If you are planning to attend dental school after graduation, then you might want to consider your very own UIC. The UIC College of Dentistry is aiming to be a world leader in clinical care, educational technology, and research excellence by the year 2010 [1]. Besides this, there are also other factors that just might make the UIC College of Dentistry your top choice for graduate professional education in dentistry.

For one, UIC Dental College is in a prime location. Placed in the heart of one of the largest medical districts in one of the largest cities in the U.S., the college can offer countless opportunities. At the College, leaders in their areas perform cutting edge research every day. Student, as well as faculty participation, is encouraged in exciting areas such as Biomaterials and Cell and Molecular Biology of Oral and Related Diseases [2]. Programs such as Community Outreach give students the chance to interact with the community and learn about its needs [3]. The diversity in the surrounding areas is also an advantage as students are exposed to many different types of patients during their time at the College.

Leadership is also a big part of the UIC College of Dentistry, and students have numerous opportunities to get involved. The College of Dentistry supports a number of student organizations such as the American Student Dental Association, the American Association of Women Dentists, the Hispanic Dental Association, the Student National Dental Association, and the Health Professions Student Council, to name a few. The College sponsors student leaders in these organizations to attend national conferences and have a voice in leadership and decision making at the national level.

Finally, UIC has an extremely progressive attitude toward education. With a constantly improving curriculum, the school prepares their students to be clinicians better than ever. With the old curriculum, students would not take the board examinations until after their second year. With the new curriculum, boards are taken after the D-1 year, and comprehensive patient care begins the second year.

Improvements have also been made to the school itself. The student operatories in the dental clinics are equipped with computers, wherein students record a patient's history and treatment into an electronic patient chart database called Axium. Additionally, the clinics have been remodeled and are now structured in practice groups.

If a student should decide to specialize after dental school, UIC College of Dentistry has postgraduate specialty certificate programs in recognized dental specialties. These include orthodontics, periodontics, oral and maxiofacial surgery, endodontics, pediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry, and prothodontics. Specializing in dental public health is also possible through the School of Public Health [4].

For a student seriously considering a career in the field of dentistry, UIC College of Dentistry is worth taking a good look at. Different schools are best fit for different people, so it is always beneficial to consider your options. And when you do, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better dental school than UIC.