Rate My Professor Steven Sterlitz

Stephen Sterlitz serves as Associate Professor and Division Chief of Restorative Dentistry in the Department of Oral Health Practice at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry. He earned his DDS degree from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, completed pre-dentistry courses including biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology at Eastern Michigan University from 1998 to 1999, finished a two-year Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency at the Naval Postgraduate Dental School in Bethesda, Maryland, and obtained a master’s degree in Oral Health Science from George Washington University. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1992, Sterlitz initially served over six years in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer, Diesel Engineering Officer of the Watch, and officer aboard the USS Comstock with deployments to Somalia and the Arabian Gulf, followed by two years in Canada as a missile training officer for the Canadian military. He joined the Navy Reserves while pursuing dental education and graduated dental school in 2003.

Prior to his academic career, Sterlitz served over 20 years in the United States Navy Dental Corps, holding key roles such as dentist in a military exchange program on a Royal Navy base in Portsmouth, England; dentist on the USS Frank Cable in Guam; Program Director of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program at Navy Medical Center San Diego, where he directed training for 10 Navy PGY-1 dentists and presented for CODA re-accreditation in 2013; Dental Clinic Director supervising treatment for U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton; and instructor for the Advanced Dental Assistant Program at Navy Medical Center San Diego. Notably, he was the Navy's first specialty advisor to the Navy Surgeon General on Dental Technology, instrumental in making CAD/CAM dentistry available to over 1,500 dentists providing care for more than 1,000,000 patients worldwide. After retiring from the Navy, he joined the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 2017 as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences, and Endodontics, dedicating 60% of his time to teaching foundational and advanced graduate restorative courses, including co-directing the second-year crown and bridge course and third-year advanced operative course, 20% to research, and 20% to faculty practice. He co-chaired the schoolwide Vision 2024 committee examining digital computing and technological advances in dentistry. Sterlitz's academic interests center on restorative dentistry, digital dentistry including CAD/CAM, intraoral scanners, adhesion in resin bonding, and integrating technology into dental education and patient care, with an emphasis on exceptional outcomes through mastery of fundamentals.