When I mean "best", I mean:
- best undergraduate dentistry course
- best postgraduate dentistry course
I am not counting specialisations of dentistry but the "Bachelor of Dentistry", "Bachelor of Dental Surgery", "Bachelor of Dental Science", etc.
The dental schools in Australia are provided by the following tertiary institutions (in 2008):
LaTrobe University
Griffith University
James Cook University
The University of Adelaide
The University of Melbourne
The University of Queensland
The University of Sydney
The University of Western Australia
Please provide a good, coherent reason on your answer.
e.g. University of X’s dental school is the best because it emphasises most on clinical aspects.
Also, I would like YOUR opinion on what constitutes "best". You may also quote from a professional source – actually, that would be more convincing, ain’t it?
First year dental students at the University of Adelaide get around 30 hours of contact per week, 3 of which are clinical.
The University of Melbourne was the first dental school in Australia. I seem to remember that when I was at their open day in 2007, they were very well ranked internationally (maybe third), but I can’t quickly find anything on the internet to back that up.
In terms of research, Melbourne has a very strong program. You may have heard of Recaldent gum and GC Tooth Mousse, two revolutionary products that remineralise enamel. Both of these products were developed at the University of Melbourne.
I know that is not exactly what you are looking for, but it would take a lot of research to compare every school. I’m sure that they are all great schools, but the University of Melbourne carries the most prestige (which doesn’t necessarily make it the best one). Ask a student at each school and I’m sure that they will each say that the program is great.
When researching a school, I’d be asking how many clinical hours you get before graduation (obviously the more the better). Try to get into contact with recent graduates, people who’ve just finished the course will be able to give you the most honest and accurate depiction of the program and also whether they felt that something could have been better (eg. more clinical hours, a better staff to student ratio).
Good luck with selection, I hope you find the right school for you.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My friend went to the UQ dentistry school in the city. It was pretty hard to get into, and from what I hear she loved it and felt that it was a great learning experience.
From a completely biased point of view, I just feel that University of Queensland is well worth it, in terms of being prestigious and well recognised. This can be a good thing when it comes to getting a job. Of course that doesnt apply for all fields, it certainly does in my social work degree.
References :
The University of Melbourne was the first dental school in Australia. I seem to remember that when I was at their open day in 2007, they were very well ranked internationally (maybe third), but I can’t quickly find anything on the internet to back that up.
In terms of research, Melbourne has a very strong program. You may have heard of Recaldent gum and GC Tooth Mousse, two revolutionary products that remineralise enamel. Both of these products were developed at the University of Melbourne.
I know that is not exactly what you are looking for, but it would take a lot of research to compare every school. I’m sure that they are all great schools, but the University of Melbourne carries the most prestige (which doesn’t necessarily make it the best one). Ask a student at each school and I’m sure that they will each say that the program is great.
When researching a school, I’d be asking how many clinical hours you get before graduation (obviously the more the better). Try to get into contact with recent graduates, people who’ve just finished the course will be able to give you the most honest and accurate depiction of the program and also whether they felt that something could have been better (eg. more clinical hours, a better staff to student ratio).
Good luck with selection, I hope you find the right school for you.
References :
I’m a student at the University of Melbourne School of Dental Science.