Fast Facts

Snapshot of the School 2022-2023
Year Founded: 1945
Accreditation: ADA Commission on Dental Accreditation
Dean: André V. Ritter, DDS, MS, MBA, PhD
Office of the Dean
Health Sciences Center D-322, Box 356365
Seattle, WA 98195-6365
206-543-5982
Administrative Areas/ Associate & Assistant Deans
Academic Affairs-Sara Gordon, Associate Dean
Advancement, Alumni Relations, & CDE-Randy Newquist, Assistant Dean
Clinics-Natasha Flake, Associate Dean
Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion-Douglass Jackson, Associate Dean
Faculty-Greg Huang, Interim Associate Dean
Finance & Resources-Gary Farris, Associate Dean
Human Resources-Renni Bispham, Assistant Dean
Infrastructure & Development-Ricardo Schwedhelm, Associate Dean
Regional Affairs-Frank Roberts, Associate Dean
Research-Donald Chi, Associate Dean
Student Services & Admissions-Susan Coldwell, Associate Dean
Departments/ Chairs
Endodontics-James Johnson
Oral Health Sciences-Whasun Oh Chung, Interim
Oral Medicine-Mark Drangsholt
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery-Thomas Dodson
Orthodontics-Gregory Huang
Pediatric Dentistry-Travis Nelson
Periodontics-Frank Roberts, Interim
Restorative Dentistry-Daniel Chan
Student Data
Summer 2022 Class of 2026
DDS Applicants | 690 |
DDS Matriculates | 63 |
Women | 41 |
Men | 22 |
WA State Residents | 51 (81%) |
Number of Students/Residents
All Programs 2022
DDS (4 yrs.) | 246 |
International DDS | 30 |
DDS/PhD | 3 |
GME Residents – certificate only | 35 (GPR, OMR, OMS) |
GME Resident – certificate & MSD | 10 (PEDO) |
Graduate Students – certificate & MSD | 50 Endo, OM, Ortho, Perio, Pros) |
MS | 0 |
PhD | 7 |
Total | 381 |
Postdoctoral Education
Certificate/Residency Programs
General Practice Residency, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Pediatric Dentistry, and Oral Radiology
Master of Science in Dentistry (MSD)
Offered through Departments of Endodontics, Oral Medicine, Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Periodontics, and Prosthodontics
Master of Science in Dentistry (MSD) / Master of Public Health (MPH): Offered through the Department of Pediatric Dentistry after the Master of Science in Dentistry (MSD)
Master of Science (MS)/Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): Offered through the Department of Oral Health Sciences
Postdoctoral Fellowships: Offered through departments
Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE)
The RIDE program was developed by the University of Washington School of Dentistry (UWSOD) to address oral health workforce needs in rural and underserved communities. RIDE is a partnership with Eastern Washington University (EWU) and the UW School of Medicine WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) program to create educational efficiencies as well as innovations. Dental associations, community health centers, Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), and other stakeholders also play an invaluable role in supporting RIDE activities. RIDE was funded by the Washington State Legislature in 2007. The first cohort of RIDE students graduated in 2012.
Fast Facts

Faculty
(Fall 2022)
Full-time | 68 (T) 39 (M) 29 (F) |
Part-time | 34 (T) 14 (M) 20 (F) |
Affiliate (volunteer) | 481(T) 310 (M) 169 (F) |
Staff
(Fall 2022)
Staff FTE (Clinics and Administration) 204.3
Alumni
(FY 2021)
DDS | 4,450 |
Specialty | 1,645 |
Hygiene | 495 |
Total | 6,590 |
Continuing Dental Education (CDE)
Courses offered July 2021 — June 2022 | 87 |
Participants | 2398 |
Clinical Services
Predoctoral Clinics
- Primary training site for dental students
- Patients receive care under faculty supervision
Postdoctoral Specialties Clinics for training dentists to become specialists in one of the following areas: Endodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Pathology, Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Periodontics, and Prosthodontics
Unique Clinics
- DECOD—Dental Education in Care of Persons with Disabilities
- Autism Clinic: For pediatric dental patients at the Center for Pediatric Dentistry
- Advanced General Dentistry: for treatment of medically compromised patients
- Oral Medicine
- Outreach Clinics: over 30 sites within the region
- Satellite Geriatric Dental Clinic (Lynnwood): Under faculty supervision, senior dental students provide diagnostic and treatment services for low-income older patients
UW Dentistry Campus Dental Center
These faculty practices are located in the School of Dentistry and at our Sand Point clinic. Another satellite clinic at Harborview Medical Center also provides expert patient care by faculty.
Center for Pediatric Dentistry (CPD)
A joint venture between UW School of Dentistry and Seattle Children’s Hospital, this state-of-the-art clinical facility for pediatric dentistry opened in September 2010.
Research Activities
Research Emphases
Research in the School of Dentistry is wide-ranging. Areas of emphasis include:
- Origins of disease susceptibility, disparities in disease and access to care in
children - Addressing the major barriers to accessing dental treatment, including dental
anxiety - Craniofacial development and disease/craniofacial anomalies
- Oral microbiome
- Bacterial/host interactions in periodontal health and disease
- Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD), and other forms of chronic orofacial pain
- Dental materials and tissue reactions
School Centers, Institutes and Networks
Regional Clinical Dental Research Center (RCDRC) – The RCDRC is part of the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, one of more than 50 clinical and translational science award centers nationwide. This center provides facilities and staff support for conducting high-quality clinical and translational research in collaboration with NIH-funded investigators and industry research partners.
Timothy A. DeRouen Center for Global Oral Health – a UW School of Dentistry organization affiliated with the Department of Global Health in the UW School of Public Health. Created to foster, support, and enhance collaborations in research, education, and faculty/student exchanges in oral health in international settings or with non-U.S. institutions.
Training Programs (selected)
Clinical, Public Health and Behavioral Oral Health Research Training for Thailand – Short and long term programs on clinical research methods in collaboration with Thammasat and Khon Kaen universities.
Comprehensive Training in Inter-Disciplinary Oral Health Research – A comprehensive program that covers a broad spectrum of interdisciplinary oral health research areas.
Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) – designed to give dental students a meaningful experience conducting oral health research with a faculty mentor
Summer Institute in Clinical Dental Research Methods – Designed to provide clinical research training for dental faculty; since its inception in 1992, more than 400 faculty from dental schools in 30 states and 40 foreign countries have participated