A dental insight for Teesside students

Teesside University dental students are gaining invaluable practical experience to enhance their learning, thanks to placements offered by a Billingham Dental Clinic.

Queensway Dental Clinic in Billingham Town Centre is offering placements to 12 dental nurses and 12 dental hygiene and therapy students, on a rolling programme up to September 2012.

Teesside University has offered these educational programmes since September 2010, at both Certificate Higher Education (HE) and degree level.

An insight into future work

Dr Paul Averley is the Clinic’s Managing Partner and said, 'We’re a big organisation, with 22 surgeries on this site and a total of 110 staff. We are happy to offer Teesside University dental students placement opportunities as it gives students an insight into their future working lives and valuable hands-on experience.

'At Queensway they will get to see lots of different levels of treatment, from routine simple care to much more complex procedures including orthodontics, dental implants and periodontics. So they have a diverse range of experiences and see some of the patients’ journeys of care.'

A trio of students has benefitted from the experience so far. Sophie Walker and Esther Fernandes are both students on the one year Cert HE Dental Nurse Practice, while Simone Seyburn is enrolled on the second year of the three-year BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Therapy programme.

Sophie, 23, from Hartlepool, said, 'I felt daunted at first due to the size of the clinic, with lots of new faces to meet. But it’s really friendly and I’m enjoying the placement. I have helped with a quite complex root filling, which is a good practical procedure to experience.'

Esther, 22, from Stockton, said, 'It’s been an eye opener, seeing the patients and helping to deal with their treatments. Looking after people is character building and the other dental nurses are really good and helpful. It’s a lovely place to work.'

Simone, 23, from Billingham, said, 'The Dental Therapists have a different experience, it’s more observational but I’ve seen oral surgery which I’d never have got to see if Queensway hadn’t participated. Every day I’ve seen differently qualified professionals with such great knowledge. It gives us a real insight.'

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