Rate My Professor Miranda Drake

Miranda Drake is the Chair of the Department of Dental Hygiene and Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Health Sciences at the University of South Dakota, a position she has held since January 2022. She brings over a decade of experience in dental hygiene education and clinical practice. Prior to joining USD, Drake served as a clinical associate professor and interim chair of the dental hygiene program at the University of Minnesota from 2015 to 2021. From 2014 to 2015, she was faculty at Herzing University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and earlier worked as a practicing dental hygienist in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. She has been involved in dental hygiene education since 2014 and has led continuing education classes for dental hygiene professionals. Drake earned her MS in Dental Hygiene Education from the University of Minnesota in 2016, BS in Dental Hygiene from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2013, and Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2007. She holds dental hygiene licenses from the states of South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, along with certifications as a Certified Clinical Research Associate from SOCRA, CPR, Local Anesthetic, Nitrous Oxide/Oxygen Sedation, and Restorative Functions.

Drake's teaching interests include Dental Anatomy, Embryology & Histology; Local Anesthesia and Pain Management; Dental Materials, Cariology; Nutrition; Clinical Courses; and Research Methods. Her research interests focus on product and device evaluation to determine the scientific efficacy of dental products and devices, curriculum development assessing the effectiveness and impact of writing interventions on faculty development and student learning, and comparisons of educational outcomes between online delivery methods and traditional approaches. She has contributed to several publications, including chapters on "Clinical Oral Structures, Dental Anatomy, and Root Morphology" in Darby's Comprehensive Review of Dental Hygiene (9th edition, 2021; 10th edition), "Efficacy of a prototype solution to facilitate the removal of supragingival dental calculus: a proof of concept study" in the Journal of Dental Hygiene (2020), and articles in the Journal of Dental Hygiene (2023) on topics such as oral and systemic health implications of electronic cigarette usage and efficacy of solutions for dental calculus removal. Drake received the Didactic Instructor of the Year award from the University of Minnesota Class of 2018 and Class of 2019 (2018), and the Clinical Instructor of the Year from the Class of 2017 (2016). She recently secured a grant from the Delta Dental of South Dakota Foundation for "Dental Care for Underserved Populations: Increasing the Footprint of USD Dental Hygiene" (2023-2025). She is a member of the American Dental Education Association and the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.