SLU?s two-and-a-half year, full-time program in the specialty of orthodontics leads to a Master of Science in dentistry degree and a certificate in orthodontics. It provides intensive instruction and training in the biological and clinical sciences related to the specialty of orthodontics. The program typically begins the third week in June and continues for 30 consecutive months, with a 36-month option available for international students from specific countries.

The orthodontic program is offered by Saint Louis University?s Center for Advanced Dental Education, which strives to balance progressive excellence with the highest standards and the compassionate service of our Catholic Jesuit heritage. Our graduates leave Saint Louis University prepared to be astute and aware clinicians using an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to caring for craniofacial and dental patient problems.

SLU?s orthodontics program offers three basic areas of training: an extensive and comprehensive clinical experience that involves diagnosis, treatment planning, active treatment, and retention of patients representing a variety of malocclusions and craniofacial deformities; core courses that include biomedical sciences and clinical concepts; and orthodontic research. You will need to complete 80 credit hours to graduate.

Specific courses include facial development, biomechanics, clinical cephalometrics, oral biology, surgical orthodontics, orthodontic problems related to cleft-palate patient, speech problems related to the oral mechanism, history of orthodontics, diagnosis and treatment planning, clinical diagnosis, orthodontic analysis and treatment modalities, introduction to clinical orthodontics, principles of orthodontic techniques, tip-edge brackets and the differential straight-arch technique, seminar on child and adolescent psychology, review for the ABO examination and thesis research.