Hands-on learning. Real-world environment

We're a patient- and student-centered dental school balanced between the basic, clinical and behavioral science facets of dental care.

Every step you take in our four-year program will be guided by faculty and practicing professionals who uphold Marquette's vision: to train highly skilled oral health care practitioners to bring top-quality dental care to urban and rural communities across the country and around the world.

Our beautiful 120,000-square-foot dental school and clinic — Wisconsin's only — offers the most advanced clinical resources and instructional technology available, supporting a dramatically different, one-of-a kind curriculum developed by our faculty to better prepare students for dental practice and patient care.

The focus is placed on your education

What distinguishes our dental program? For starters, you'll learn and practice in a patient-centered environment that resembles the real world of dentistry, one that will help you understand the link between oral and physical health.  You'll be immersed in a model of education that mimics dental practice. By the end of your second year of school, you will have covered the realm of dentistry. That translates into an incredibly unique, dynamic educational experience:

• You'll attend fewer traditional lectures because more of your time will be spent working with patients.
• You'll participate in university outreach programs at urban, rural and special-patient clinics, getting firsthand experience in public health. You'll begin refining hand skills your first year.
• You'll also be immersed in a rigorous learning model that combines training in advanced dental practices with access to faculty experts committed to advancing dental knowledge through their own innovative research.

We treat your education as a practice

Because our curriculum is centered in the Catholic, Jesuit belief that the classroom is not the real world, you'll bring your skills to life as you work with actual patients. One-fourth of your academic career will be dedicated to treating patients at urban and rural clinical sites affiliated with Marquette University.

Beginning your freshman year, you'll do rounds with faculty once a week and participate in small-group learning. Juniors and seniors also do once-a-semester formal presentations. We've also integrated practice management into our curriculum. Professional dentists will teach you the business side of dentistry and how to be a good businessperson.