University of Melbourne

Bachelor of Oral Health

As a Bachelor of Oral Health student you'll develop all the scientific, theoretical and clinical skills to practice in oral health therapy — which includes careers as both dental hygienist and dental therapist.

You will learn alongside dental students at the Melbourne Dental School in a high-tech clinical setting. You will also have the opportunity to undertake placements in metropolitan clinics and rural areas.

You will learn from a clinical teaching team including active practitioners and world-leading academics who bring international leadership, research and policy expertise to the degree.

The Bachelor of Oral Health has combined vocational outcomes in hygiene and therapy.

HYGIENE

Dental hygienists provide dental care for all age groups. They examine and record the nature and severity of periodontal conditions, and clean, scale and root-plane teeth.

THERAPY

Dental therapists provide dental care for children and adolescents. They examine oral and dental conditions, restore and conserve permanent and deciduous teeth, perform extractions of deciduous teeth, and remove calculus. Under recent changes dental therapists are also able to provide care to adults under certain circumstances.

The Bachelor of Oral Health is a three year degree that requires the successful completion of 12 compulsory (core) subjects over the first two year plus a year-long Oral Health Practice subject in first year and second year. Third year is made up of two year-long subjects.

The course has four main components:

DENTAL SCIENCE

Study subjects that provide a theoretical background to the procedures used in providing dental care, including: the structure and function of normal and abnormal tissues of the body, and principles of treatment of disease.

SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PREVENTIVE DENTISTRY

Take on subjects concerned with preventing dental disease in the community. Community studies and oral health promotion are a major feature of this component, but it also includes ethics, psychology, sociology and research methods.

CLINICAL DENTISTRY

Here you'll study subjects related to oral health therapy practice (which are common to dental hygienists' and dental therapists' clinical practice). Subjects span from infection control and instrumentation through to dental material and examination procedures.

VOCATIONAL CLINICAL PRACTICE

Take on study involving clinical management of dental decay in children, adolescents and young adults. Clinical work is undertaken at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne in all years of the course and at other metropolitan and rural community health centres in the final year of the course.