Dental Surgery

Programme Structure & Content

The course is based around a series of themes which encompass all aspects of delivering dental care.

General Health and Disease
This covers the normal structure and function of the body (some prior knowledge of medical sciences will be assumed) before moving on to consider abnormal structure and function and disease. The potential implications of a patient's medical history, disease and drug metabolism/interactions for dental care will be covered. The oral manifestation of certain systemic diseases will also be considered. This theme commences in first year and continues throughout second and third year.

Dental Health and Disease
This covers the basic dental sciences, including dental anatomy, oral biology and physiology, oral pathology, oral microbiology etc, and the aetiology, presentation, prevention and management of the full range of dental/oral disease. The most common endemic oral diseases (caries and periodontal disease) are covered throughout first year, with other topics encompassing the full range of disease in subsequent years.

Patient Care
An introductory clinical skills course covers treatment of simple periodontal disease and caries management and commences in Semester 1, Year 1. Integrated clinically related activities (ICRAs) begin in Semester 2 as part of your introduction to the clinical environment. Patient contact begins in Semester 2, with observation and simple preventive advice. You start your own patient care in Semester 3 with simple restorative procedures. Clinical experience then continues throughout the curriculum with further clinical skills courses and clinical attachments in the full range of dental disciplines. In fourth year, you cover holistic patient care and become responsible for all aspects of your patients' dental care. Throughout this theme working as part of the dental team is emphasised and explored.

Behavioural Science and Dental Public Health Strategies
Strategies for communicating effectively with patients begin in Semester 1, Year 1 to support your first contact with patients. Modification of these strategies for communicating with different patient groups comes later, including behavioural techniques for managing dental anxiety. Dental public health begins in Semester 2, Year 1 and continues thereafter covering the scope of dental public health, interventions with both individual patients and population groups, epidemiology, statistics, evaluating evidence, the dental public health consultant, links between dental health/disease and social deprivation.

Law and Ethics/Professionalism
The legal aspects of dental practice are explored, e.g. confidentiality, consent, maintaining accurate patient records etc, as well as fostering appropriate professional attitudes and behaviour. This begins in Semester 1, Year 1 with the role of the dental professional followed by basic principles of legal and ethical practice to support first patient contact. Assessment of professionalism begins in Semester 2, when exposure to patient care begins, and continues throughout the course. Issues specific to particular patient groups are covered as they arise, e.g. consent for treatment of children or patients with special needs. The need for continuing professional development will also be stressed.

Decontamination/Infection Control
Theoretical and practical teaching of the need for, and process of, decontamination and infection control, begins in Semester 1 of first year with basic principles to support the ICRAs and an introductory clinical skills course. Practical demonstration and experience of decontamination in a local decontamination unit (LDU) is taught and assessed in Semester 2 and re-assessed each year. The application of infection control/decontamination in the clinical setting is assessed throughout clinical attachments as part of the assessment of professionalism. In addition to being organised around themes, teaching is "patient centred". In first year teaching focuses on perhaps the least challenging patient group, the ‘normal' dentate adult patient. As you consolidate your clinical skills and confidence in caring for patients, other groups are considered, with appropriate clinical attachments, i.e. the child patient, the older patient, the anxious patient and the patient with special needs.

Teaching & Assessment

Teaching and learning strategies have been designed to meet the needs of a more mature student group with previous experience of university education. There is a focus on more independent and reflective learning, supported by the use of e-learning. Students develop an extensive e-portfolio to collect evidence of their learning and experience, and this forms part of the assessment.

A range of assessment methods is used with a pattern of formative exams after Semester 1 and summative exams at the end of the year. Assessment methods may include short essay questions, practical exams and multiple short answer questions. Objective clinical assessment of your skills will be done by means of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and Structured Clinical Objective Testing (SCOTs) at appropriate stages.