7. Bachelor of Oral Health

Overview

The Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH) degree course is a full-time three year vocational program designed to provide education at a university level so that graduates may register as dental hygienists and dental therapists. It will equip students with the required skills, knowledge and experience to deliver oral health education and promotion, dental hygiene and dental therapy services to patients in NSW, as well as throughout Australia and New Zealand. The program combines a firm scientific basis with extensive skills and professional development to produce graduates who are equipped to deal with the full range of treatments that dental hygienists and dental therapists may offer in the environment within which they work.

The course is structured so that students start acquiring their science foundation in parallel with early contact with patients, and the level and amount of patient contact increases as their scientific skills and oral health competencies grow. The emphasis of the course is on prevention and health maintenance in the context of a primary health care approach. Clinical practice largely occurs in the teaching hospitals where a team approach to patient care is practised. In their final year students are enhancing their understanding and knowledge of the legal, ethical and organisational environment in which they are practising, at the same time as delivering services to patients.

Graduates will have an effective understanding of their role and the roles of others in the oral health team as they deliver dental hygiene and dental therapy services to the community, delivering dental care appropriate to their scopes of practice, and referring patients to other providers as necessary.

• They will be able to liaise confidently with a range of health providers and deliver high-quality oral health education and promotion in the community.

• They will know how to apply theory to practice in a range of different situations, and will have the spirit of enquiry that encourages the extension of their knowledge and skill and their own professional development.

• They will be able to assume responsibility for the treatment of their patients' oral health, including analysis, diagnosis, and the development and execution of a treatment plan.

• They will know their limits, personal and professional, and be able to work competently and confidently within them.

• They will have the training and attributes to exercise leadership in oral health promotion, dental hygiene and dental therapy in the future.

Knowledge

• Detailed knowledge and skills in all topics identified by the Australian Dental Council as being essential to an undergraduate dental auxiliary program, and in all topics specified by NSW legislation for dental hygienists and dental therapists.

• Expertise in the analysis of dental conditions, in the diagnosis of dental diseases, and in the development and execution of dental treatments plans, under the supervision of a dentist.

Thinking skills

• Develop, integrate and apply knowledge and understanding of basic, clinical, behavioural and social sciences to support, inform and enlighten professional practice.

• Acquire, understand and integrate the latest knowledge into practice on a continuous basis.

• Keep up-to-date with professional, social and cultural changes and develop an understanding of their implications for practice.

Personal skills

• Develop and maintain the capacity to work as a member of an oral health team to provide community-based health promotion and individual patient care in the current and future professional, ethical and legal environment.

• Develop the ability to use information technology for patient management, communication, professional development, research, and practice management.

Personal attributes

• Develop an understanding of oral health as an integral part of overall health, and apply a preventive approach to the improvement of oral health through the community, including disadvantaged groups and the indigenous population.

• Develop and apply a broad understanding of different perspectives – professional, cultural, social, political – to the practice environment.

• Apply an ethical and moral approach to practice.

• Use critical self-examination and reflection as tools for personal and professional development, and to gain an appreciation of the need for continuing education.

Practical skills

• Manage dental disease by applying an evidence-based approach to analysis, diagnosis and treatment.

• Manage resources and people (including themselves) within the constraints of the practice environment.

Resolutions of the Senate

Consult the University of Sydney’s Calendar for the Resolutions of the Senate for this course. See www.usyd.edu.au/calendar/

Units of study 2008

The 2008 units of study for students enrolled in Years 1, 2 and 3 of the course are outlined in the table below and on the following page.

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3