Welcome to Restorative Dentistry. The Department of Restorative Dentistry is represented by the Divisions of Biomaterials and Biomechanics, Opertive Dentistry and Prosthodontics. It is responsible for clinical, basic and applied science instruction in dental materials, operative dentistry, fixed prosthodontics, and removable prosthodontics to predoctoral dental students and advanced students in dental graduate or certificate programs. A number of faculty members participate in the University’s Ph.D. graduate training programs and collaborate in research projects with faculty in the OGI School of Science and Technology, School of Medicine and OHSU research institutes. Faculty members in this department serve on national, regional, university, dental school, and departmental committees having to do with education, research and patient care, and routinely present continuing dental education programs both nationally and internationally.

The Department of Restorative Dentistry has three major goals that are consistent with the mission of the School of Dentistry. The Educational Goal of the department is to provide comprehensive, evidence-based, and contemporary information in the specific areas of dental materials, operative dentistry and prosthodontics to OHSU students in the School of Dentistry and other units. The Research Goal of the department is to contribute to and advance the science of restorative dentistry through the conduct of high quality, innovative and important research projects, and to disseminate the results of this work through publication in peer-reviewed journals of good quality and through presentations at national and international meetings. The Service Goal of the department is to participate in faculty governance, and curriculum and faculty development, to provide patient care of the highest quality, and to provide educational experiences to dental practitioners both regionally and nationally through excellent continuing education programs.

The Department plays a very large role in the education of the future dentists in the state of Oregon and in nearby states. It is responsible for roughly 35% of the entire didactic predoctoral dental curriculum. Every year, department faculty teach and direct 55 pre-clinical and clinical courses, and have contact with each class during each quarter of their entire dental school career in lecture, laboratory or clinical situations. Clinical faculty are also involved in training experiences for residents in the clinical graduate programs.

The Department has active basic and applied research programs in the areas of adhesives, dental amalgam, dental composites, dental implants, numerical modeling, polymer mechanics, and tissue engineering. In the 2002-2003 academic year, department faculty published approximately 20 papers in scientific journals, with total grant support of nearly $700K from outside agencies. Department faculty participate in research training on several levels: through the Master of Science degree awarded by the Division of Biomaterials and Biomechanics; through the M.S./Ph.D. program of the OGI School of Science and Engineering; and through accepting and supporting foreign Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows to participate in department research activities.