Year five fees

The announcement that 2012-2013 entrants to dental school will see their year five fees fully covered by the bursary is a good short-term solution that provides breathing space for a longer-term solution to be agreed. That is the view of the British Dental Association (BDA), which has been lobbying against what looked like a huge gap in student finance that could have seen next year's intake of dental students applying for courses this year without knowing the size of the financial commitment they were making.

Academic staffing increase

Data published by the Dental Schools Council reveal a 4% increase in the number of clinical professors, senior lecturers and lecturers in dentistry during the 2009-2010 academic year, to a total of 390 Full Time Equivalents (FTE), and a 20% increase in the number of senior clinical teachers and clinical teachers to a total of 135 FTE.

While dental schools are positive about the increase in total numbers of clinical academic staff for the fourth consecutive year, the number of research-active clinical academic dentists remain 28% lower than in 2000. Since 2005, with the smallest number of dental clinical academics (433 FTE) in the decade, there has been a 25% expansion in student numbers; the number of clinical academics has increased by 21% in this time, but the number of research-active clinical academic dentists has shrunk by a further 10% (to 390 FTE). Sixty-two percent of professors, senior lecturers and lecturers are aged over 46 and women now make up 36% of the clinical academic team compared to 32% in 2004.

http://www.dentalschoolscouncil.ac.uk/clinical_academic_staffing_survey.htm

Manchester refurbishment

After nearly two years in the planning the work to refurbish the Department of Child Dental Health at the Manchester University Dental Hospital has been completed. The refurbishment has included the installation of 11 Takara Belmont treatment centres featuring chairs that provide easy access for younger patients and no small gaps for children's fingers.