About Dental Science, MDentSci - at Trinity College Dublin
This five-year programme is designed to ensure that graduates can safely and effectively deliver the full range ofprimary dental care, including prevention, diagnosis and treatment of oral and dental diseases. Treatment involves areas such as the restoration of damaged teeth, the correction of irregularities, the replacement of missing teeth and surgical procedures such as the removal of teeth.
Is this the right course for me?Yes, if healthcare in general interests you and if you would like to specifically focus on oral healthcare and its impact on individuals. The nature of dentistry makes it essential that you also have an ability to build a caring and professional relationship with patients, co-workers and the wider community. It is also desirable that you enjoy undertaking work that requires considerable attention to detail with small margins for error. The course is long (five years) and intense and the academic year is longer than for students of other courses.
Problem-based learningThrough PBL information is not presented in separate disciplines e.g. physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, which would require the student to integrate each of the separate strands at some later date. Problem-based or problem-centred learning provides students with structured problems set to meet specified learning objectives. Students organise themselves (under supervision) to undertake research to find out about how to achieve the learning objectives. In the first two years the basic sciences are integrated into the problems. An additional benefit of PBL is that student learning occurs in a context that approximates the future situation in which the knowledge will be applied.
