Facts & figures
- $9.4m investment into our new facilities
- 62 new dental chairs
- 8 CAD computer stations
- 120+ years experience providing dental education
Infrastructure_
Sydney Dental School Simulation Centre
New simulation-based learning spaces for future dental practitioners
A new simulation clinic to continue a 120+ year tradition of producing dental professionals at all levels, including oral health therapists, dentists and dental specialists.
Located within the University of Sydney's Bligh Building, our simulation clinic serves to upskill Australia’s existing dental workforce to broaden their scope of practice. It includes:
- a dedicated XR training and CAD planning rooms
- upgraded milling/printing and oven rooms
- a CBCT 3D x-ray unit
- nine intraoral x-ray units and seven Vistascan scanners
- two Leica Scope microscopes and 61 dental simulation units.
The clinic reinforces our commitment to providing Australia's best dental education and supports our dedicated educators and staff. As the leading institution for dental professionals at all levels, we continue our legacy of excellence.
As part of our vision for a dental workforce pipeline that improves the oral health of all people in NSW, our new dental simulation suite contribute to Australian oral healthcare for years to come.
Benefits of simulation-based learning
Dental simulation training is the cornerstone of dental education which prepares graduates for the dental workforce. 50% of students’ hands-on time is spent in the simulation centre.
Simulation-based learning provides several advantages for dental trainees, such as:
- integrating cognitive, technical and behavioural skills into a realistic working environment,
- giving dental students a chance to practice technical skills that are difficult to learn and may not arise while on placement,
- allowing dental procedures to be practised and improved in a safe environment where errors can be thoroughly assessed,
- providing trainee dentists with opportunities for immediate feedback, and
- enabling students to gain a greater understanding of their own reactions to stress factors.
High-tech approach to learning
A state-of-the-art suite complementing all levels of dental education, serving as a high-tech stepping stone between didactic teaching and patient treatment for all levels of dental education.
Students receive immediate, three-dimensional, audio and written feedback from the various simulation modalities on their work on artificial teeth (such as a cavity, crown, and endodontic access preparations).
The advanced technology addresses well-known challenges in dental education to provide objective feedback, such as grading scale, rater calibration, bias, training, grading fatigue, subjective influences as well as the demand by millennials for immediate and objective feedback.
Facility highlights
Contemporary dental simulation is based on the principle of experimentation, failure and adaptation — characteristics that make the gaming industry so addictive and appealing to the current generation of students.
Our simulation clinic provide opportunities for self-directed learning with minimal instructor supervision. This not only reduce costs for academics, but also harness the power of failure that drives students, providing motivation, and producing a better clinical graduate.
This area, equipped with intra and extraoral scanners as well as high-end computer hard and software for digital planning and design, allows us to train all our students on the most advanced techniques and products in dentistry.
Imagining equipment include:
- nine intra-oral X-Ray units,
- one CBCT 3D x-ray units,
- seven vistascan scanners, and
- two Leica Scope microscopes in the XR training and CAD planning rooms.
As part of the digital dentistry manufacturing centre there are 3D printing and milling machines to assist students in hands-on learning and modeling.
Supporting the University's Strategy
Our Sydney in 2032 Strategy aspires that “our student-focused education is transformational”.
A high-tech dental simulation clinic provides contemporary teaching and learning space for virtual and digital dentistry, supporting this aspiration.
Give now to change tomorrow
Your donation can now transform the Sydney Dental School’s new Simulation Clinic.
If you would like to find out more about supporting students, dental education and making your mark within a school steeped in over 120 years of history, please get in touch today.
Please contact Debra Almeida (Senior Associate Director of Development):
- Phone: 0457 684 168
- Email: debra.almeida@sydney.edu.au