Success for UCLan’s first orthodontic therapists
One hundred percent pass rate for first cohort
This month the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) announced that all fifteen students on UCLan’s first Orthodontic Therapy programme had successfully passed its examination and were eligible to be placed on the GDC register and practice as qualified orthodontic therapists.
This was the culmination of a new one-year taught programme that began in January 2009 with students attending a one month, full-time training programme delivered by the course leader Dr Hemant Patel and other specialist orthodontists in the Institute for Postgraduate Dental Education at UCLan.
After this period the students returned to their clinical practices and worked with their clinical mentors (again specialist orthodontists) to treat patients under close supervision. Over the past year, students have returned to Preston each month to pick up further clinical skills, working in the state-of-the-art phantom head room in the University’s Greenbank building, and have had ongoing clinical and academic assessments.
December’s visit by Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) examiners to UCLan involved students being tested through final written examinations, oral examinations and case presentations. Having undertaken this intensive course the students now have an exciting and rewarding career ahead of them as the newest members of the dental team.
One of the first successful students to pass the course was 39 year-old Linda Rice from Barking, Essex. Linda was a student rep on the initial Orthodontic Therapy programme and hopes to work full-time as an orthodontic therapist in the practice where she is based now that she has her name on the GDC register.
Linda said: “I have gained more confidence in myself and my abilities through doing the course, which I’ve really enjoyed. I liked the practical side of the course and as I gained more experience and got further into the course it was good to put the information I had received in lectures into practice and see my new skills at work.
“I’m hoping to work towards a teaching certificate in the future as I would like to teach in some of the areas in which I am qualified.”
Course Leader, Hemant Patel, added: “I’m delighted to see our first cohort of UCLan therapists do so well. They have all worked so hard and their success is well-deserved. The course has been a fantastic success and I think it’s wonderful that orthodontic staff now have the opportunity to move their careers in such an exciting direction. For orthodontists, the flexibility and scope gained by employing a therapist is invaluable. I’m very much looking forward to beginning work with the next year's group in January.”
For further information about UCLan’s Orthodontic Therapy programme please call 01772 895865 or visit the School of Dentistry web pages.
22 December 2009
