Part of the UT Health Science Center.

Fall Dental Selective Options


SELC 7028 - Completion of individually designed research

By Dr. Brij Singh if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact DJ Smith

In this elective course, the student with guidance of the mentor will complete individually designed research following the approved protocol. The student must continue to be in good academic standing to apply for and to complete this elective course. Enrollment in this elective can be extended from semester to semester when the mentor reports satisfactory progress.  

Student must present at the following meetings to fulfill the requirements of the elective:
1. Dental Science Symposium
2. AADR/IADR/CADR (NOTE: If you attend AADR/IADR/CADR, you will need to pay for your student membership, which is not reimbursed by the institution)
3. Any other Research meetings

Withdrawal from this elective course will result in entry on the transcript as WP or WF as determined by the mentor. Credit for the course is contingent on verification by the mentor that the research has been completed satisfactorily up to abstract submission and acceptance of presentation at a scientific meeting.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS3
Number of spots: 20
Meets clinical requirement: Yes
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 20 1247

SELC 7029 - Manuscript preparation of individually designed research

By Dr. Brij Singh if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact DJ Smith

In this elective course, the student with the guidance of their mentor will help prepare an abstract and Extended Abstract not to exceed six pages suitable for incorporation into a peer-reviewed publication. The student must also present their research at a national/international scientific meeting and the Annual Dental School Science Symposium. A copy of a published abstract, the Extended Abstract and paperwork showing completion of all required coursework must be submitted to the Dental School Research Committee by the end of March of their senior year for review. The student must be in good academic standing to participate in this elective course. The mentor will award a grade for the elective course. Withdrawal from the elective course will result in entry on the manuscript as WP or WF as determined by the mentor.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS4
Number of spots: 20
Meets clinical requirement: Yes
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 20 1248

SELC 7094 - Teaching fundamental

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

During SELC 7094, dental students and dental hygiene students interview faculty members to assess the advantages and issues of an academic career, analyze teaching strategies, assess the learning environment in their educational program and gain hands-on experience in course planning. During the course, student teams design a new course for their academic program and present it to classmates. The course is the first of three selective courses in the Teaching Honors Program. Dental students and dental hygiene students who complete all three courses (SELC 7094, SELC 7095 and SELC 7096) are recognized with "Distinction in Dental Education". Withdrawal with notification is permitted at any time without recording on the transcript. Enrollment is limited to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year dental students, Dental Hygiene B.S. Completion students and Dental Hygiene Masters degree students.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 20, 20, 20, 20
Meets clinical requirement: No
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 12/01/2023 80 1124

SELC 7096 - Special educational project

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

The goal of SELC 7096 is to provide dental students with an opportunity to conduct projects related to dental or dental hygiene education and complete an assessment of the project. Projects are developed in collaboration wit the THP director and faculty members. See the THP director before initiating a project.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS2, DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 10, 30, 30
Meets clinical requirement: No
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 70 1229

SELC 7109 - Graduate orthodontic clinic rotation

By Dr. Thomas Sympson if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Mabel Hernandez

The objective of this 16-hour selective is to provide interested undergraduate students with the opportunity to assist orthodontic graduate students performing comprehensive orthodontic treatment. Two students are pre-selected for the Thursday afternoon clinic; there will be 2 students in the Spring and 2 students in the Fall. 2 hours per week on Thursdays for a total of 16 hours - primarily for DS III students restricted to the Fall and Spring semesters.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 2, 2
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 12/15/2023 2 1128
01/02/2024 - 05/10/2024 2 1129

SELC 7117 - Third year clinical teaching

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

This selective is limited to Teaching Honors Program (THP) students pursuing the Distinction in Dental Education. The course goal is provide THP students with opportunities to function as a teacher in preclinical labs or in the clinic by planning and conducting workshops for 1st and 2nd year students followed by self-assessment and feedback from the students who attended the workshop.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 30, 40
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 70 1230

SELC 7118 - Fourth year teaching rotation

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

This selective is limited to THP students pursuing the Distinction in Dental Education. The course goal is to provide dental students with opportunities to function as a preclinical lab instructor in the "Dental Hand Skills Development Module" for 1st year students, and to function as a "Faculty for a Day" in the GPGs. In the later rotation, THP seniors supervise and instruct 3rd year students for a full clinic session.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS4
Number of spots: 50
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 50 1232

SELC 7119 - Advanced studies on human disease processes

By Dr. R. Neal Pinckard / Dr. Anne C. Jones if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Dr. Pinckard

