Mission Statement

UMKC School of Dentistry is the leader in the advancement of oral healthcare through educational programs, scientific inquiry, patient care, service, and respect for the dignity of everyone within our diverse community.

Vision Statement

UMKC School of Dentistry will be a model oral healthcare education institution that maintains the highest ethical and scientific standards of care, serving patients and the profession in an evolving healthcare environment.

Goals

The School of Dentistry is a center for dental education, research, service, and clinical care.

The goals of the school are to:

• Enhance the School’s culture and organizational structure to advance our mission.
• Provide educational programs that develop competent, compassionate, engaged life-long learners who will become oral health practitioners, researchers and educators.
• Achieve national/international recognition for excellence in oral health research.
• Promote a life-long service commitment to the profession, the community, and society.
• Provide outstanding care to our patients.

Core Values

Excellence

We will achieve excellence by:

• Developing professionals through rigorous academic education and practical training.
• Performing teaching and research that incorporates best-practice techniques, setting goals that are achievable and measurable, as well as by seeking feedback from our students, colleagues and community.
• Adhering to high standards of evidence-based dentistry and clinical judgment through collaboration and leadership.

Compassion

We will practice compassion by:

• Taking a genuine interest in the needs of those we serve in order to help them live healthy and productive lives through the services we deliver.
• Interacting with others as servant leaders.
• Promoting an environment of shared strength through humility and gratitude for our shared talents.

Integrity

We will act with integrity by:

• Demonstrating that ethical behavior is a lifelong habit of honest and sincere action that benefits the profession and society.
• Fulfilling our social contract to perform our work and serve our communities with the veracity and honor that undergird our profession.
• Committing ourselves to the highest moral and ethical standards that will hold us accountable to our own actions and those of our institution, our colleagues, our students, and our community.

Justice

We will act justly by:

• Being sensitive to the complexities inherent in the diversity of our community.
• Striving to allocate the School’s limited resources in a manner that best meets the needs of our students, patients, faculty, and staff.
• Doing what is right through our exercise of collegiality, respect, and fairness in all our interactions.