic treatment. This then leads to practical education in clinical reasoning skills and basic skills, which is offered to fifth and sixth-year dental students.
Basic medical sciences, basic oral medicine
Basic medical science is a subject that systematically teaches about the structure and function of the human body. Oral basic medical science, in particular, systematically studies the field of dentistry and oral health.
For example, let's say you experience jaw pain when opening your mouth (temporomandibular joint disorder). Anatomy involves learning the names and functions of the bones, muscles, and nerves that make up the jaw joint; histology involves learning about the cells that make up bones and muscles; physiology involves learning about the regulatory mechanisms for opening and closing the mouth and the mechanisms by which pain develops; and biochemistry involves learning about the substances and molecules involved. In this way, we learn about a single phenomenon in the human body from various angles, gaining an understanding of the whole picture.
