Periodontics
Course Convener
BDS PhD(Glas) FRACDS(Perio) DGDP RCSEng
Doctor of Clinical Dentistry degree in Periodontics
The School of Dental Science offers the Doctor of Clinical Dentistry degree in Periodontics leading to a specialist qualification which is recognised Australia wide. DCD graduates may also fulfill the requirements of the FRACDS(Perio) examination as part of the course.
The Doctor of Clinical Dentistry (DCD) is a three-year full-time course where students spend approximately half the time in clinical sessions. Approximately twenty percent of the time involves participating in seminars based on the research papers and the remaining thirty percent of the course is taken up conducting research that forms the basis for a thesis of approximately 25,000 words. The course trains Periodontists not implant dentists.
International and local general dentists with at least two years full-time clinical experience are eligible to apply for admission to this degree. International graduates of the DCD may gain specific registration with the Dental Practice Board of Victoria to practice as a Periodontist in the State of Victoria.
Please refer to the DCD web page for entry requirements, selection criteria, the course structure and how to submit your application. Dr Darby suggests that, where possible, anyone interested in applying for the Periodontics course arrange to visit the School prior to submitting an application. For more information, please contact Dr Ivan Darby.
Details about the DCD in Periodontics
| Introduction | Journal Reading |
| Objectives | Research Project |
| Entrance Requirements | Undergraduate Supervision |
| Outline of Course | Clinical Supervisors |
| Clinical Sessions | Eligibility for FRACDS(Perio) |
| Didactic Seminars | Assessment |
| Clinical Seminars | Attend meetings and courses beyond the DCD |
| Case Presentations | Research in Periodontics |
In addition‚ it includes a minor thesis by research‚ clinical supervision of undergraduate dental students and placements in oral medicine clinics and private periodontal practices.
Introduction
This course covers all aspects of Periodontics including:
- Development and anatomy of the periodontium;
- Aetiology‚ pathogenesis and microbiology of gingival and periodontal disease;
- Examination‚ diagnosis and treatment planning of periodontal diseases;
- Non-surgical management of periodontal diseases;
- Surgical management including GBR‚ GTR and mucogingival manipulation;
- Periodontal/Restorative interrelationship;
- Periodontal/Endodontic problems;
- Periodontal manifestations of oral medicine lesions;
- Periodontal medicine and medicine related to the periodontium;
- Implant dentistry including surgical placement, site augmentation and the management of peri-implant disease.
Objectives
- To understand the biological basis of diseases of the periodontium, from the development of the periodontal structures through to the processes involved in destruction and repair of these tissues.
- A board general knowledge of clinical medicine and surgery, the interactions of oral and systemic diseases and of the management of the medically compromised patient.
- To understand the distribution of periodontal diseases in the population, the natural course of the disease process and the effects of varying treatment and preventive modalities on the course of the disease, as based on critical reading of the scientific literature.
- Intensive knowledge in clinical periodontics including the development of a high standard of clinical skills in examination, diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of a range of periodontal patients.
- To be exposed to a range of surgical procedures and to demonstrate competency in performing these procedures.
- Clinical experience in diagnosis, case selection, treatment planning and surgical aspects of oral implantology.
- To gain experience in conducting research in a periodontally-related field.
- Skill in evaluating scientific literature, in posing pertinent research questions and hypotheses, in experiemental design, and in the completion and communication of a research project.
- A board knowledge of all aspects of clinical and public health dentistry.
- Appropriate attitude to ethical and social issues and the place of dentistry in the health care spectrum.
- Knowledge and skills expected by the Australian community to act as a periodontist with the highest degree of competency required of a specialist in this field and to meet the requirements of the Dental Boards of Australia for the purpose of recognition of specialist status.
- Training directed to prepare candidates for examination within the Division of Periodontics, Royal Australian College of Dental Surgeons.
top of pageEntrance Requirements
Entry to the course is competitive, with at least eight to ten applications for each place. Two or three places are offered every year. All applications must be submitted to the University before the closing date. Late applications will NOT be considered.
Short-listed listed candidates will be asked to attend for interview at the School of Dental Science or the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne. The interviewers will be the convener of the course and Periodontists who are members of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Periodontists. Interviews should be attended in person rather than by telephone. However, international students may be interviewed over the telephone.
