DClinDent Periodontics

About the course

Develop your skills and expertise to a specialist level. Conforming to the GDC’s Specialist Curricula, the course covers the theoretical basis and practical skills needed to manage and treat periodontics and general restorative interdisciplinary cases.

You’ll use various complementary learning modalities, interacting with colleagues and allied specialties in restorative dentistry to jointly manage patient care. Over the three years, you’ll learn sophisticated research methods and apply them in a scientific research investigation, with specific outcomes for each year of study.

The programme has been approved by RCS Edinburgh as recognised speciality training for eligibility to sit their MRD examinations in the three sub-specialisms of Endodontics, Periodontics and Prosthodontics.

Your career

We offer clinical and non-clinical courses that will further your career and develop your interests. Many of our clinical graduates go on to specialist dental practice, hospital practice or academic posts.

World-leading dental school

Our internationally recognised oral and dental research is organised into two overarching themes: ‘clinical and person centred’ and ‘basic and applied’. These themes are supported by three interdisciplinary research groups: Bioengineering and Health Technologies, Integrated Bioscience, and Person Centred and Population Oral Health.

We believe that dental science should not be constrained by the traditional boundaries created by specific clinical disciplines and that progress derives from a multidisciplinary approach. Our research supports our teaching enabling a blended approach to learning.

Your course will make the most of virtual learning environments and advanced practical sessions, as well as traditional lectures and seminars.

Facilities

You’ll develop your clinical skills in one of our two clinical skills labs or in our new virtual reality Simulation Suite where you can use haptic technology to undertake a range of clinical techniques.

You’ll complete your clinical training in Sheffield’s Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, part of the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. There are 150 dental units with modern facilities for treatment under sedation, a well-equipped dental radiography department, oral pathology laboratories and a hospital dental production laboratory.

We have new modern research facilities and laboratories for tissue culture, molecular biology, materials science and histology- microscopy. All laboratories have dedicated technical support and academic expertise to guide you.

Health clearance

If you’re starting a course that involves exposure to human blood or other body fluids and tissues, you must conform to the national guidelines for the protection of patients, health care workers and students. Before admission to a clinical course we’ll need to check that you’re not an infectious carrier of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV and that you do not have tuberculosis. A positive test doesn’t necessarily exclude you from dental training.

Our immunisation requirements are constantly being reviewed to ensure we meet current Department of Health guidance. You need to comply with these if you are offered a place. You’ll get more information when you apply, but if you have any questions on health clearance issues, please get in touch.

Disclosure and Barring Service

If you apply for one of our clinical courses you’ll need a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced Disclosure. If you do have any criminal convictions or cautions (including verbal cautions) and bind-over orders, please tell us about them on your application form. If you have not lived in the UK in the preceding five years before you commence our programme, you’ll need to provide us with a Certificate of Good Standing from the police authority in your home country. You’ll get more information on the DBS and the Certificate of Good Standing when you apply.

Local NHS policies and procedures

Clinical training in Charles Clifford Dental Hospital requires you to comply with their policies and procedures, which include the Department of Health policy on being ‘bare below the elbow’. For clarification on these policies and procedures before you apply, please see our website.

Core modules

Year 1: Principles of Periodontal Treatment; Principles of Endodontic Treatment; Principles of Conservative Dentistry; Management of the Partially Dentate Patient I; Research Project: Literature Review; Clinical Practice Programme: New Patient I.

Year 2: Research Methods in Clinical Dentistry; Principles of Clinical Management; Clinical Practice Programme: New Patient II; Research Project: Experimental Work Data Collection; Clinical Practice Programme: Treatment of Own Patients; Speciality Programme in Endodontics, Periodontics, or Prosthodontics.

Year 3: Clinical Practice Programme: New Patient 3; Research Project: Completion and and Write Up; Clinical Practice Programme: Treatment of Own Patients; Speciality Programme in Endodontics, Periodontics, or Prosthodontics.

Teaching

Lectures, tutorials, seminars, demonstrations, clinical skills laboratory sessions, case-based discussion, extensive practical clinical experience.

Assessment

Competency-based continuous clinical assessments, formal examinations, oral presentations, written assignments, research project.

Visit the DClinDent Periodontics page on the University of Sheffield website for more details!