Mission, Vision and History
For more than 100 years, The University of Texas Dental Branch (UTDB) at Houston has set the standard for oral health excellence by educating outstanding dentists, discovering new oral health advancements and caring for the citizens of Southeast Texas. In 2008, the Dental Branch moved forward with plans to build a new, state-of-the-art dental school in The Research Park Complex in the southern part of the Texas Medical Center. The UT Health Science Center at Houston has committed $155 million to the project from State, UT System and local sources. Philanthropic opportunities will be available to help complete the building and provide funds for growth in endowments, scholarships, research and community outreach. This expansion mirrors and supports the growth of dentistry and dental science, as oral health moves beyond the mouth and into every facet of the health sciences.

Founded in 1905 as the privately owned Texas Dental College, the Dental Branch was the first dental school in Texas and the first professional school in Houston. The school became part of the UT System in 1943 and eventually was renamed The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston. In 1945, the UT System Board of Regents authorized the creation of the School of Dental Hygiene as part of the Dental Branch. The first hygiene class was admitted in 1955.

Fulfilling the mission - Education
The Dental Branch offers 10 accredited programs: DDS, dental hygiene, two primary care general residency programs and specialty programs in pediatric dentistry, endodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, prosthodontics, periodontics and orthodontics. The school also offers a DDS/PhD in collaboration with the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and an MD degree through the UT Medical School with an oral and maxillofacial surgery certificate.

The Dental Branch has integrated a focus on cultural competency, diversity and inclusion into all four years of the undergraduate dental curriculum, built on the foundation of the American Medical Student Association’s Achieving Diversity in Dentistry and Medicine guidelines. One example of this commitment to diversity is serving as a site for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Summer Medical and Dental Education Program. This intensive, personalized preparatory program for pre-dental and pre-medical students has the ultimate goal of increasing the number of under-represented and minority health care practitioners in Texas.

Fulfilling the mission - Research
Researchers at the Dental Branch work in diverse areas to develop new knowledge applicable to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral and systemic diseases. Current areas of investigation are:

• salivary biomarker profiles for diagnosing local and systemic disease
  
• regenerating craniofacial structures through tissue
  
• mechanisms of mucosal immunity and autoimmunity
  
• molecular imaging of oral cavity and other cancers
  
• applying information sciences to oral health and disease
  
• advanced imaging of craniofacial structures

The Dental Branch is home to the Proteomics Core of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. The Proteomics Core is a resource for training and assistance in designing experimental protocols for biomarker discovery and validation using state-of-the-art proteomic techniques, from mass spectroscopy to protein quantitation. The Dental Branch also recognizes its role in preparing the next generation of scientists. Dental students are encouraged to participate in research projects, and UTDB research programs support the master’s level research of dental students receiving advanced education in periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, orthodontics and pediatric dentistry. In 2008, UTDB became part of a national consortium working with the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine to find ways to rapidly grow new tissue for craniofacial reconstruction for wounded soldiers.

Fulfilling the mission - Community Service/Patient Care
UTDB students gain clinical skills in on-site clinics, at affiliated hospitals and through community outreach projects. The school has affiliations with 9 hospitals, 48 HISD schools and more than 30 clinics, community agencies and long-term health care centers. As the only dental school in southeast Texas, the Dental Branch is a primary source of quality oral health care for low-income families, the traditionally underserved, and for patients with special needs and/or medical comorbidities. Please see Page 121 for additional information on Dental Branch community service activities.

Facilities
The Dental Branch is housed in a 53-year-old, six-floor building located within the Texas Medical Center. Features include basic science laboratories, lecture rooms, an auditorium, a library and learning resources center, a clinical simulation and learning center, a surgical oral pathology laboratory, a faculty practice clinic, faculty offices, clinics, administrative offices, and service and mechanical areas. The building also accommodates clinical research and continuing education.