Experiencing Dentistry at the Global Level

For Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM) students, like Noelle Shroyer ’27, dentistry extends far beyond New Jersey. This spring, she crossed continents to spend a week immersed in Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

"This was a great opportunity to meet people who were around our age from a different country doing the same thing as us,” Shroyer said.

Through international exchange programs with partner universities, RSDM students gain first-hand exposure to how oral health care is taught and practiced worldwide—and bring those insights back to their training at Rutgers. The school also hosts immersive externships with institutions in Albania, Chile, Spain, India, Ireland, Peru, and South Korea, welcoming international students to experience dentistry in the United States. In addition, the school's Internationally Educated DMD Program enables foreign-trained dentists to pursue dental careers in America.

One highlight for Shroyer in her Barcelona visit was a dental simulator that allows students to practice procedures—such as crown preparation and administering anesthesia—before treating patients. Shroyer also noted key differences in patient care delivery. While Spanish students often work in pairs or groups, RSDM students manage their own patients under close faculty supervision. This contrast reinforced Shroyer's confidence in her training and the level of responsibility expected at Rutgers. "We check in with our faculty, but I feel they expect us to have a level of independence,” she said, “and I think it'll serve us well in terms of leaving here," she said.

For RSDM student Fiona Blake ’26, participating in a week-long program in Ireland expanded her understanding of dentistry's global scope. The interdisciplinary clinical structure in Ireland reinforced the importance of treating patients holistically. The visit also showed her the potential for international collaboration in organized dentistry, which has been a focal point in her student involvement. "It is important to have good communication across the different practices in dentistry in all the different countries," she said.

Sofia Navarro '28 completed an RSDM externship while studying dentistry in Spain before joining the Internationally Educated DMD Program. "[Faculty] love what they're doing, and they love spending the time to explain it to you until you understand it." Navarro, who was born in the US and raised in Venezuela, Canada, and Spain, viewed the externship as part professional opportunity, part personal return. "I wanted to come back to my roots," she said. "I really love the university here. I like that you can come 24 hours a day to practice in the pre-clinic, the number of patients, all the faculty, and the culture."

That sense of faculty commitment resonated with Julian Bradley '28, a dentist trained in Ireland, who was also first introduced to RSDM through an externship. This experience ultimately led him to enroll in the Internationally Educated DMD Program. The externship "was just such a great opportunity to see a wide scope of the school; you could go into any clinic and get a good feel for how it operates," he said. What stood out just as strongly was the dedication to dentistry. "People are passionate, and you can definitely feel it radiating off when faculty are giving lectures, or even when the students are tutoring," he said. "That's a great characteristic of the school."