Here is Pacifc's claim in their own words:
Pacific Profile
University of the Pacific School of Dentistry, located in the Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, has served the Bay Area community for 107 years. The school was founded in 1896 as the College of Physicians and Surgeons with programs in dentistry, medicine and pharmacy. In 1918, the college focused its education program solely on dentistry but retained its name as the College of Physicians and Surgeons until 1962 when the dental college amalgamated with University of the Pacific. Pacific is a private university with its main campus located in Stockton, California and its law school in Sacramento, California.
The School of Dentistrys distinct mission is to educate competent beginning dentists in a humanistic environment. The entire school community, from students to administrators, embraces the humanistic philosophy that respects the dignity of each individual and fosters limitless potential for growth.
Pacific is the only dental school in the United States offering an accelerated, year-round predoctoral program where students are able to complete four academic years of instruction in three calendar years. This allows students the opportunity to enter private practice or specialty programs one year earlier than other dental schools. The school is also the originator of such curricular innovations as comprehensive patient care and competency-based education. Currently, the School of Dentistry has almost 500 students enrolled in six educational programs, including: predoctoral program leading to a DDS degree; two-year International Dental Studies program for foreign-trained dentists; two-year Graduate Orthodontic program; one-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry program; four-year residency program in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Highland General Hospital, Alameda County Medical Center; and a three-year hygiene program leading to a bachelors degree in dental hygiene.
In June 2000, Pacific underwent an extensive review process by the Commission on Dental Accreditation. The commission granted Pacific full approval of its DDS, AEGD and Graduate Orthodontic programs with 18 superlative commendations and no recommendations for improvements. "There have been only a few other dental schools with no recommendations, but none with so many commendations in key areas such as mission, competencies, evaluation, curriculum, planning and faculty development," said Dr. Arthur A. Dugoni, dean.
And, there's more posturing going on if you want to read it. I have no idea how they squeeze 4 academic years into 3 calendar years, but they claim to do it, and the Commission on Dental Accreditation doesn't seem to think Pacific is doing anything wrong.
As far as exposure to specialties, I'll say this. I was interviewing at VCU and Micihgan, schools with a most of, if not all of, the specialties. I talked to a couple of seniors and asked them if they wanted to specialize. Some of them said yes. Specifically, one of the girls wanted to do Ortho. I asked her how much Ortho she had done during school, and she said no more than the minimum requirements because all of the complicated or advanced cases were referred to the residents. I asked her how she knew she wanted to do ortho, and she said, "I did an externship, and I think it'll be fun."
Whether or not I'll get more exposure to a specifc specialty seems irrelevant when I'm compared to the majority of applicants. It appears that the way dental curriculum's are set up prevent students from gaining what I would consider adequate experience with a specialty that they'd like to apply to. All that being said, Pacific only has the Ortho specialty at their Pacific Heights campus. And, according to Pacific professors who have taught at other institutions, they believe that students at Pacific get a more exposure to oral surgery, endodontics, prosthodontics, and perio, than most other dental students.
In the end, students from all over the country get into specialty programs regardless of what dental school they attend.
