The Department of Periodontics was established at West Virginia University when the School of Dentistry was founded in 1957. The Department of Periodontics currently includes the Division of Dental Hygiene which was founded at the School of Dentistry in 1961. The two areas provide periodontal education to predoctoral dental students, dental hygiene students, and postdoctoral students in the specialties of dentistry and in dental hygiene at the WVU School of Dentistry.

The periodontal education is provided through didactic courses, preclinical laboratories, and in the dental and dental hygiene clinics. The goal of the periodontal education is to educate dental and dental hygiene students to be competent in recognizing and diagnosing periodontal diseases and providing periodontal therapy to their patients. In the Department of Periodontics, this competency is measured through their performance on didactic examinations and through clinical performance assessments on various types of periodontal procedures the students perform in the clinic.

The dental students perform periodontal examinations, treatment plans, periodontal debridement, reevaluation of initial periodontal therapy, and periodontal maintenance. The students gain familiarity with various types of periodontal surgical procedures while assisting during periodontal surgery performed by the faculty in periodontics. After gaining some experience in witnessing and assisting during periodontal surgery, the dental students may be able to perform some periodontal surgical procedures depending on the type and complexity of the surgery.