Dentistry News | Dental Jobs | Dentist Forum | CPD Education
Dental news |
 |
RSS Feed | View by: Most Recent | Most Popular | Most Discussed |
Therapy students treat their first NHS patients
6th Dec 2005
Second year dental therapy and dental hygiene students from the University of Portsmouth’s school of professionals complementary to dentistry began treating NHS patients for the first time this month. The new school began taking students last year and is the first of its kind in the country. It offers a range of courses in response to the national shortage of dental professionals. These include dental therapy, dental hygiene and dental nursing. Graduate duties Graduates of the BSc programme will be qualified to work alongside registered dentists as dental therapists and dental hygienists. They will be qualified to administer dental local anaesthetics, extract children’s teeth, carry out simple fillings on adults and children, take radiographs, scale and polish teeth as well as deliver oral health education. Students began practising treatments on volunteers from the university’s staff and student body. Under the guidance of their tutors, the 24 students will now treat NHS patients who have been referred by the patients’ dentists or by access centres. Exciting stage ‘This is a very exciting development for our students and as a university we are very pleased to be contributing to the effort to combat the severe shortage of dental care in the region,’ said Sara Holmes, head of the school of professionals complementary to dentistry. Modern facilities The school, recognised by the profession as an ultra-modern facility and housed in a purpose-built £4 million building, includes a 24-bay treatment clinic, two private surgeries, a phantom head skills laboratory and dental radiography suite.
Rate this story
Comments