All interviews are in English. The two or three top-placed applicants will be offered a place on the course for the following year. If one of these is declined the next placed candidate will be offered entry to the DCD in Periodontics.
Successful applicants in the past have generally had the following qualifications and experience:
- In the top 5-10% of their undergraduate dental course,
- A minimum of 2 years post-qualification experience, usually at least 3-4 years,
- Evidence of performance or study at a graduate level. All recently short-listed Australian-based candidates have successfully completed of part one of the FRACDS (or equivalent). Some applicants have had full FRACDS,
- Post-graduate experience in periodontics either as part of general dental practice, a hospital position overseas, and/or close consultation with a periodontist including visits to their practice,
- Have attended a number of periodontic/implant CE courses,
- Membership of the Australian Society of Periodontics (or equivalent) and attendance at local branch meetings. Some have also been members of the Australian Osseointegration Society and attended their meetings,
- Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills.
Outline of Course
The DCD in Periodontics is a three year full-time course starting in January or February of each year and runs for approximately 45 weeks throughout the year. Students undertake five clinical sessions, one session of undergraduate teaching, and one session of case presentations and didactic seminars a week. The rest of the week is for preparation of tutorials or cases, or undertaking a research project. Clinical tutorials fit in around the clinic timetable.
Clinical Sessions
Students undertake five clinical sessions per week at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne under the supervision of experienced Periodontists.
Currently the students are rostered on in a combination of Monday morning, Tuesday morning, all day Wednesday, all day Thursday and all day Friday. The first years start with examination, treatment planning and scaling and root planing leading onto surgical therapy towards the end of year one or start of year two. In the second year, more surgical therapy is expected to be performed including implant work up and placement, surgical exposures for orthodontics and crown lengthening. Towards the end of second year and in third year, it expected that students will undertake mucogingival surgery, bone and connective tissue grafting as well as more complicated implant placement. This is in addition to continual treatment of periodontal disease, both in new patients and those in a supportive regime.
As part of second year students will undertake a 10 week placement in the oral medicine mucosal clinic and visits to private periodontists for practice management lessons.
The hospital offers Astra, Biomet 3i, Nobel Biocare, and Straumann implant systems, with which the students should be familiar at the end of the course. The hospital has a dedicated six chair specialist periodontic clinic with experienced nursing staff in which all treatment is undertaken on public patients. The patients are referred from public dental centres throughout Victoria and within the hospital itself, and are treated under the Dental Health Services Co-payment system. The Periodontics Department has very strong ties with the Prosthodontic, Endodontic, Orthodontic and Implant clinics at the hospital and as a graduate student you will develop close relationships with graduates from these areas.
Didactic Seminars
These seminars are designed to cover the fundamentals of periodontology and range from basic anatomy, microbiology, immunology, periodontal medicine, behavourial sciences, pharmacology to oral pathology and medicine, and form a major component of the written exams at the end of each year. Each student takes turn in researching and presenting topics.
Clinical Seminars
With a more clinical relevance, these seminars cover everything from basic examination to implant placement in compromised patients. Again each student takes turns to present topics. These seminars are usually before or after clinics on Thursdays or Fridays. Once a quarter there are inter-disciplinary tutorials with Prosthodontics and Implant students.
Case Presentations
To discuss cases and improve presentation of patients, every Monday lunchtime the Periodontal graduate students present a case including charting, radiographs, models and photographs. This again rotates through all the graduate students.
Journal Reading
Periodontal graduate students participate in weekly journal club sessions where current papers are presented and discussed. These usually take place on Thursday lunchtime and again all the students take turns in reviewing current papers.
Research Project
The research project forms one third of the total course mark i.e 100 points out of 300. First year is spent learning about research design, identifying an area to be investigated and writing up a literature report and applying for ethics for this area. All first year DCD students attend lectures on research methodology and statistics. In second year most of the data is collected and, ideally, the third is spent analysing and writing up the project.
A peer-reviewed paper is expected to be published in a leading Periodontal or Implant journal. Students are encouraged to undertake a clinical research project, but laboratory or epidemiological projects may be available. The School of Dental Science has a world-renowned position as a leader in periodontal microbiology and immunology. All projects undertaken are under the supervision of the course coordinator, who holds a PhD in clinical, microbiological and immunological periodontal research.
