The Bachelor of Oral Health

• Frequently Asked Questions
• What is the Bachelor of Oral Health?
• What does a BOH graduate do?
• admissions procedure
• Applications
• International Applications
• Timeline for entry to 2012
• Course structure
• Demand for graduates
• Recognition of the course
• Location of teaching
• First Aid Certificate
• NSW health requirements
• National Criminal Record Check
• Further information
• Student forms

What is the Bachelor of Oral Health?

The Bachelor of Oral Health is a full time course and all lectures and clinics are conducted face to face. There are no opportunities to complete any of the course via correspondence.

The Bachelor of Oral Health course will provide training at university level in NSW in oral-health promotion, dental hygiene and dental therapy. It will equip students with the required skills, knowledge and experience to deliver oral-health promotion, dental hygiene and dental therapy services to patients throughout Australia.

What does a BOH Graduate do?

Registration opportunities as an Oral Health Therapist

Graduates of the BOH program will be qualified in dental hygiene, dental therapy, and have skills in oral health education and promotion. BOH Graduates will also have skills in patient education and health promotion. This kind of graduate is setting the bench-mark for oral health graduates, and more services in the public sector and dentists in private practice are wanting practitioners with dual qualifications.

Dental Therapists

As a dental therapist the age group you work with would vary according to the place in Australasia you practice in. In NSW, currently, you would provide dental treatment to children and adolescents up to the age of 18. In other states this age limit is higher or absent. The work would be varied and depend on the needs of the child who comes to you. It might be simply identifying the disease risk of the child, or providing professionally applied preventive treatments, carrying out simple restorative work in deciduous and permanent teeth, through to the extraction of teeth under local anaesthetic, and the initial management of trauma. Helping parents and children change behaviours that are destructive to the health of the mouth (as well as the rest of the body) is a vital part of the job. Collaboration in health promotion projects with other health workers in the community is an integral part of the job in many parts of Australasia. Most dental therapists are based in the community, but some are based in hospital dental departments, and in nearly all states in Australia, dental therapists work alongside dentists in private practice.

Dental therapists need manual dexterity to be able to manipulate instruments inside the mouth, as well as good eyesight and colour vision. They must be able to work as part of a team where consultation with other members is possible and desirable. Some Dental therapists may work in an isolated community with a dental assistant and consult with a dentist on patient care by telephone or computer. Because they advise and treat patients and their families, good communication skills and a friendly, sympathetic manner are essential.

Dental therapists perform the following duties:

• Provide dental health education on a one to one basis or in a group situation and collaborate with allied health professionals in health promotion campaigns, conduct extra-oral and intra-oral examinations and develop individualised treatment plans on children and adolescentsup to their 18th birthday (NSW only), take, read, and interpret intra-oral and extra-oral radiographs (x-rays), provide preventive fluoride treatments, protective coatings and dental sealants where indicated, provide local anaesthesia but not sedation, remove deposits of calculus (tartar) and stains from the teeth, provide restorations using a variety of materials in deciduous (baby) and permanent teeth including preformed crowns, provide pulp treatments of deciduous teeth and emergency pulp capping for deciduous and permanent teeth, extract deciduous and permanent teeth as long as these do not require surgical removal including incisions or the removal of bone,
• Both dental therapists and dental hygienists may supervise dental assistants in their health care functions

Dental Hygienists

Dental hygienists provide dental hygiene treatment and information related to the prevention of diseases and disorders of the teeth and mouth. They are employed in dentists' offices, hospitals, clinics, educational institutions, government agencies such as the Australia Defence Forces and Justice Health, and in private industry.

Dental hygienists perform the following duties:

• Hygienists work with dentists on patients of all ages and have an important role to play in the maintenance of oral health, especially of the supporting structures around the teeth. They help patients improve their self care of their own natural teeth, dentures, crown and bridgework, and implants. They may provide sealants, protective coatings and fluoride preparations to teeth and root surfaces. Dental hygienists may examine patients' teeth and gums, recording the presence of diseases or abnormalities (but not developing treatment plans). They remove calculus, stains, and plaque from teeth, smooth and polish restorations, perform root planing as a periodontal therapy; take and develop dental x rays; and apply cavity-preventive agents such as fluorides and pit and fissure sealants. Often hygienists administer local anaesthetics, remove sutures, and surgical packs, and may professionally clean implants. Although hygienists may not develop a treatment plan like dental therapists, they can prepare clinical and laboratory diagnostic tests for the dentist to interpret.
• Like the Dental therapist, Dental hygienists may explain the relationship between diet and oral health or inform patients how to select toothbrushes and show them how to brush and floss their teeth.
• Both Dental therapists and Dental hygienists may supervise dental assistants in their health care functions

Is this different from being a dentist?

Yes, oral health practitioners such as dental therapists, dental hygienists, or oral health therapists are not dentists.

