Master of Public Health
with dental emphasis

The Dental Public Health concentration is for students working in the dental field who want to learn more about the public health side of dentistry. This would include dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, or anyone working in the dental industry. This program prepares the student for careers in dental public health services and administration.

Professionals trained in dental public health are well equipped to work in community health centers, institutes of higher education, non-profit organizations, and local, state, and national government. All class work is completed online and students are never required to come to campus to complete the degree.

While many of the basic principles of public health cut across disciplines, other aspects can be tailored to dentistry. Having specific courses geared toward dentistry enable the student to better understand the uniqueness of dental public health.

The courses that define the M.P.H. with dental emphasis degree are listed below. This program is a 60 credit hour, 15 course program.

M.P.H. with Dental Emphasis Course Descriptions

This is a list of the courses students' will take when pursuing the M.P.H. with dental emphasis degree. These courses are listed in program order.

MPH 736 Introduction to Dental Public Health: This course is a comprehensive introduction to public health in general and dental public health in particular, within the context of the U.S. healthcare system. Course content includes: Basic organizational arrangements of health services in the U.S., concept of public health and dental public health, public health problems and dental public health problems in the context of social and community factors, public health developments from a historical perspective, and the role and mission of public health organizations, science, philosophy, and practice of dental public health.

MPH 737 Practical Dental Research Planning and Design: This course will enable you to start the process towards developing and implementing a dental public health research project. In this course, you will focus on developing and enhancing your skills related to research strategies, problem statements, literature review, protocol preparation and how they relate to your research project. The integrated terminal project will be introduced during this course.

ATSU 820 History of Osteopathic Medicine: This course examines the history of osteopathic medicine. An overview of whole person healthcare and an integrated approach encompassing mind, body, and spirit will be provided enhancing a student’s understanding and appreciation for the mission of A.T. Still University.

MPH 777 Behavior Sciences and Educational Concepts: The course provides an overview of the social, environmental, behavioral, and epidemiological bases of health promotion, health education, and health communication approaches. Tools are used for the assessment of community, institutional, and individual educational needs. Planning, implementation, and evaluation of health promotion, health education, and health communication strategies based on established theories and evidence-based practices are the foci of activities and discussions. Dental public health examples are integrated with other public health examples.

MPH 746 Biostatistics for Dental Research: Biostatistics is the study and development of statistical, mathematical, and computational methods applied to the biological, health, and human sciences. Biostatisticians play a key role in the design, conduct, and analysis of research studies in the areas of health and disease, and they create and apply methods for quantitative research in health related fields. Topics covered in this course include: data description, probability, distribution of random variables, applications of the binomial and normal distributions, estimation and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, contingency tables, regression, and analysis of variance. Additional topics include introduction to statistical computing and data management and non-parametric, or distribution free, statistical methods and demographic measures. Students will need to use a statistical program (Microsoft Excel® software or other program) to assist with computations.

MPH 806 Financing Dental Care: This course will examine the various ways in which dental care is financed. This includes mechanisms of payment for the providers, third-party plans, salaried and public-financed programs, and federal systems such as Medicare and Medicaid.

MPH 870 Public Health Biology: This course will explain the role of biology in the ecological model of population-based health. This course will integrate the general biological and molecular concepts into public health and will look at how biological, chemical, and physical agents affect human health.

MPH 756 Dental Epidemiology: This course explains the general principles of epidemiology including research methods, study designs, sampling, data analysis, interpretation of data, and the application of findings to dental public health policy. This course will look closely at distribution and determinants of oral disease – such as caries, periodontal disease, and oral cancer.

MPH 796.a Community Based Programs: This course will look at various community-based programs: how best to finance, develop, implement, and evaluate these programs. Students will also gain field experience by working with a local organization, institution, or agency to develop a comprehensive oral health plan for a community.

MPH 775 Environmental Health Sciences: This course provides an introduction to ecology and ecological principles and how human population pressures affect them. Man’s impact on biotic and abiotic components of the earth is examined as well as the environmental factors impacting public health. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact of anthropogenic, chemical, and physical stressors and their impact on various ecosystem components and man.

MPH 766 Dental Healthcare Policy and Management: This is a survey course providing an overview of the policy process as it relates to dental public health. Similarly, it provides introductory content dealing with how dental public health and other health organizations are organized and managed.

MPH 796.b Community Based Programs: This course will look at various community-based programs: how best to finance, develop, implement, and evaluate these programs. Students will also gain field experience by working with a local organization, institution, or agency to develop a comprehensive oral health plan for a community.

The final three courses will be comprised of three electives students will choose based on their career interests or needs. SHM's graduate enrollment counselors are available to assist students in selecting their three elective courses.

Questions?

For more information regarding the Master of Public Health with dental emphasis program, please contact a graduate enrollment counselor at (U.S./toll-free) 866.987.7776 or by email at shmonlineadmissions@atsu.edu.

Blackboard Demo Course

ATSU has set up a demo course of our Blackboard Learning Management System
for interested students. This is not the same as the orientation course you will take as a new student, but will give you a glimpse of what an online classroom may look like. Please go to our guest demo site and log in using :

WebCT ID: shmguest
password: shmguest