Future paediatric dentists are a core part of the team within the Royal Children’s Hospital’s dental clinic.
Working at the world-renowned Royal Children’s Hospital’s (RCH) Department of Dentistry gives paediatric dentistry students valuable real-life experience and enables them to be part of the team supporting children with complex dental problems.
Dr Mihiri Silva (BDSc 2004, MDSc 2012, DCD 2013, PhD 2019), Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Dentistry and a Consultant Paediatric Dentist at RCH, says the exposure that comes with working in the busy paediatric dental clinic means second- and third-year Doctor of Clinical Dentistry (DCD) students are well placed for their future specialisation.
Students spend a lot of time providing hands-on care by working as registrars and providing on-call and afterhours services at RCH — all while [being] supervised by specialist consultants says Dr Silva.
“In the course of their day they can see young patients with significant medical conditions, ranging from cardiac or respiratory conditions to bleeding disorders, diabetes, cancer and intellectual disabilities. Their dental problems can be quite complex.”
As the referral centre for the whole of Victoria, the RCH dental clinic also accepts emergency cases where children need urgent dental surgery because of injury or a life-threatening infection. DCD students often work with teams across the hospital to provide young patients with optimal care.
The hands-on, in-clinic experience is combined with seminars within the university and RCH. Impactful and quality research is also a component of the DCD program and connects students with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
Students can also combine their specialist degrees with graduate research.
“Students have researched the effects of antibiotics on teeth and teeth staining in childhood, diabetes and impacts on oral health and how to best manage and care for children with severe and life-threatening infections,” says Dr Silva.
PhD and former RCH resident Dr Rachelle Welti (BBiomed 2012, DDS 2016) says: “The DCD provides the opportunity to obtain first-hand experience managing medically complex children. Students provide multidisciplinary care, working alongside the child’s medical team, and the work is incredibly rewarding. The opportunity at MDS to do a PhD with specialty training means I can make an impact beyond my own patients, and improve paediatric dental care around the world.”
Dr Silva says: “The presence of the DCD students is critical to the service at RCH — they provide a lot of care to families with significant health concerns. They also come up with questions that matter to the patients they see and that encourages the dental department to review processes. They help shape the work that happens as the next generation of clinical leaders.”
Study with us: study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/graduate/doctor-of-clinical-dentistry/