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New £9 million dental academy to open in September
1st Apr 2010
A site visit to the Dental Academy with (l to r) Fiona Loughran, director of planning, Professor John Craven, vice chancellor, Rebecca Bunting, deputy vice chancellor, Tony Horne, project director, Simon Rushby, principal technician
Construction of the new £9 million University of Portsmouth Dental Academy is on target and planning is well under way for it to begin training students from September 2010.
The Dental Academy is the beginning of an innovative partnership between the University of Portsmouth and King's College London Dental Institute with funding from the NHS.
For the first time, student dentists will be trained in teams alongside dental hygienists, dental therapists and dental nurses mirroring how dental professionals work in practice.
Despite bad weather delays earlier in the year, work on the building remains on schedule.
‘From a construction perspective the building is exceptionally complex because of the vast quantity of technical equipment it's required to accommodate. Remaining on time despite the snow and icy conditions in January, and being ready to welcome the students at the start of the new academic year, is very important," said project director, Tony Horne.
The new facility is physically linked to the University's existing School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (SPCD) by an overhead walkway and will provide first class training facilities.
The building on Hampshire Terrace will bring to the University an additional 20 dental chairs, a radiography suite and a state of the art instrument decontamination centre.
Since 2007 the University's William Beatty Dental Service has provided members of the public with NHS dental services by staff dentists and students. From September 2010 the current chargeable service will close and a new service will open offering free dental care to suitable patients.
The care will be provided by final year dental undergraduate students from King's College London Dental Institute and student therapists, hygienists and dental nurses from the University of Portsmouth. All students will treat patients under supervision of qualified dental tutors.
Student treatment will be the only treatment available as part of the new service at the Dental Academy. Existing William Beatty patients will be given the option to continue their treatment with dental students or helped to enlist with a local NHS dentist.
The role of the Dental Academy will be to work with patients to achieve good oral health.
Once a patient is in good oral health and current treatment needs are completed, they will ultimately receive help to enlist with an NHS dentist for future routine care.
Dental treatment at the new facility will include oral health promotion, fillings and preventative treatment, gum treatment, crowns and bridgework, dentures and root canal fillings but will not include complex or cosmetic treatments.
The William Beatty Dental Service will operate as normal until 30 June from when it will begin to wind down its service.
All patients who have started treatment will have their treatment completed before the service closes finally at the end of August.
The Dental Academy is funded by the Portsmouth, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight PCTs, the Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
For more information, click here.
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