The graduate dental education at King Saud University has a long history and heritage. The program of Masters of Science in Dentistry started back in the early 1980’s with the collaboration and efforts of the founding pioneers in the field of dental education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These efforts in establishing the graduate program at the College of Dentistry resulted in the first group of one male and three female graduate students that obtained their Master's degree in Prosthodontics in June 1993 (Dhulhajjah 1413). The Master’s degree at the college is a combined three-year program with nine tracks of different specialty programs. Since then and by the end of the academic year 2016/2017 the number of graduates of the program is 227 Master of Science holder and specialist. As education continues to be a cornerstone of King Saud University, the main goals of these different specialty programs are to train and graduate leaders and educators in different fields of dentistry. These graduates will provide health services in their community, establish and execute research support that will be beneficial to our beloved country. The combined program consists of 12 basic core courses and different structured courses in nine dental specialties. These courses are designed to provide evidence- based knowledge to the graduate students. The students are expected to utilize this knowledge in their daily professional practice and conduct a high standard research that will lead to a Master’s thesis. Most of the courses are structured based on the latest methods of education of group discussion and problem based learning. In addition, a number of practical and clinical courses are also provided to help the graduates of the program to develop the required skills to manage their patients in accordance with the highest international standards.
With the increased emphasis on both the research component and advanced clinical training, and to keep abreast with National needs and global trends, a new minimum of four-year program [Doctor of Science in Dentistry (DScD)] was launched on September 2015. The program is a professional doctorate program; the number of hours required for graduation range from 54 to 79 depending on the track die to the nature of the study which include didactic, clinical, and research components. In addition to the Master Degree program requirement, the candidates should pass 12 credit hours of the Doctor of Science in Dentistry core courses, pass the clinical courses for the Doctor of Science in Dentistry, pass the comprehensive qualifying examination, and present a thesis in the format of an introduction, two manuscripts, and a discussion.
To give you a virtual overview of the Graduate Dental Education, I would like to invite you to explore and utilize this web page as part of the College of Dentistry, King Saud University web portal.
Prof. Abdulaziz S. Al-Rasheed
Vice Dean, for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research