Dental Surgery

Course Content (including module information)

Years 1 and 2

Students are attached to dental clinics and also undertake modules where they learn about the foundations of clinical practice including the biomedical and behavioural sciences as well as the principles of dental patient management, dental health promotion and core clinical dental skills.

Year 3

Introduces a greater clinical component within the various clinical dental specialties as well as developing students' core clinical skills in Restorative dentistry. Students also learn about the impact of systemic disease in dentistry.

Years 4 and 5

Emphasis is on teaching advanced dental clinical skills within the range of clinical specialties in dentistry. Students carry out the full range of dental treatment for their own adult and child patients. Most of the paediatric dentistry course is carried out in outreach clinics.

During the course of the degree, some students opt to study for an extra year to achieve an additional Intercalated BSc degree. This may be undertaken at the end of the second or third year and involves an extra year of study (usually taken as a 'year out' from the Dentistry course) and allows students the opportunity to explore an area of particular interest in much greater depth. It involves a deeper exposure to research and research methods and provides an invaluable experience.

The way in which you are assessed will vary according to the Learning outcome for each module. Assessments range from written exams, MCQs, case studies and group projects to Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and clinical procedures with patients.

FEEDBACK

As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module co-ordinators, clinical supervisors, personal tutors and peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work. Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:

• Feedback provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that you, as an individual or as part of a group, have submitted.
• Face to face comment. This will include face-to-face feedback on day-to-day performance on formative and summative clinical assessments.
• Clinical supervisor comments are recorded at each clinic via clinical logbooks.
• Emailed comment for a range of written summative assessments.
• General comments or question and answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
• Pre-assessment advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which you can review in your own time.
• Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
• Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as, Careers, Employability and Skills or the Learning Development Service.

Once you have reviewed your feedback, you will be encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of your work. Your logbooks will also require you to record your response to clinical feedback and develop a plan of action.

At Queen’s Dental School, we aim to provide a high quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity and innovation and utilizes best practice in learning, teaching and student support to enable the student to achieve their full academic potential.

We do this by providing a range of learning experiences which enable our students to engage with subject experts, develop attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society. Our students have access to innovative technologies and a world class library that enhances their development as independent, lifelong learners. Examples of the opportunities provided for learning on this course are:

• Lectures: are used tointroduce basic information about new topics to large groups and provide a starting point for further learning. They are often linked to seminars to encourage an independent approach to learning
• Seminars/tutorials: Significant amounts of teaching are carried out in small groups (typically 10-20 students) and clinical activity is often preceded by a clinical seminar. These provide opportunities for students to engage with academic and clinical staff staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions and to assess progress and understanding with the support of peers.
• Practicals: are generally developed in smaller group sizes and are designed to allow students to see how some of the principles introduced in lectures can be observed in living organisms and in dental materials science. This type of class also provides the opportunity to develop technical skills and receive formative feedback on academic progress.
• Clinical teachingin a workplace environment: enables students to learn directly from clinical experts about the clinical treatment in the full range of clinical disciplines.
• Clinical teaching in a simulated environment: provides students with the opportunity to learn and practice clinical skills in a safe and controlled environment before proceeding to patient care.
• E-Learning technologies: Information associated with lectures and assignments is often communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Queen’s Online.
• Self-directed study: is used to provide time for students to study the theoretical principles underpinning the practice of dentistry in their own time.
• Personal Tutor: Undergraduates are allocated a Personal Tutor during their course.