Postgraduate
MSc Dental
Public Health
Detailed
Syllabus
Introduction to
dental public health
Overall introduction to the concepts of dental public health
The use of the primary dental care approach to developing a philosophy
of care in the context of the needs of the community will be explored:
rich and poor communities; developed and developing countries;
young or old age groups; single and multiethnic communities.
The organisation of health and dental services in the
UK and abroad.
The roles of central and local government, voluntary agencies
and other groups in supporting oral health care, always applied
in the context of the country in which the student lives and works.
Evaluation of oral and dental health services:
appropriate to needs of community; accessible so that all in need
can reach them; acceptable to individuals and the community and
satisfy their reasonable expectations; equity of service provision
so that people with comparable needs receive the same standard
of care regardless of where they live, where they are treated
or what they earn; receive effective health care; service provision
is efficient.
Students will examine why and how information is collected about
their local community. This will provide a basis on which to build
later modules. Included will be consideration of the socioeconomic
demographic structures of the country and region and how it influences
oral disease, prevention and treatment.
Control and organisation of the dental profession in various
countries: General Dental Council and its equivalent;
British Dental Association and its equivalent; World Dental Federation
(FDI).
Manpower: dentists and dental auxiliary personnel.
The special needs of people with disabilities:
mental, physical,
medical and social handicaps.
Principles of epidemiology
Quantitative and
qualitative methods of study, including ethnography and epidemiology.
Normative and perceived need for care.
Demand for dental services.
The range of indices used to study oral health status: dental
caries,
periodontal disease and malocclusion.
Means of collecting and analysing data.
Principles
of statistics and applied statistics
The
aim of this module is to give students an understanding of the
basic statistical methods that are used in the analysis of medical,
dental and biological data (with particular emphasis on epidemiological
and community research). It is intended that at the end of the
course the students will be able to better evaluate papers which
appear in scientific literature, and to understand the need for
a statistical approach in research. A largely non-mathematical
approach will be adopted. There will be an introduction to (the
concept of original) research and evaluation methodology, and
consideration of practical and ethical problems in both the provision
of care and in research.
Sociology and dental
public health
Concepts of health
both lay and professional
Health inequalities including oral health
Access to care
Sociology of ageing.
Oral health promotion
and education
Principles
of general health promotion and health education.
The determinants
of oral health status.
Oral and dental health promotion and education. National community
and individual level strategies for oral health promotion.
Planning and implementation of community dental health education
programmes.
The mass media. Communication.
Use of dental and non-dental manpower.
Role of health and other bodies in promoting oral health care.
Preventive strategies and techniques.
Diet and dental disease.
The role of sugar.
Water fluoridation and alternative systemic fluorides.
Fissure sealants.
The
design, testing, modification and evaluation of DHE programmes
Identification of need for DHE
Possible target groups and their social and psychological characteristics
Aims and objectives
Assessment of effectiveness of programme
Administration
in community dental services
Management of community
dental services.
Evaluation of services.
Audit of clinical care.
Clinical effectiveness.
Basic health economics.
Health and safety at work.
Control of cross-infection.
Dentists and the law.
Professional ethics.
Dental
public health research project and dissertation
Students are encouraged
to select topics which are relevant to the oral health issues
in their countries. Students are assigned to supervisors who have
a particular interest and expertise in the student’s topic. Dissertations
are expected to be of a high standard with many past students
publishing papers in dental journals.
The report on this
project must include a survey of the relevant literature. It should
normally be approximately 20,000 words in length, excluding bibliography,
appendices and figures/ illustrations.
The research topic will be chosen by the student
in consultation with the programme director.
The criteria for assessing the report and any other written
work will include:
- presentation
of material including layout
- ease of reading
- bibliographic
structure and numbering
- introduction
and clear statement of the problem to be discussed
- literature
search
- use of references
and bibliographies
- the extent
to which the student has used their own ideas and reassessed
and evaluated previous writers and studies
- relevance of
conclusions to dental public health.
