- Program Description
- Curriculum
- Additional Information on Required and Complementary Courses
- Failure Policy
Program Description
Master of Science (MSc) Dental Sciences (Non-Thesis) (45 Credits)
Offered by: Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences
Degree: Master of Science
The Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences boasts professors from a diversity of backgrounds and interrelated fields whose varied expertise allows us to offer an applied MSc program with strong theoretical and methodological foundations spanning multiple approaches to health research. Our professors’ professional and public health community involvement will contribute to the applied knowledge component of the program, especially during the practicum. The MSc Dental Sciences is comprised of
- a 24-credit core of required courses that focuses on transversal competencies aligned with the overarching learning objectives of the program. 18 credits are attributed to coursework and 6 credits are in the form of a practicum designed to provide employment experience beneficial to both the student and the organization in which the work is carried out.
- 21 credits of complementary courses offered by the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences and/or other units.
The MSc should be completed in two years of full-time study. Students are expected to take 12 credits per term in the first three terms and 9 credits in their fourth and final term.
All students must also complete a mandatory Academic Integrity Tutorial by the end of their first semester. The Tutorial can be accessed through MINERVA’s student menu. If students do not complete the Tutorial, they will not be able to register for the following term.
Curriculum
Dental Sciences (Non-Thesis) (M.Sc.) (45 credits)
Offered by: Dental Med & Oral Health Sci (Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences)ÌýÌý
Degree: Master of Science
Program credit weight: 45Ìý
Program Description
The Master of Science (M.Sc.) Dental Sciences; Non-Thesis program focuses on theoretical and methodological foundations spanning multiple approaches to health research.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (24 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| DENT 601 | Quantitative Data Analysis for Oral Health Research. | 3 |
Quantitative Data Analysis for Oral Health Research. Terms offered: Fall 2025 A quantitative data analysis model for oral health research. | ||
| DENT 625 | Applied Qualitative Health Research. | 3 |
Applied Qualitative Health Research. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Foundations of qualitative health research through consideration of theory, initiation into fieldwork and the combination of pertinent theoretical and practical components. | ||
| DENT 663 | Principles of Health Research. | 1 |
Principles of Health Research. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Research topics and methodology, including critical thinking and evaluating evidence, scientific responsibilities, academic integrity, scientific writing, and publishing basics. | ||
| DENT 668 | Practicum Readings in Dentistry and Health Research. | 3 |
Practicum Readings in Dentistry and Health Research. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Literature that contributes general and specific practicum skills and knowledge, including a literature search, documentation of the process and preparation of the background literature for the final practicum project. | ||
| DENT 670 | Dentistry Community Health Practicum. | 6 |
Dentistry Community Health Practicum. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Practical stage. | ||
| DENT 671D1 | Advanced Research Seminar. | 1 |
Advanced Research Seminar. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Topics in current research in Oral Health Sciences. | ||
| DENT 671D2 | Advanced Research Seminar. | 1 |
Advanced Research Seminar. Terms offered: Winter 2026 See DENT 671D1 for course description. | ||
| DENT 685 | Theory of Dental Public Health. | 3 |
Theory of Dental Public Health. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Theory and principles of public health, as applied to the concepts and determinants of oral health and disease, oral disease prevention and health promotion, dental care delivery systems and professional issues related to dental care delivery. | ||
| DENT 690 | Literature Reviews. | 3 |
Literature Reviews. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Theoretical foundation and workflow outline for performing a narrative, rapid, scoping, or systematic literature review. | ||
Complementary Courses (21 credits)
21 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ANAT 690D1 | Cell and Developmental Biology. | 3 |
Cell and Developmental Biology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Current developments in molecular cell biology and developmental biology will be presented by course coordinators and staff from primary papers in the scientific literature. These will be researched and critiqued by students through oral and written presentations. Two term papers are required for students taking the course. | ||
| ANAT 690D2 | Cell and Developmental Biology. | 3 |
Cell and Developmental Biology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See ANAT 690D1 for course description. | ||
| BMDE 505 | Cell and Tissue Engineering. | 3 |
Cell and Tissue Engineering. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Application of the principles of engineering, physical, and biological sciences to modify and create cells and tissues for therapeutic applications will be discussed, as well as the industrial perspective and related ethical issues. | ||