SELC 7119 is a third-year, two-semester active learning, 3-credit hour selective course to provide the knowledge and critical thinking skills to better foster understanding the diagnosis, pathogenesis, treatment, and prognosis of clinically relevant human systemic and oral and maxillofacial disease processes. The principal objective of SELC 7119 is to nurture students to become more competent and caring health-care professionals and to clearly understand how, and especially why, people get sick. Each student is assigned up to three unknown clinical cases per semester. Each case includes clinical features, medical history, physical examination, and pertinent laboratory and radiographic findings. Based on the preceding, a student must develop, and justify, a differential diagnosis for their case. Subsequently, further research and additional follow-up clinical and laboratory findings are obtained to arrive at a final diagnosis. The student must then prepare and moderate an interactive, in-depth, PowerPoint presentation with their fellow classmates who are unaware of the unknown case. Thus, SELC 7119 creates a unique and active student led learning environment (a Socratic circle) whereby the entire class must identify, discuss, and elucidate the etiology, pathogenesis, and treatment of each unknown disease process. Subsequently, a final PowerPoint of the case is posted for restricted access on CANVAS. The Course Directors (Dr. Jones, jones@uthscsa.edu and Dr. Pinckard, pinckard@uthscsa.edu) and two Oral Medicine clinicians (Dr Ojeda, ojedadiaz@uthscsa.edu, and Dr. Tavares, tavarvest@uthscsa.edu) do not lecture but will provide pertinent “after the fact” comments during each student presentation. We believe SELC 7119 will provide students with sufficient training and mentorship for their successful applications for post-doctoral Advanced Dental Education Programs. Of note, many of these residency programs either require or accept scores on the ADA Advanced Dental Admission Test or, in the case of OMS residencies, mandate scores on the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Comprehensive Basic Science Examination (CBSE). Finally, we hope that the clinical career paths for our students may lead them to become engaged in academic dentistry.

SELC 7119 is a pass/fail course with no formal examinations. The course will be given when at least 6, and up to a maximum of 12, DS3 students are enrolled. Enrollment will be based not only on a student’s academic record but by the motivation and enthusiasm they express during interviews with the Course Directors. The first portion of the course (systemic disease processes) will begin in early August and continue through mid-December; the second portion of the course (oral and maxillofacial disease processes) will begin in early January and continue through early May. The specific dates for each SELC 7119 session will be determined by student consensus that suits their weekly class schedules. Normally, the SELC 7119 sessions are given once each week on either a Tuesday and/or Wednesday morning from 7:00 - 7:50 a.m. Interested DS2 students should express their interest and reasons for enrolling in SELC 7119 before the end of March of their second year by contacting the Course Directors.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS3
Number of spots: 12
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
07/28/2023 - 04/30/2024 12 1234

SELC 7122 - Academic dental career mentorship

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

First year students will meet with faculty members to learn about academic careers: why did the faculty member choose to work in a dental school, what are the benefits of an academic career and what are the limitations of an academic career. Additionally, students learn about the roles and responsibilities of dental school faculty members in teaching, research , administration and service. Participating students prepare summaries of what they have learned about academic careers, submit these to the course director for review and then participated in a wrap-up seminar where teams of students share and discuss their experience and identify "take-home messages", insights and surprises about academic careers in dentistry. Dental students can take this course as a stand-alone selective without committing to the THP.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 40, 40, 40, 20
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 140 1236

SELC 7124 - Preclinical and clinical teaching practicum

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

This selective is for 3rd and 4th year students pursuing the Distinction in Dental Education (School of Dentistry Teaching Honors Program; THP) who plan and conduct teaching for student peers in preclinical and clinical topics and skills. The course goals are to enhance THP students' capacity to: (1) design and implement courses and other raining events to help their student colleagues acquire technical and procedural skills.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 20, 20, 20, 10
Meets clinical requirement: No
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 70 1238

SELC 7130 - Introduction to graduate prosthodontics

By Dr. Kamolphob Phasuk if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact

The objective of this selective is to introduce rising DS3 and/or DS4 students to the specialty of Prosthodontics. Through the application of advanced concepts and techniques, students will work with residents and faculty in all phases of clinical treatment and laboratory procedures for a complete denture patient treatment. Following completion of this selective, students will have improved their understanding of impression making, smile design, centric relation, occlusal vertical dimension, and relevant laboratory steps necessary for the treatment of edentulism. The selective will occur over a 2 week period and will be scheduled to accommodate patient availability. Due to the interactive nature of clinical treatment, enrollment will be limited to two dental students. Withdrawal, with notice to the course director, will be permitted without recording of the withdrawal on the student's transcript.

Semester: Summer
Who can sign up: DS3
Number of spots: 1
Meets clinical requirement: Yes
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 12/15/2023 1 3757

SELC 8035 - Short-term mission trips SACMDA - Fall & Spring

By Dr. Moshtagh Farokhi if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Nora Olivo

Dental students at all levels of education and experience participate in a primary care/preventive dentistry elective training program in which primary dental care is provided in a non-conventional setting, using portable dental equipment. Students participate in accordance with their level of training and ability, by providing needed dental care to patients of all ages from lower socio-economic background in San Antonio, and border areas of South Texas and other select dentist shortage areas. This helps our students become familiar with the oral health needs of various segments of the special needs population. Dental care is provided under the direct supervision of Dental School faculty, including adjunct faculty from the private sector. The mission trips are coordinated and organized by the San Antonio Christian Medical-Dental Association. The healthcare delivery environment also involves medical teams. Physicians, medical students, nurses, and pharmacy students, also provide care, offering interdisciplinary / inter-professional training opportunities.

Additional information: There are 3 Fall events and 3 in the Spring. Students register with the Christian Medical and Dental Association( CMDA) on a “first come first served” basis. The CMDA director determines how many registrants can participate based on volunteers needed and provides a list to UT Health of the students that attend for credit.
Website: www.cmda.org/sanantonio 
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/cmdasatx 

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS1, DS2, DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 10, 10, 10, 10
Meets clinical requirement: No
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 40 1246

SELC 8060 - Advanced orthodontic graduate clinic rotation

By Dr. Thomas Sympson if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Mabel Hernandez

This course is designed for the student who is seriously considering specializing in orthodontics upon graduation from Dental School. The student will be trained in all facets of clinical orthodontics and will be expected to perform a variety of orthodontic procedures on patients under the supervision of clinical faculty and residents on a regular basis. Three students can participate in each of the five graduate clinic sessions. Specific sessions will be determined by orthodontic residency program. Students must complete a minimum of 40 clinical hours per semester for credit.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 3, 3
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 12/15/2023 6 1137

SELC 8131 - RIDE: Research in dental education

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

This selective is for students pursuing the Distinction in Dental Education who desire to acquire skills in educational research beyond the core expectations of the THP. The course goal is to enhance the capacity of participants to design research studies that explore educational issues, to obtain funding to support research and to disseminate findings via publication. RIDE has 3 components: designing educational research, grant writing, and writing for publication. Students work in teams to plan and implement an educational research project. During seminars on grant writing, teams develop and present a grant application project and receive a critique. During seminars writing for publication, participants complete writing exercises, critique a manuscript and write an abstract, which is presented to the class for peer feedback.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS4
Number of spots: 4
Meets clinical requirement: No
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 4 1241

SELC 8132 - Academic dental careers fellowship program

By Dr. Dana English if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Lori Morgan

The ADCFP is a 12 month fellowship to prepare students to enter academic dentistry. Students complete ADCFP in collaboration with a faculty mentor. ADCFP students and mentors complete workshops on teaching strategies, curriculum innovation and education issues. Students do supervised classroom, lab and clinical teaching and interview faculty with different job foci to learn roles, functions and career development issues. Students conduct an educational research project and meet regularly with their faculty mentors to discuss their progress, culminating in poster presentations at educational conferences at UTHSCSA, UT System and national dental education meetings.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS4
Number of spots: 4
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: No

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 4 1243

SELC 8160 - Molar endodontics

By Dr. Asma Khan if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Kathryn Garcia

The molar endodontics elective allows students to initiate an appreciation for the knowledge and skills needed for successful endodontic treatment of uncomplicated molar teeth.  The course is partially self-directed involving self-study of textbook materials in Vital Source Bookshelf and other reading and video assignments in Canvas. Pre-clinical projects on extracted molar teeth are required prior to clinical participation.  Students who successfully complete the course, including satisfactory completion of two patient molar treatments under Endodontic faculty supervision, will be allowed to treat selected pre-approved molar cases in the General Practice Clinic. Instructor approval is required. Available after completion of Endo 7043.  Withdrawal is permitted at any time without recording on the transcript. Prerequisites: ENDO 6041, 6142 and 7043.

Semester: Fall and Spring
Who can sign up: DS4
Number of spots: 24
Meets clinical requirement:
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024 24 1245

SELC 8528 - Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

By Dr. Carlos Landaeta if you have any questions specific to this selective, please contact Laura Ortiz

This is a clinical experience for rising DS4. It will combine features of the Oral Surgery and UCC rotations during the academic year. Patients who are not patients of record or established patients with acute needs will be examined and treated or referred to other Departments as necessary. Observation of graduate level oral surgery in clinic or hospital may be included. This will be a two-week time commitment in Pre-doctoral Oral Surgery Clinic. Students are required to attend all clinic sessions during the selected two-week period. The Urgent Care and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery course is designed to provide additional clinical experiences in the triage of acute complaints and assessment of medical disorders and their impact on dental and oral surgery management. Patients are expected to present with a range of dental and surgical diagnoses and indicated procedures. Management of patients with multiple systemic diseases and more difficult surgeries will be encountered. During the rotation, students will be encouraged to attend hospital rounds and scheduled resident and student seminars which occur outside of clinic surgical hours. DS4 students may have opportunities to utilize surgical handpieces for tooth sectioning or bone recontouring, as needed per patients’ needs and individual skill levels. Exact weekly schedules will be published before rotations begin.

Semester: Summer
Who can sign up: DS3, DS4
Number of spots: 40, 40
Meets clinical requirement: Yes
This selective requires permission to register: Yes, if you are interested please contact

Date options Enrollment capacity Class number
08/01/2023 - 12/15/2023 40 3760
01/02/2024 - 04/30/2024 40 3761