Teaching
The BSc (Hons) Dental Therapy & Hygiene course will train students to be safe beginner clinicians, prepared for registration with the GDC and employability as a dental therapist. The programme is studied over three years full-time. It offers a spiralled modular curriculum using a variety of inspiring evidence-based teaching and assessment methods.
Blended learning unites acquisition of knowledge with development of clinical skills and professional values. Scholarship is student and patient-centred, designed for students to experience authentic training through approaches such as enquiry and problem-based learning, embedding employability. Workplace learning ensures students are prepared for a primary care career and are provided with foundations to develop skill-sets in secondary and tertiary care settings, as well as translational career pathways.
Year one establishes the foundations on which clinical practice lie, namely biomedical sciences and developing clinical skills in a simulated setting. This is paralleled by development of personal and professional skills, such as communication strategies and their role in social responsibility.
Year two builds on this skill-set, enabling students to apply it in the real-world within our excellent network of clinical placements and introduces them to the dental specialties, where they will garner appreciation of local and global context.
Year three consolidates learning and fosters competence in technical and leadership skills, whilst developing research skills. Innovation and entrepreneurship is encouraged through self-selected, independent project-based learning in education, business development or research methods.
Our integrated model, where Dental Therapy & Hygiene BSc students are trained with Dentistry BDS students, widens the benefits of inter-professional learning and reinforces the value of Dental Therapists/Hygienists.
Assessment
Your performance will be assessed through a combination of coursework and written/practical examinations. Forms of assessment may typically include written (short answer) examinations, online (MCQ) examinations, poster presentations, OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations), structured clinical reasoning examinations, and special projects and reports, which must be successfully completed to progress through the course.
Coursework contributes approximately 30% and examinations approximately 70% to your final mark.