DENTISTRY BDS at University of Glasgow

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

YEAR 1

You will be introduced to all aspects of clinical dentistry, supported by the teaching of clinical medicine, patient management and health promotion, and biomedical sciences such as anatomy, physiology and microbiology.

YEAR 2

You will be introduced to the theory and practice of the subjects that form the clinical basis of dentistry: operative dentistry, prosthodontics and periodontics. As part of the introduction to operative dentistry you will learn about the treatment of dental caries, carried out in a simulated clinical setting.

Knowledge from the first year of the programme is built upon by further study of biomedical sciences, clinical medical sciences and patient management/health promotion. You will also begin the management and treatment of patients.

YEAR 3

You will expand your skills in all aspects of restorative dentistry and will also carry out your first extraction. You will attend outreach placements in paediatric dentistry. Other teaching includes a comprehensive head and neck anatomy course, the dentist’s role in providing smoking and alcohol advice, initial preparation for the provision of sedation, and self-directed work within various subject areas on computer.

YEAR 4

You will continue to work in the Dental School and in the community and will have an opportunity to develop your clinical skills through exposure to patients in all the dental disciplines. Teaching includes oral medicine, sedation, orthodontics fixed appliance course, and further aspects of patient management/health promotion.

At the end of fourth year you are required to undertake a period of elective study of around four weeks’ duration. This is an opportunity for personal and professional development. Possible elective study options include:

• an audit project
• an educational comparison
• a research project (quantitative or qualitative)
• other types of experience such as veterinary dentistry or learning a foreign language within a clinical environment
• a healthcare project in a remote or low- income country.

You will have a supervisor to help you plan your study, which will be written up as a report at the beginning of fifth year.

YEAR 5

You will spend half your time in the Dental School and half working in a community outreach centre. There will be no lectures; instead you will attend eight sessions in each of the following core units:

• Crown and bridge
• Minor oral surgery
• Endodontics
• Paediatric dentistry
• Prosthodontics
• Periodontics
• Consultant clinics (1)
• Consultant clinics (2).

You will be allocated to one residential and one non-residential outreach centre.

Programme alteration or discontinuation
The University of Glasgow endeavours to run all programmes as advertised. In exceptional circumstances, however, the University may withdraw or alter a programme. For more information, please see: Student contract.

OUR INTERNATIONAL LINKS

During the elective period at the end of fourth year, you will choose a topic to study in greater depth, either in Glasgow or elsewhere. Many students take the opportunity to travel abroad and the University provides organisational and limited financial support.