Dentistry is an undergraduate graduate degree program in NSW which equips graduates with the range and depth of skill needed to diagnose oral conditions and manage the care of the patient across the decades of life. Dentists provide practice oversight for dental therapists and dental hygienists, prepare the written treatment plans for dental hygienists, prescribe for patients, provide sedation, undertake complex treatments such as dealing providing ongoing treatment for dental trauma, undertake root canal therapy, take biopsies, provide inlays, veneers, crowns, bridges, surgically remove teeth, place implants, make and fit dentures and provide appliances to correct abnormal positioning of the teeth and jaws.

Usually, the dentist is the one who coordinates the dental team and may provide practice oversight for dental hygienists and dental therapists.

Dentists may specialize in such areas as oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, paediatric dentistry, periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, oral pathology, oral radiology or public health dentistry.

The Dental Team

The dental team includes oral health practitioners from specialists, dentists, dental therapists, dental hygienists, oral health therapists, clinical denturists, technicians, and dental assistants. The dental team has played a key role in improving oral health over recent years - people now have far fewer restorations and lose fewer teeth than a generation ago. Toothache and gum disorders can be prevented, treated and relieved more effectively. A visit to a dental practice is no longer the intimidating, painful event that it once seemed.

If you like the idea of working with people, doing a job that's worthwhile, respected, and appreciated, and that offers flexibility and security as your career unfolds, take a look at the opportunities available in today's dental team.

The team approach to the care of a patient is rapidly becoming the norm for the 21st century. It may mean that several different professionals are involved in a person’s dental treatment. The more complex the needs, the more people within the Dental Team tend to be involved and this may continue in an ongoing way for those who are special needs such as the dentally anxious, medically compromised, physically disabled, those with learning disabilities, or a long-term psychiatric condition.

As the nation's oral health has improved, expectations have also increased about the kind of care that the dental team provides. Fewer extractions and fillings mean more time spent keeping teeth and gums in good condition, providing advice and controlling disease. Here are some of the key skills you will need to pursue a career in dental care:

• Willingness to learn and make sense of scientific knowledge: Working as a member of the modern dental team you will need a good academic background and an interest in the scientific basis of dental diseases and their treatment. It is also important for you to update and test your knowledge against the current evidence base.
• Good manual dexterity: Being good with your hands is important as well as good eyesight, including binocular vision and colour recognition.
• Ability to communicate persuasively and assist others to alter their lifestyles: There's a strong communication and educational element to your job. Helping people modify their behaviours is a vital part of enabling patients to keep their teeth and gums in good condition.
• Happy to work as part of a team:The dental team consists of a wide range of people with different skills and academic backgrounds. You need to have well developed interpersonal skills and enjoy working among the variety of members of the modern dental team.
• Excellent people skills: No two patients, and no two procedures, are ever quite the same. You would be providing dental care for people of all ages, from young children through to grandparents. You should be able to put people at their ease, gain their confidence and deal sympathetically with their problems and fears.

Postgraduate Opportunities

The Bachelor of Oral Health has undergraduate entry (Available for International students) and, like many other undergraduate degrees, could be used to apply for entry into the Doctor of Dental Medicine program.

Postgraduate study through the Faculty of Dentistry is open to graduates of the Bachelor of Oral Health. A Master of Philosophy degree is available which does not require a previous degree in dentistry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see our pre compiled list of Frequently Asked Questions

Admissions Procedure*

Applicants to the Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH) are assessed according to performance in three areas*, each of which is considered important to their prospects for success in the course.

Previous academic results

Prospective students of the Bachelor of Oral Health will be asked to provide their Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) or results of a university preparation course, or a record of any earlier University studies. A record of earlier tertiary studies includes the completed equivalent of at least one full-time year of approved tertiary study at an Australian associate diploma level or higher (ie. 48 credit points of study at the University of Sydney or a part-time equivalent) to be considered for admission. If the degree is more than 10 years it will not be accepted.

For information regarding Mature Age Entry, you are advised to contact the Admissions Office at the University of Sydney on 02 8627 8207, or visit the Mature Age Entry Scheme on the university's website

Tertiary preparation courses may be undertaken at the University of Sydney's Centre for Continuing Education; or a tertiary preparation certificate course offered at the NSW TAFE college; or the Open Foundation.

Completion of a Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA)

All applicants to the course will be required to undertake a personal qualities assessment, which is designed to test manual mental agility, cognition, personality and moral orientation and decision making, qualities deemed essential for candidates of the program. The PQA has been conducted for entry to 2011 and results will be sent from the PQA office at the conclusion of the test period. The cost of the test will be $70.

Candidates should be aware before sitting the test that a test centre code of conduct must be strictly adhered to.

For more information on the Personal Qualities Assessment, a PQA Frequently Asked Questions page has been assembled to answer the most common questions relating to the PQA.

An OSCE Style Mini-Interview

Applicants who are successful in the PQA will then be invited to attend a multiple mini interview (MMI) based on the OSCE format. The MMI interview will be held on Tuesday 7th December 2010 and Wednesday 8th December 2010. The MMI is a series of short interviews of approximately 10 minutes each where applicants move between 7 interview stations where they are required to discuss scenarios or issues with one or more interviewers

Applicants will be notified by email if they have been successful in obtaining an interview and will be given all relevant details regarding the interview.