| DENT 504 | Biomaterials and Bioperformance. | 3 |
Biomaterials and Bioperformance. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Biological and synthetic biomaterials, medical devices, and the issues related to their bioperformance. The physicochemical characteristics of biomaterials in relation to their biocompatibility and sterilization. | ||
| DENT 505 | Epidemiology and Data Analysis in Primary Care 1. | 3 |
Epidemiology and Data Analysis in Primary Care 1. Terms offered: Fall 2025 An introduction of epidemiological concepts, data analysis, and methods applicable to primary care research. | ||
| DENT 509 | Epidemiology and Data Analysis in Primary Care 2. | 3 |
Epidemiology and Data Analysis in Primary Care 2. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Intermediate epidemiological concepts, data analysis, and methods applicable to primary care research. | ||
| DENT 625 | Applied Qualitative Health Research. | 3 |
Applied Qualitative Health Research. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Foundations of qualitative health research through consideration of theory, initiation into fieldwork and the combination of pertinent theoretical and practical components. | ||
| DENT 654 | Mechanisms and Management of Pain. | 3 |
Mechanisms and Management of Pain. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Presentation of the neurobiology of pain and analgesia, clinical pain conditions, basic and applied research methods in the study of pain, and the theory and practice of pain management. The course is designed for graduate students interested in pain mechanisms and clinical residents interested in pain management. | ||
| DENT 664 | Health Research Communications. | 1 |
Health Research Communications. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Practical training in written and oral communication skills for biomedical sciences and oral health research. | ||
| DENT 665 | Leadership and Management Skills in Research. | 1 |
Leadership and Management Skills in Research. Terms offered: Summer 2025 Introduction to leadership theory, models and practice, as well as the development of project and time management skills, resource allocation, team and consensus building. | ||
| DENT 669 | Extracellular Matrix Biology. | 3 |
Extracellular Matrix Biology. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Advanced topics on extracellular matrix biology with emphasis on matrix molecules and their effects on cell communication, tissue structure and integrity. | ||
| DENT 681 | Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 1. | 1 |
Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 1. Terms offered: Fall 2025 Advanced readings in student's area of research. | ||
| DENT 682 | Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 2. | 2 |
Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced readings in student's area of research. | ||
| DENT 683 | Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 3. | 3 |
Readings in Dentistry and Health Research 3. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Advanced readings in student's area of research. | ||
| DENT 686 | Illness Experience and Social Determinants of Health. | 2 |
Illness Experience and Social Determinants of Health. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Exploration on the experience of illness and suffering, the social determinants of health, illness, access to care and broader contexts related to oral [and other] health. Critical reflection and challenge of assumptions in relation to the main themes. | ||
| DENT 688 | Bone Mechanobiology . | 3 |
Bone Mechanobiology . Terms offered: Fall 2025 Foundational theories in mechanobiology in the context of skeletal tissues (namely, bone, growth plate cartilage, and periodontal tissues). Brief introduction to structure- function relations in bone, mechanical strain, and fluid flow. Emphasis is placed on the concepts of bone adaptation to biomechanical loading patterns, mechanobiology at the tissue level and mechanotransduction at the cellular level. Research methodologies and applications to disease are discussed. | ||
| EDEM 692 | Qualitative Research Methods. | 3 |
Qualitative Research Methods. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Theoretical and practical exploration of the foundations of qualitative methods, with emphasis on underlying principles. | ||
| EPIB 635 | Clinical Trials. | 3 |
Clinical Trials. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Lectures and discussions on issues, approaches and techniques of clinical trials including assessment of feasibility, ethics, randomization, strengths and weaknesses of alternative designs, sample size requirements, protocol development, trial management and analysis, reporting and interpretation of trial results. | ||
| EPIB 641 | Substantive Epidemiology 1. | 1 |
Substantive Epidemiology 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Designed to give students an overview of a major disease or health problem. Students will develop their knowledge of a topic regarding 1) key definitions, concepts and indicators useful in study of the problem; 2) epidemiology of problem; 3) major studies of interventions designed to address the problem. Topics currently offered include cancer, injury prevention and heart disease but not all are offered in each semester. | ||
| EPIB 669 | Special Topics 2. | 2 |
Special Topics 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Study, through lectures, guided reading, practicals, assignments etc., of an elected and approved topic of epidemiologic importance. | ||
| EPIB 671 | Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention. | 3 |
Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course will explore the common epidemiologic approaches to studying etiologic relations in carcinogenesis and for assessing the efficacy of cancer prevention interventions. Emphasis will be given on both molecular and social epidemiology domains with examples of different study designs and data analysis methods and of the impact of measurement error and other biases. | ||
| EPIB 677 | Special Topics 8. | 3 |
Special Topics 8. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Study, through lectures, guided reading, practicals, assignments etc., of an elected and approved topic of epidemiologic importance. | ||
| EPIB 679 | Special Topics 10. | 3 |
Special Topics 10. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Study, through lectures, guided reading, practicals, assignments etc., of an elected and approved topic of epidemiologic importance. | ||
| EXMD 609 | Cellular Methods in Medical Research. | 3 |
Cellular Methods in Medical Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Different cellular methods used in biomedical research, including spectroscopic, microscopic and immunological techniques as well as statistics. Lectures, some demonstrations by faculty as well as short seminars given by the students. | ||
| EXMD 610 | Molecular Methods in Medical Research. | 3 |
Molecular Methods in Medical Research. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Different molecular methods used in biomedical research, including chromatography, purification and analysis of proteins and nucleic acids, various techniques in molecular biology, transgenic technology, and stem cells. Lectures, some demonstrations, and short seminars given by the students. | ||
| PHGY 518 | Artificial Cells. | 3 |
Artificial Cells. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Physiology, biotechnology, chemistry and biomedical application of artificial cells, blood substitutes, immobilized enzymes, microorganisms and cells, hemoperfusion, artificial kidneys, and drug delivery systems. PHGY 517 and PHGY 518 when taken together, will give a complete picture of this field. However, the student can select one of these. | ||
| PHGY 550 | Molecular Physiology of Bone. | 3 |
Molecular Physiology of Bone. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Students will develop a working knowledge of cartilage and bone. Discussion topics will include: molecular and cellular environment of bone; heritable and acquired skeletal defects; research models used to study metabolic bone disease. | ||
Other complementary 500- or 600-level courses at the University may be taken with the approval of the director of the program and GPS.
Please check theÌý±ð³¦²¹±ô±ð²Ô»å²¹°ùÌýfor other complementary courses.
Additional Information on Required and Complementary Courses
Required Courses (24 credits)
The conduct of research:
DENT 663 Principles of Health Research (1 credit)
Research topics and methodology, including critical thinking and evaluating evidence, scientific responsibilities, academic integrity, scientific writing, and publishing basics.
DENT 671 Advanced Research Seminars (2 credits)
Topics in current research in oral health sciences.
Key components of research:
DENT/FMED 505 Epidemiology and Data Analysis in Primary Care I (3 credits)
Basic principles of statistical inference applicable to clinical family medicine and other health research. Topics include descriptive statistics, correlation, probability, inference, regression, and program evaluation.
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DENT 625 Applied Qualitative Health Research (3 credits)
The foundations of qualitative health research through consideration of theory, initiation into fieldwork, and the combination of pertinent theoretical and practical components.
DENT 685 Theory of Dental Public Health (3 credits)
Theory and principles of public health, as applied to the concepts and determinants of oral health and disease, oral disease prevention and health promotion, dental care delivery systems and professional issues related to dental care delivery.
DENT 690 Literature Review (3 credits)
Theoretical foundation in literature reviews and knowledge synthesis, different kinds of reviews and their place in knowledge production.
Applied knowledge:
DENT 670 Dentistry Community Health Practicum (6 credits)
The practicum consists of applied research and professional development through work placement. For one semester, students in the community health stream will work in an organization or clinic pertinent to their area of interest and expertise. The course will include a written component linked to the practicum such as a final report useful to the organization or clinic in which the practicum is carried out.
DENT 668 Practicum Readings in Dentistry & Health Research (3 credits)
Literature search and documentation that contributes to the practicum, including preparation of background literature for the final practicum project.
Complementary Courses (21 credits)
The Program Directors can assist students in selecting complementary courses offered in the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences and in other units based on student interest and background.
Failure Policy
A student will be withdrawn from ºÚÁÏÉç if they fail two courses (i.e., two different courses, one failed course plus a failed repeat of the same course, or one failed course and a failed supplemental exam for that course). The student’s transcript will indicate that the student was withdrawn from ºÚÁÏÉç. A student who is withdrawn according to this policy cannot apply for readmission to the program from which they were withdrawn.
See the Failure Policy for more information.