Orofacial Pain Certificate

The orofacial pain program is a two-year program. Upon completion of the program, students would be eligible for examination and certification by the American Board of Orofacial Pain. This program will follow the standards required by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA).

The education in the program is required to be beyond the level of predoctoral dental education in oral health care, using applied basic and behavioral sciences to treat patients with orofacial pain. Program activities will include didactic curriculum, journal club, case conferences, research, clinical activity, and clinical rotations. Half of the program time will be dedicated to the clinical diagnosis and management of orofacial pain.

The didactic curriculum will encompass biomedical sciences, functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of pain, behavioral sciences, clinical sciences, multidisciplinary pain management, teaching, and research.

The goal of the Orofacial Pain program is to prepare its graduates to plan and provide interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary health care for a wide variety of patients with orofacial pain as well as to provide education in orofacial pain related to the basic mechanisms and the anatomic, physiologic, neurologic, vascular, behavioral, and psychosocial aspects of orofacial pain. In addition, graduates are expected to be able to evaluate current therapeutic modalities, and to develop new and improve upon existing procedures for diagnosis and treatment/management of such conditions/diseases/syndromes.

Course Requirements

Core Courses
DENG 707Regional Anatomy2
DENG 720Applied Pharmacology1
OFP 700 14
DENG 701Introduction to Research Design1
OCBM 724Diagnosis and Treatment of Orofacial Pain Conditions1
DENG 901Research 24
OFP 710 35
OFP 720 44
OFP 730 58
ORAD 706Advanced Oral Radiology2
OCBM 723Introductory Pain Neurobiology1
OFP 750 612
ORPA 762Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Seminar2
DENG 702Biostatistics2
Minimum Hours49
1

This two-credit course should be taken twice for a total of 4 credits.

2

This one-credit course should be taken four times for a total of 4 credits.

3

This one-credit course should be taken five times for a total of 5 credits.

4

This one-credit course should be taken four times for a total of 4 credits.

5

This two-credit course should be taken four times for a total of 8 credits.

6

This three-credit course should be taken four times for a total of 12 credits.

Non-Course Certificate Requirements