Melbourne Dental School students resume rural clinical placements

After nearly four months of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown, nine very happy final-year Dental students packed their cars with doonas, coats and warm clothing and made their way East to Gippsland to return to Rural clinical placements.

Six Doctor of Dental Surgery students (DDS), Dennis Jian Liang, Sarah Ghotb, Karen Liang, Najlah Enayatzada, Niusha Ravadgar and Shruti Sharma and three Bachelor of Oral Health (BOH) students, Natasha Prasad, Vanessa Tu and Serlin Ching, have begun their placement at Latrobe Community Health Service Dental clinics. The students have a three-week placement, which will predominantly be at the Moe Community Dental clinic, except for Fridays when the BOH students work at the Morwell Community Dental Clinic.

Here the students describe their first week:

"Our first week in Moe was a fantastic opportunity to get back into the clinic after three months of twiddling our thumbs at home. We are so grateful for the brilliant support of the LCHS staff whilst we got our bearings back again. The consistent patient flow and encouragement to execute a wide range of treatment options has enabled improved confidence, efficiency, and an overall positive experience for us final-year dental students. Working with this community centre has also allowed exposure to the demographics and the flow of regional public care, further broadening our inventory of healthcare protocol.
We are loving our time with LCHS and exploring all that the Gippsland area has to offer! Can't wait for the weeks to come." – DDS Group 43

^{Final year Doctor of Dental Surgery students Sarah Ghotb and Shruti Sharma at the Moe Community Dental Clinic.}

“Returning to clinical placements after a long hiatus was undoubtedly nerve-wracking to begin with, however it has been a great experience so far. Despite having gone through just one week, some of us have had the opportunity to complete procedures and experience situations we have not been exposed to before. Being in Moe/Morwell has also given us a fantastic opportunity to practice our restorative scope and build upon our skills in treating paediatric patients, as rural/remote communities tend to have different needs compared to metropolitan areas. This has also been made possible due to the support from our lovely demonstrators. We feel lucky to be on a placement that will definitely strengthen our clinical practice and we look forward to what's next!” – BOH3

^{Final year Bachelor of Oral Health students Natasha Prasad, Vanessa Tu and Serlin Ching happy to be providing treatment at the Morwell clinic. Their supervisor, Oral Health Therapist, Nicoletta Psilos (left), was herself a University of Melbourne graduate 5 years ago.}