Marquette University School of Dentistry recently celebrated the third cohort of students who completed the Honors Program in Digital Dentistry, a selective, year-long program for top fourth-year students seeking advanced training in emerging technologies shaping modern dental care.
Housed within the school’s Technological Innovation Center (TIC), the program combines didactic instruction, laboratory training, and clinical application to expose students to digital dentistry across the full continuum of care. Designed for students who have completed their clinical requirements, it offers an opportunity to go beyond competency and engage deeply with advanced digital workflows.
Over the past three years, the program has served as a testing ground for innovation, allowing new technologies to be critically evaluated within Marquette’s clinical and educational ecosystem. Students in the program play an active role in this process, helping determine which technologies provide meaningful clinical value and should be integrated into the broader curriculum.
Several innovations that are now routinely taught to all pre-doctoral students stemmed from the program, including same-day dental prostheses, small-group CBCT interpretation, digital dentures, digital smile design, digital articulators, occlusal splints, and AI-assisted surgical guide fabrication. The program also emphasizes advanced 3D printing and milling workflows, enabling in-house manufacturing of dental prostheses and appliances. To date, these efforts in the TIC have resulted in the fabrication of over 4,500 units, generating cost savings of more than $500,000 while improving efficiency, access to care and the student learning experience. Industry partners Straumann, Ivoclar, Dentsply Sirona, and Planmeca contributed to the programs success through educational grants, equipment, software and materials donations.
“The Honors Program is where we challenge assumptions about new technology,” said Dr. Zaid Badr, clinical assistant professor and director of the Technological Innovation Center. “Our students don’t just learn digital dentistry, they help evaluate it, refine it and determine how it should be applied in real clinical and educational settings. That experience prepares them to lead in a rapidly evolving profession and ensures that what we bring into the curriculum is not driven by hype, but by real clinical value.”
Class of 2026 Honors Program in Digital Dentistry Graduates
Each of the five graduating students was asked to share words about their experience in the course:
Sam Behrend
“I am incredibly grateful for the lessons I learned during the Digital Dentistry Honors course at Marquette. As dentistry continues to shift toward digital workflows and away from traditional analog methods, applying for this course was an easy decision. What I didn’t anticipate, however, was how intimate the course setting would be, allowing for in-depth discussions and a truly comprehensive understanding of each topic.
This experience has prepared me well for success as a new graduate dentist and is something I will strongly emphasize as I enter the workforce. With the rising costs associated with laboratory design fees and software subscriptions, the ability to perform these procedures in-house is extremely valuable. On a more personal note, Dr. Badr has been an important mentor to me throughout my time at Marquette. His consistently positive outlook fosters an encouraging and effective learning environment. I look forward to staying in touch with him after graduation, not only as a digital dentistry resource, but also as a friend.”
Alex Benak
“Enrolling in Dr. Badr’s Digital Dentistry Honors course was one of the best decisions I made in dental school by far. The curriculum covered so much critical digital content that went far beyond our traditional coursework. There were lectures on CBCTs, All-on-X, and guided implant placement. The implant section even included hands-on placement with a guided workflow. We also had the opportunity to design a wide variety of cases and apply that knowledge directly to our own patients. For myself, I delivered multiple crowns and even designed a copy denture for a patient that wanted to maintain the same tooth arrangement which was such a great experience!
What would have taken years of CE courses to accumulate, we were able to learn in a single year from some of the best clinicians. On top of that, Dr. Badr is genuinely invested in your growth. He takes time out of his busy schedule, outside of class time, to help you think through any digital case you’re considering, always pushing you to challenge yourself. He is the reason why you are able to learn so much in a year. I can’t recommend this course enough for anyone who wants to go beyond their dental school training and learn the most they can about digital dentistry!”
Grace Flynn
“I would recommend the honors digital dentistry course to any student who wants to get the most out of their dental education. Digital technology is already the norm in so many private practice offices, so getting comfortable scanning, designing, and manufacturing digitally is so important.
Dr. Badr is an excellent instructor and a digital dentistry wizard! He provided so much hands-on guidance with my digital projects over the course of the year, and I really felt like I was learning from the best. Participating in this course gave me the confidence to utilize the TIC and pushed me to try new workflows that ultimately benefitted both me and my patients tremendously. I feel I have expanded the scope of what I feel comfortable with when I graduate and I hope other students take advantage of this awesome experience!”
Grace Norz
“I am very grateful for my experience in the Honors Digital Dentistry Course this year. Dr. Badr, Dr. [Manal] Hamdan, and Dr. [Arndt] Guentsch created a welcoming and engaging environment as we learned about digital dentistry workflows, CBCT scan interpretation, and digital implant planning.
The knowledge and experience I gained from this course gave me the confidence to incorporate digital dentistry into the care of several of my patients. I have worked with digital dentures, same-day crowns, digital wax-ups, Trios and Primescan intraoral scanners, and more. Dr. Badr was wonderful to work with on these cases and was incredibly helpful at each stage of the digital design and manufacturing process. I highly recommend this course and am very grateful for the experience!”
Nathaniel Shin
“Participating in the honors digital dentistry course this year has been a transformative experience, essentially bridging the gap between traditional foundational techniques and the realities of a modern, technology-driven practice. One of the most significant benefits of this curriculum was the comprehensive exposure to implantology and prosthodontics within digital dentistry. Becoming proficient in reading CBCT scans and utilizing that data for virtual implant planning provided a crucial three-dimensional understanding of patient anatomy which I was able to translate into digital plans and tactile experience by placing implants on physical models. Furthermore, learning to seamlessly integrate these skills into the creation of digital dentures has shown me how to streamline complex restorative workflows, ultimately allowing for more predictable and efficient full-arch rehabilitations.
Beyond surgical applications, the course completely reshaped my approach to single-tooth and aesthetic restorative dentistry. I gained hands-on experience with biomimetic dentistry, specifically designing and milling inlays and onlays. By leveraging digital impressions and CAD/CAM technology, I can now confidently execute highly precise, tooth conserving restorations that mimic the natural biomechanics of the tooth. This shift away from traditional, more aggressive retentive preparations toward additive, adhesive dentistry is an approach I am excited to integrate into my private practice.
Finally, mastering the digital workflow for complex aesthetic cases has given me a powerful tool for both clinical execution and patient communication. Learning to perform digital wax-ups for case planning has removed the guesswork from smile design. Specifically, using these digital designs to fabricate matrices for injection molding veneers allows for a highly controlled, minimally invasive approach to achieving exceptional aesthetic outcomes. Ultimately, this honors course with Dr. Badr didn’t just teach me how to use new software; it equipped me with a comprehensive digital restorative philosophy that will allow me to deliver a higher standard of precision, efficiency, and aesthetic excellence to my future patients.”
“To the newest graduates of the Honors Program — our legends of digital dentistry — I extend my heartfelt congratulations to each one of you,” added Badr. “It has been a true honor to witness your growth and pursuit of excellence over this past year. You have not only met expectations — you have elevated them. As you step into new beginnings, equipped with advanced skills and a pioneering spirit, may you carry forward the passion, curiosity, and commitment to lifelong learning that defined your time in this program. I am incredibly proud of you and look forward to all that you will accomplish.”
