Yeshiva University College of Dental Medicine (DDS) Dentistry Interview — Format, Questions & Prep Tips

Yeshiva University College of Dental Medicine is brand new. Why would you choose an inaugural dental school over an established program?

Opportunity to shape institutional culture, Einstein/Montefiore access, interprofessional education, trust in the Yeshiva University/Einstein research enterprise. Be honest about what appeals and what concerns you.

Yeshiva University's institutional values include tikkun olam — repairing the world through service and responsibility. How do those values connect to your vision of dental practice?

Service to community through clinical care, reducing oral health disparities, professional responsibility as a form of social repair. Engage thoughtfully with the concept — not as religious knowledge, but as a professional ethic.

The school's affiliation with Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center is a distinctive feature. How would you leverage that medically-integrated environment in your dental training?

Interprofessional education, complex medically compromised patient management, hospital dental rotations, oral oncology, oral medicine. Be specific about what the medical-dental interface offers.

As a dentist in a medically integrated academic health system, how do you see your role in the management of patients with complex chronic diseases?

Oral-systemic disease management, coordinating with physicians, participating in care teams, contributing to treatment planning for medically complex patients. The Einstein/Montefiore context makes this a practical reality, not just a theoretical concept.

You are starting dental school at a brand new institution. The curriculum is still developing and some systems are not yet established. How do you thrive in that environment?

Adaptability, self-directed learning, constructive feedback culture, contributing to building the program. Show intellectual maturity about choosing a new school with its inherent uncertainties.

New York City has one of the most diverse populations in the world, including large Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and the Bronx. How do you approach culturally and religiously sensitive patient care?

Scheduling around Shabbat and Jewish holidays, sensitivity to tzniut (modesty norms), diverse patient expectations. Cultural competence is clinically practical in New York City — not abstract.

What does it mean to practice with intellectual honesty in clinical dentistry?

Acknowledging uncertainty, staying current with evidence, communicating limitations to patients, asking for help when needed. Yeshiva University's academic tradition values intellectual humility and rigor.

A patient from a religious community declines treatment during a specific religious period and the delay carries a clinical risk. How do you handle this?

Respect religious autonomy, clearly explain clinical risks, document thoroughly, provide emergency contact for urgent situations, schedule the earliest appropriate time after the religious period. Never coerce.

Why dentistry rather than medicine, given that this school's institutional home is primarily a medical enterprise?

The oral-systemic integration actually makes dentistry more medically relevant here than at most dental schools. Address the uniqueness of the dentist-patient relationship, preventive focus, and the specific clinical scope of dentistry.

How do you plan to stay connected to the dental profession's evidence base throughout your career, starting in dental school?

Journals, continuing education, professional associations (ADA, state dental societies), evidence-based clinical guidelines. Show professional identity formation beyond the graduation requirement.

The Bronx, where Montefiore is based, has some of the highest rates of childhood caries and diabetes in New York State. As a YU dental student, how would you read those statistics and let them shape your training priorities?

Connect the disease burden to oral-systemic care, school-based prevention, and the Einstein/Montefiore integrated model. Move from epidemiology to a concrete training or service priority rather than reciting figures.

Your simulated patient is an Orthodox Jewish woman who appears uncomfortable being treated by a male student and asks whether a female clinician is available. How do you respond?

Respond with respect, not defensiveness — accommodate the request where possible, involve faculty to arrange a female clinician or chaperone, and avoid making the patient justify the preference. Tzniut sensitivity is practical cultural competence in New York City.

In an academic health system like Einstein/Montefiore, how would you, as a dentist, contribute to a multidisciplinary team caring for a patient about to undergo head-and-neck cancer radiotherapy?

Pre-radiation dental clearance, managing osteoradionecrosis risk, fluoride and caries prevention, and ongoing coordination with oncology. This is where the medical-dental integration is most concrete — show you grasp the dentist's specific role.

Describe a time you joined a group or system that was disorganised or still forming, and helped bring structure or improvement.

An inaugural class will face evolving systems. Show initiative, constructive feedback, and resilience — concrete contribution to building something, not just tolerance of chaos.

As an inaugural-class student, you find a gap in the school's clinical or safety protocols. Walk me through how you would raise and help resolve it.

Patient safety first; escalate constructively through faculty and student governance, propose a solution rather than just flagging a problem, and follow up. New programs need students who improve systems, not who quietly work around them.