Completed projects undertaken by previous students include clinical parameters as markers of active disease, biomarkers of osseointegration in peri-sulcular implant fluid, Il-1 polymorphisms in a maintenance population, the role of periodontopathogens in breakdown, assessment of periodontal disease in neutropenic patients, the role of antibodies to P. gingivalis, T. forsythia and T. denticola in periodontal breakdown, an analysis of ISPg4 in a cross-sectional study of health and disease.
Candidates are encouraged to apply for their own research funding.
Undergraduate Supervision
Periodontal graduate students undertake one session a week supervising the undergraduate dental students. This ranges from teaching scaling and root planing to 2nd year dental students in the pre-clinical lab to supervision of 3rd and 4th year dental students on the periodontal clinic at RDHM. Some paid teaching sessions may be available.
Clinical Supervisors
The course is very lucky to have a wide range of experienced and well-known periodontists who supervise and demonstrate in clinical sessions throughout the clinical year.
These clinical demonstrators are:
Dr John Bergman MDSc
Dr Shayne Callis MS(Wits)
Dr Stephen Chen MDSc, FRACDS
Dr Stephen Cottrell MS(Ind)
Dr Ivan Darby PhD, FRACDS(Perio) DGDP RCSEng (Convener)
Dr Robert De Poi MS(Ind) FRACDS
Dr Julie Fraser MDSc, FRACDS
Dr Victor Kiven MDSc, FRACDS
Dr Andrei Locke GDCD, MDSc, FRACDS(Perio)
Dr Eddie Lobaza MDSc
Dr Neil McGregor MDSc, PhD
Dr Dean Nelson MS(Ind)
Dr Adam Rosenberg MS(UNC)
Dr Susan Wise MDSc(UQ)
Dr Gary Yip MS(Ind)
Eligibility for FRACDS(Perio)
At the end of the 3 year course, graduates should be eligible to take the second part of the FRACDS(Perio) examination. Candidates must have successfully completed part 1 of the FRACDS or equivalent before assessment of eligibility.
At the start of the DCD course, an external mentor will be chosen to ensure that any candidates are fulfilling college requirements in terms of numbers and types of patients treated/procedures undertaken. In the middle of the final year, a log book of all patients treated and procedures undertaken will be submitted and, if found satisfactory, candidates will be allowed to sit their second part at the same time as they sit their final DCD examinations. For successful completion of the FRACDS(Perio), a pass in all components is required excluding the thesis. Two external examiners will be appointed to assess the candidates. It should be noted that while the thesis is not part of the FRACDS examination process, a pass is required in it as well.
Assessment
At the end of each year, candidates will be assessed in a series of written and clinical exams. These are based on patients treated and topics covered in the seminars throughout the year, and which year the student is in. There are two written papers, each of 3 hours with six one hour questions, covering both didactic and clinical seminars
In addition, candidates must present 2 to 4 cases, depending on year in the course and each of 15-20 minutes, as well as examine and treatment plan an unseen patient. Lastly there is a one hour oral examination, which can cover any topic in the last University year for 1st and 2nd year students or all 3 years for 3rd year students.
For third year students, the written exam, case presentations and oral exam are run in conjunction with the FRACDS(Perio) second part. An overall pass in all parts is required for successful completion of the course, which includes the thesis, for the award of the DCD.
Attend meetings and courses beyond the DCD
In addition to attending full-time, students are expected to attend meetings and courses beyond the DCD course. These include meetings of the local branches of the Australian Society of Periodontics(ASP) and Australian Osseointegration Society, ASP general meeting, Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons convocation, Australian and New Zealand Academy of Periodontists meetings, ITI meetings, Continuing Professional Development courses, and courses arranged by international companies such as Astra, Biomet 3i, Nobel Biocare, and Straumann. Usually, there are substantial discounts for graduate students attending these events.
Research in Periodontics
General dentists wishing to undertake substantial research in the field of Periodontics or surgical implant dentistry may apply for admission to the Master of Dental Science by research (MDSc) or the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Previous PhD projects have included quantitative analysis of the bacteria in subgingival plaque at sites undergoing breakdown, mass-spectrometric investigation of gingival crevicular fluid at sites undergoing breakdown and an assessment of immediate placement of implants into extraction sockets.