New Dental School Launches In Westcountry

Mon, 17 Sep 2007

A new state-of-the-art dental school in the Westcountry has opened its doors to students and been hailed as a vital weapon in the battle against the on-going shortage of NHS dentists in the region.

The University of Plymouth today welcomed the first wave of trainees (64 in total) at the UK's newest dental school in 40 years.

Professor Liz Kay, dean of the Peninsula Dental School, told the Western Morning News that the opening promised a "new generation of dentists for the South West".

The move comes during a mass migration of practitioners into the private sector, which has left thousands of residents in the Westcountry region without a dentist . In Exeter alone, up to 6,000 people have to make do without regular check-ups.

According to Prof Kay, The Peninsula Dental School, which won approval from the Government last year, had no control over whether the dentists it produced worked exclusively for the NHS .

However, she added that the hundreds of students expected to pass through the school's doors over the next few years will mean a "constant supply of dentists to the area".

"The dental school is the only thing I can think of that will solve the problem of the number of dentists in an area. The Government's done exactly the right thing by putting the dental school here," Prof Kay commented.

"But the other side is preventing and protecting oral health in the South West, so that in the next generation there will be more than adequate numbers of dentists because the disease levels will be lower.

"Ten years from now, you'll have four years of dental graduates going into the community, and there's still more coming up. One would hope the supply would increase," she added.

The school will put students through their paces by making them carry out basic treatments and tests under supervision for local NHS patients within six months of their first year, with most of the students expected to already have a grounding in the medical profession and science .
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