Dental anatomy
The form, contour, and function of natural teeth, and why that form matters when a tooth is restored or replaced.
Education in Prosthodontics
Connecting scientific principles with clinical judgment and patient-centered restorative care.
The Department of Prosthodontics supports learning across multiple stages of dental education. Students and residents develop their knowledge through classroom instruction, laboratory experiences, clinical learning, case analysis, faculty mentorship, digital resources, and reflective practice.
Our goal is to help learners connect scientific principles with sound clinical judgment and patient-centered restorative care.
Predoctoral Education
Predoctoral learners encounter prosthodontic content across the curriculum. The areas below describe the kinds of knowledge and skills that prosthodontic teaching supports.
Occlusion
How teeth meet and function together, and how occlusal relationships influence restorative planning and long-term stability.
Treatment planning
Gathering diagnostic information, sequencing care, weighing options, and documenting decisions with the patient.
Fixed prosthodontics
Principles behind crowns, bridges, and other restorations that are fixed in place, including preparation design and materials.
Removable prosthodontics
Complete and partial dentures, including support, retention, stability, tissue health, and patient adaptation.
Implant dentistry
Restorative principles for implant-supported prostheses, and collaboration with surgical colleagues in planning.
Digital workflows
Scanning, design, and manufacturing steps, and how digital data moves between the clinic and the laboratory.
Laboratory procedures
Hands-on laboratory experience that builds technical skill and an understanding of what the laboratory needs from the clinician.
Clinical patient care
Supervised care in the predoctoral clinic, where classroom and laboratory learning are applied with real patients.
Alongside these areas, the department's teaching also introduces evidence-based dentistry, dental biomaterials, and clinical occlusion, and contributes to integrated courses including the Clinical Practice of Dentistry Fundamentals and Masticatory System Disorders.
Advanced Education and Residency
The department runs an Advanced Education Program in Prosthodontics. The details below are reproduced from the official NSU College of Dental Medicine prosthodontics program page.
Program information
- Program
- Advanced Education Program in Prosthodontics
- Program length
- 36 months
- Intake
- Five residents accepted each year
- Program director
- Dr. Nurit Bittner Fogel
- Focus
- A clinically based program covering implant placement and restoration, sleep medicine, complex esthetic and full-mouth rehabilitation, maxillofacial prosthodontics, and removable prosthodontic treatment
How to apply
- Official program page
- NSU prosthodontics postdoctoral program (opens in a new tab)
- Department chair
- Dr. Alexander A. Bendayan, Professor and Chair
alexander.bendayan@nova.edu
(954) 262-7379 - Application deadlines
- To be determined each cycle
Predoctoral honors program
The predoctoral program offers an honors track in which four senior dental students treat more complex prosthodontic patients under the direct supervision of postdoctoral faculty, working alongside the postgraduate residents in their educational and clinical activities.
Digital equipment in the department
The department integrates digital workflows using intraoral scanners, three-axis and five-axis milling units, three-dimensional printers, and computer-aided design software, working with both in-house and outside dental laboratories through university-compliant portals.
Digital Dentistry
Digital tools are transforming how dental professionals collect information, communicate, design restorations, and evaluate treatment. Educational content may introduce learners to intraoral scanning, digital impressions, computer-aided design and manufacturing, virtual treatment planning, digital smile design, guided implant workflows, three-dimensional printing, and digital communication with dental laboratories.
Technology does not replace clinical judgment. Its value depends on appropriate case selection, accurate data, sound biological principles, technical knowledge, and careful evaluation of patient outcomes.
Test your understanding of these concepts in the digital dentistry knowledge check.
Continuing Education
Continuing-education opportunities will be posted as they become available. Please visit the official NSU College of Dental Medicine website for current course information.