The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics
Since 1882, the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics has been a leader in patient care, dental education and oral science research. As the only dental school in Iowa, we are a source of great strength and pride for our state.
As an essential part of the University of Iowa’s healthcare campus, our dental clinics welcome more than 172,000 patient visits every year, offering care that reaches people across the entire state. We’re proud to support 26 community outreach programs that focus on children, seniors and patients with special needs—including our award‑winning Geriatrics Mobile Dental Unit, which brings high‑quality care directly to older adults. Together, our clinics and programs form a trusted resource for Iowans, helping individuals and communities stay healthy and meet their dental care needs with compassion and expertise.
Our college continues to invest in people and infrastructure that strengthen our research mission, from adding grant support specialists to expanding biostatistics and science‑writing resources. These efforts, paired with strong recruitment of new investigators, have helped secure nearly $9 million in external funding, placing us #13 nationally in NIDCR support.
We also nurture new ideas through our Seed Grant Program, which helps early‑career researchers launch innovative projects and build competitive proposals. In addition, our Student Research Program engages about 40% of pre‑doctoral students, giving future dentists hands‑on experience in discovery and innovation.
Dental students admitted to our highly competitive and comprehensive DDS program receive education in new knowledge, technical excellence, ethics, and practice management with a strong emphasis on critical thinking and problem-based learning. This educational curriculum has been instrumental in educating excellent dentists and specialists across Iowa and the world, as 78% of Iowa dentists are graduates of the college.
Our unique third-year curriculum consists of clerkships that offer experiences in a wide range of dental specialties, and after four years, dental students at Iowa have more clinical experience than do dental students at any other dental school in the country.
The college has innovative advanced training in specialties such as Operative dentistry and Geriatric and special needs dentistry.
In addition, the college has as many recognized ADA dental specialties as any dental school in the country, each of which is incorporated into our dental curriculum and in advanced training programs. These specialties include: