Dear James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine and friends,
2025 was a transformative year for the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine. We took on new ways of doing things to support our alumni, employees, partners, residents, and students in caring for our patients and each other. Thank you for being part of our community and trusting us to help reshape the future of dental education, research and patient care in South Carolina.
Each year, I look forward to sharing my personal highlights list with you. Here are some of our biggest moments from 2025!
In-state students at the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine will benefit from a significant reduction in tuition and fees,
thanks to tuition reduction funding approved by the South Carolina State Legislature. This investment — totaling $4.87 million a year — reduced in-state tuition and fees starting in the 2025 fall semester. We are deeply grateful to our legislators for their commitment to making dental education more affordable and accessible. This is a meaningful investment in the future of oral health care in South Carolina.
A Commission on Dental Accreditation site visit in September resulted in zero recommendations
for our D.M.D. degree program and AEGD, endodontics, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, and periodontics residency programs, ensuring continued accreditation for the next seven years. No recommendations is the best possible outcome from a site visit.
We formed a Dean’s Advisory Council,
formerly known as the Dean’s Alumni Advisory Committee. This valued group will provide the college’s leadership with informed feedback on key initiatives, academic programming, and alumni-student engagement. Their insights from the broader dental community will influence the college’s long-term vision and strategy.
We have made significant progress towards bringing two new models of care to rural communities.
A network of general dentistry residency programs, as well as the integration of dental hygiene services at MUSC Health primary care offices, are under development in multiple rural communities. The residency program will first bring comprehensive dental care and training opportunities to the Pee Dee region in 2026.
Over 300 restorations for our patients were created in the first year of the Innovation Lab,
where students participate in the entire digital workflow.
An MUSC dental hygienist now serves young children in Lee County,
where the rate of untreated tooth decay is double the state average. Thanks to the leadership of Amy Martin, DrPH, MSPH, senior associate dean, and a partnership with the South Carolina Department of Public Health, this program will increase preventive care and connect families to dental services.
Over 80 children and 40 veterans without a dental home were seen at free of charge at our Give Kids a Smile Day and Give Veterans a Smile Day.
Our providers and students saw nearly twice as many children as prior years. The veterans event was our first and is sure to become tradition.
We rolled out a new Strategic Plan.
Led by a revamped Strategic Plan Committee, the plan was created with multiple workgroup meetings that engaged faculty, staff, students, residents, alumni, community leaders, and many other key stakeholders. See our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan.
We recruited a new chair of the Department of Advanced Specialty Sciences and associate dean of research,
Sumit Yadav, BDS, MDS, MBA, Ph.D. He will join us in the new year from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry.
I look forward to 2026 and all the smiles it will bring.
Sarandeep S. Huja
Dean, James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine Professor, College of Dental Medicine
Sarandeep S. Huja, D.D.S., Ph.D., has served as professor of the Department of Orthodontics and dean of the James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) since October 2017.
Dr. Huja initially received his dental (1987) and orthodontic (1992) training from the Government Dental College and Hospital, Bombay. From 1993 to 2001, he was associated with three U.S. institutions, receiving his Master of Science (1995) from Marquette University, his Doctor of Philosophy in Dental Science (1999) and Orthodontic Certificate (1999) from Indiana University, and his Doctor of Dental Surgery (2001) from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry. His Ph.D. was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. David Burr from the Department of Anatomy and Dr. W. Eugene Roberts in Orthodontics from Indiana University. From 2001 to 2011, he served as faculty at the Ohio State University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Katherine Vig, a world-renowned orthodontist and educator. In 2011, he joined the University of Kentucky as chief of the Division of Orthodontics. In 2016, he was appointed the program director of Orthodontics and associate dean for Faculty and Student Development and Graduate Studies at the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Huja has served as advisor for both the Ph.D. and Master's graduate students and taught Orthodontics and Bone Biology to dental and graduate students. His research seeks to understand bone remodeling, osteoclast biology, and adaptation to physical forces, including tooth movement. His students have been recognized with national awards for projects related to tooth movement and implant adaptation biology. He also served as the president of the Craniofacial Biology Group of the International Association of Dental Research.
At MUSC, Dr. Huja has worked on the expansion of off-peninsula oral and dental clinics at Ryan White and in West Ashley and Summerville. He also recently moved the college to an integrated electronic health record system, Epic Wisdom, and is focusing the college's attention on rural expansion throughout the state and integration into MUSC Health facilities.
Dr. Huja is a member of the Midwest component of the E.H. Angle Society and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. He also maintains an intramural faculty practice.
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