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Department of Orthodontics
Orhan C. Tuncay, DMD, Chairman
The twenty-seven month accredited advanced education program in orthodontics offers a certificate. Following successful completion of the program, individuals are educationally qualified to become diplomates of the American Board of Orthodontics. The primary objective of the program is to prepare dentists to become specialists in orthodontics. The program emphasizes a unified concept of growth and development, clinical biomechanics, applied basic sciences, diagnosis treatment planning, and patient care. Also strongly emphasized are skills of sound practice management.
The first year students are introduced to basic orthodontics techniques and concepts early in the program. Orthodontic instruments, equipment, and properties of materials are covered with special emphasis on wire manipulation. Additional to these fundamentals, topics such as diagnosis, appliance properties and treatment planning are covered in didactic and clinical seminar sessions. Clinical activity is described as multi-disciplinary where exposure to various orthodontics techniques are provided. A significant element of clinical training is a two-week course at the Tweed Foundation in Tucson, AZ, between the first and second years of study.
The clinical and practice management, as well as research training rely on extramural experience or invited lecturers, in addition to scheduled seminars. Management of a successful practice, understanding the nature of clinical literature, craniofacial biology, and clinical skills are viewed as inseparable, thus are equally emphasized. Interactions with the neighbor institutions and their faculty are elements of the program at Temple.
Mission Statement
- The mission of the Department of Orthodontics is to educate and provide practical experiences for students in their quest to become socially sensitive, biologically oriented and technically competent dentists. To achieve these within the framework of mission of the school, the educational programs will:
- Emphasize the biological basis of growth and development in the craniofacial complex and deviations from normal course of events, and their clinical significance.
- Expose the student to elements of tooth movement, both in basic sciences and in practical applications.
- Design a curriculum where orthodontic tooth movement is incorporated into the general practice of dentistry.
- Employ principles of orthodontics as a basis to educate students in clinical problem-solving.
- Encourage dental students to think scientifically and enable them to discriminate a malformation from variations of normal.
- Expose the students to elements of interaction with the specialists.
Faculty - Department of Orthodontics(back to top)
Richard Albright, Professor
Brian Amy, Professor
Michael Berkowitz, Assistant Professor
Robert Bray, Associate Professor
Matthew Coats, Assistant Professor
Michael Horton, Assistant Professor
Ali Sayed Husain, Assistant Professor
Mark Mele, Assistant Professor
Hyun-Duck Nah-Cederquist, Assistant Professor
Natalie Parisi, Assistant Professor
James Sciote, Professor
Robert Sholz, Assistant Professor
Harold Slutsky, Assistant Professor
Christopher Smedley, Assistant Professor
Larry Smedley, Assistant Professor
Elizabeth Spannhake, Assistant Professor
Orhan Tuncay, Professor
G. Robert Van Sciver, Assistant Professor
William Viechnicki, Professor