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The ability to recognize, evaluate, and manage patients with temporomandibular
disorders is an important component of general
dental practice. Therefore, information about these disorders
should be a basic part of the dental curriculum. Although most
dental schools do include this subject in their educational programs,
its teaching typically involves the presentation of didactic
material in formal lectures or in seminars. This teaching, however
valuable, rarely includes the “hands-on” clinical experience of
actually caring for this patient population. To address this lack of
clinical experience, the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences of
the School of Dental Medicine at the University at Buffalo has
also developed a special elective program to offer dental students
in their final undergraduate year the opportunity to obtain such
experience.
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