Page 14 - The Apex - Touro College of Dental Medicine 2024

ADVANCED
STANDING
INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS
EXCEL AT TCDM
E
ach year,
for the past three years, a
handful of highly qualified
dentists who were educated
outside of the United States
have been accepted into
Touro College of Dental
Medicine’s Advanced
Standing International
Dentist Program (IDP).
These foreign-trained
dentists join the college
in the 3rd year of the
standard curriculum for
domestic students to
gain the experience and
education required to
practice dentistry in the
U.S. Participants earn a
Doctor of Dental Surgery
(DDS) degree following an
intensive two-year didactic
and clinical program after
which they are qualified to
take the dental licensure
exams.
There is a tremendous
number of excellent foreign-
trained dentists who want
to practice in the United
States but aren’t allowed to
because they are required
to complete clinical training
in the U.S. and pass the
boards. “There are other
schools in the United States
that have programs [for
these students] and we
decided that this was a
good thing to do,” says Dr.
David J. Katz, Vice Dean
and Associate Professor
of Dental Medicine at
TCDM. “We did it as a trial
three years ago and it was
tremendously successful.
The finest students came
out of that program, the
most committed, dedicated
people who would travel for
hours every day. We fell in
love with the program.” It
is extremely competitive to
be accepted into the IDP—
Dr. Katz estimates that
there are 900 applicants
on the waiting list. This
coming spring, several
such students will be part
of TCDM’s graduating
12 \ TOURO COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE
class, fulfilling their dream
of becoming dentists in
America.
This unique opportunity
for foreign-trained dentists
benefits TCDM students in
many important ways:
They round out the class.
“There is a certain amount
of attrition that occurs in
a class over the course of
time,” explains Dr. Katz.
“Students drop out for
numerous reasons, such as
a family illness or personal
circumstances, usually not
for academic reasons. So,
we have a small percentage
of students who don’t
continue beyond the first or
second year.” That attrition
creates opportunities for
foreign-trained dentists to
fill out the D3 class. “Since
the clinical program is set
up for students to work in
pairs,” adds Dr. Rhonda
L. Kaufman, Assistant
Dean for Clinical Affairs
and Associate Professor
of Dental Medicine at
TCDM, “the addition of
the Advanced Standing
students in year three
means every student is
guaranteed a partner, one to
do the dentistry and one to
assist.”
They bring serious