Dr. Wanda C.

Before dental school, Dr. Claro attended California State University, Fullerton as an anthropology major before graduating with a BS in health sciences from University of California, San Francisco on a state scholarship and multiple community scholarships. While attending the UCLA School of Dentistry, Dr. Claro served as an admissions committee interviewer, where she was directly involved in the selection process.

After completing dental school, Dr. Claro practiced in the Central Valley of California at a rural health center before opening her private practice in Visalia, CA. It was during this formative time as a general dentist that she developed a keen interest in growth and development, which led her to return to school for specialty training. She holds a Master’s in oral biology and two specialty certificates from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a clinical and research emphasis on special needs care and craniofacial anomalies.

Dr. Claro practiced in Irvine, CA, as a dual specialist for 28 years and was very involved with the schools and community, as well as local universities, promoting dentistry as a profession as well as for health benefits. In addition, she was involved as a leader in the local, state, regional, and national dental and specialty organizations. She was a guest lecturer for UCLA’s graduate orthodontic program for many years and was the Co-Director for the interceptive orthodontic course given to the graduate pediatric dental students at University of Southern California for seven years.

As an admissions coach, Dr. Claro draws on her extensive experience serving on the admissions committees for both the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry and its graduate orthodontic residency program, as well as her earlier role as a student representative for UCSF’s dental school admissions committee. She has interviewed and evaluated hundreds of applicants, providing constructive and targeted guidance that helps candidates present their strongest applications.

Dr. Claro served as an associate professor and Clinic Director in the Graduate Department of Orthodontics at UTHSC, where she also taught growth and development to D1 students and co-directed elective orthodontic courses for high-achieving upperclassmen. Her research mentorship has guided numerous master’s theses, and her own work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentalfacial Orthopedics Clinical Companion and the Journal of Oral Biology and Craniofacial Research.

Dr. Claro has been invited to deliver lectures and presentations nationally for the American Association of Orthodontists, UCSF Dental Alumni, and pediatric dental associations. Her teaching excellence was recognized with multiple awards, including the Excellence in Teaching Award from UTHSC’s College of Dentistry.

Dr. Claro’s leadership extends beyond academia. She has served as the Southern Association of Orthodontists representative to the American Association of Orthodontists Foundation (AAOF) and contributed to the Planning and Research Committee (PARC), awarding significant funding to promising dental research. PARC was responsible for reviewing resident, faculty, and private research projects and awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for the most promising projects. Dr. Claro has also given presentations for UCSF Dental Alumni, California and Western State Pediatric Dental Associations, UTHSC Orthodontic Alumni Day, AAOF, the Association of Orthodontists, and many community organizations. She has also maintained an active presence in local, state, and national dental organizations and has inspired countless students to pursue dentistry as a career. 

Teaching has always been a recurring theme throughout Dr. Claro’s college, dental school, and postgraduate training, and while in practice, both as a general practitioner and as a specialist. She retired from private specialty practice to become the Clinic Director and teach full time in the graduate department of orthodontics and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Dentistry. 

Dr. Claro was actively involved in promoting and collaborating on many research projects encompassing in vivo to material and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) studies throughout her 8.5-year tenure at UTHSC. She has been noted as the inspiration by students for pursuing the specialty of orthodontics in many applications to the orthodontic residency. Her exams in this course reflected the nuanced test questions given in the new INBDE since she was on the test construction committee for this exam. She also gave courses and mentored fellow faculty on the new national board test question protocols.

Dr. Claro is passionate about the profession and future of dentistry, with the upcoming talent of the countless new students she has mentored. She says her broad experience in seeing all sides of dentistry informs her counseling approach from being mentored and becoming a mentor to becoming an admissions committee member and faculty member. Students Dr. Claro has mentored have been accepted to multiple dental schools, including Temple, UCLA, UCSF, BU, UTHSC, Midwestern, Western State, AT Stills, Baylor, Marquette, UPenn, UF, and many others. 

Through her work on multiple admissions committees, Dr. Claro has enjoyed the counseling she has offered to pre-dental and potential residency candidates, viewing her work as an extension of the counseling she offered while in private practice. Dr Claro has contributed to the success of countless entries into dental school and specialty programs. Dr. Claro is excited to help you get started and pursue this challenging, worthwhile, memorable, and uplifting journey!