Dental Electives Abroad: Observations & Practicums
Dentistry Electives in Sri Lanka, & Ghana
| Category | Page | Info |
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| Dental | This Page | Ghana Dental Electives | ײ | ײ | Sri Lanka Dental Electives |
Our dental electives abroad in Sri Lanka take place in a major teaching hospital, and our Ghana dental electives take place in a main hospital located in west Accra. In both you will be able to do supervised practice, depending on your experience. For example, 4th year UK dental students at the Univesrity of Dundee have already completed 8 procedures*, and in Sri Lanka they will be able to carry out 7/8, in Ghana, where available, 8/8
Challenges face dental care delivery in both Africa and Sri Lanka, your dental elective in either of these low-income, and low-resource countries, plays a much appreciated role. Your dentistry elective abroad fosters the development of local healthcare systems, supporting the local dental professionals to develop their skills working with foreign trained dental students, and the money you pay going directly to the hospital provides much needed foreign capital, strengthening the dental systems, and being a source of encouragement to the health professionals and local population.
Access to dental care is a major concern in low-income, low-resource countries, and dental electives provide opportunities for dental students and professionals to witness these disparities firsthand. You have a unique opportunity as dental students to make a positive impact while gaining invaluable experiences, which you will always look back on, we hope, with an understanding and empathy that guide your choices and advocacy in the future.
Dental electives abroad offer an environment for dental students to refine your clinical skills in diverse and challenging situations. You may learn to adapt and innovate with more limited resources, ultimately becoming more versatile and resilient practitioners. The experience gained in these settings can often enhance your problem-solving abilities, which may be something you’d like to explore in the future with organisations such as MSF.
Dental electives abroad involve you meeting with other local healthcare professionals, and organizations, as well as living with and spending time with other medical volunteers. This experience can help dental students understand the importance of teamwork and interprofessional collaboration, as well as gain a wider understanding of the healthcare systems you are training in, skills that will develop your own skills and adaptability.
In resource-constrained environments, the focus should shift towards preventive dentistry, but the nature of low resourcing means that budgets are directed at treatment and not prevention. The community outreach planned by our partner organisation in Ghana seeks to bridge that gap, and they are always successful, and draw many people who would otherwise not see a dentist. This and educating the community, which our partners do, is a recommended approach to delivering better dental hygiene quickly, through personal responsibility. Our dental electivees are also encouraged to emphasize the significance of public health and prevention as a fundamental approach to oral healthcare, lessons which can be applied globally. In Ghana, where suffcicient numbers join, well attended dental outreaches are arranged to villages, including educating community members about proper oral hygiene and dental care, helping to create sustainable, long-term improvements in oral health.
Our dental electives abroad in low-income, low-resource countries not only improve the oral health of underserved populations but support the growth and development of dental professionals. They instil empathy, resilience, adaptability, and a global perspective, which is so necessary today, while equipping individuals to make meaningful contributions to oral healthcare worldwide.
*History taking & examinations│Restorations (amalgam and composite)│Fissure sealants and Hall Crowns on children│Root canal treatment│Crown and bridgework│Periodontal treatment│Constructed dentures (partial and full)│Extractions under local anaesthetic
Tooth sticks for dental hygiene as sold in African markets
“(Whoever) has a toothache thinks everyone else happy whose teeth are sound.”
George Bernard Shaw
Hospital Based Dentistry Electives: Teaching Hospital Sri Lanka
Country: Sri Lanka
Location: Teaching Hospital
Weeks: 2 - 12
Code: SL _DE _TH
Elective Description
This elective is delivered through English at a major teaching hospital at the head of the Cultural Triangle, which is popularly regarded as Sri Lanka’s ‘best’ due to it having been on the front line of the civil war. All major dental specialities are covered, with your elective certificated by the university and teaching hospital.
The following dental departments operate at the hospital:
Dentistry Electives Abroad in Ghana
Country: Ghana
Location: Senya Beraku, 20km W of Accra
Weeks: 2 - 12
Code: Gh-Den-El
Elective Description:
In Ghana, dental elective students will have hands on experience performing dental procedures, supervised by mentors, in accordance with the practical work they have carried out through their university experience. (Student electivee’s letters of application must be supported by a recommendation letter from their university’s dental department, confirming the practical experience they have had, and the associated hours.)
You’ll be based with our partners, a government recognised community medical organisation in Accra, led by qualified medical professionals who are dedicated to providing the local people with access to dental care and education. These will also support you in your placements, and provide your accommodation in a centre in Accra, 5 and 40 minutes drive from the main hospital, and teaching hopsital respectively.
Your elective will provide much needed support to the dentistry care of the local population and dental elective studenst are always well recieved given the limited acces to dentists in Accra. You will also gain a greta deal of experience working in a busy urban hospital in a low resource setting.
Our partner organisation also plans and manages outreaches into local village communities, where the numbers of dental elective volunteers (and dentist volunteers) numbers 4 or more at any time. Dental outreaches can also include education drives in schools to raise awareness of the importance of oral hygiene, and of looking after their teeth. When the organisation knows the numbers that are coming, they set up a GoFundMe page to pay for the outreach programme, which elective students are asked to support by telling others about it.
Dental outreaches can also include education drives in schools to raise awareness of the importance of oral hygiene, and teaching children how to look after their teeth.
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We offer two different hospitals for dentistry electives in Ghana, depending upon the requirements of your university. These are:
The teaching hospital, Accra
A main hospital, Accra
Placement at the teaching hospital costs an additional US $250 registration fee, in additon to the cost of an elective (price of weekly mentorship included) at the main hospital.