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New dental education facility opens in Exeter

University and polticial representatives posing with Chief Dental Officer Sara Hurley (fourth from right, Photograph: Plymouth University /Shutterstock)

Wed. 30 November 2016

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EXETER, UK: Replacing an old dental training facility at Heavitree Hospital, the new Dental Education Facility was opened last week in Exeter. In addition to the training of Plymouth University students in the five-year dental and three-year dental therapy and hygiene undergraduate programmes, it will offer basic dental procedures, like filling, extraction and root canal therapy, for local NHS patients.

The facility in Exeter will be run and managed by the Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise, a non-profit organisation that aims to improve oral health across the South West. With a capacity upgrade, it will offer 42 chairs, as well as a 16-chair Simulated Dental Learning Environment, where students can test and improve their clinical skills on smart dummies.

According to university officials, it will also provide a suite of postgraduate programmes, allowing dentists and other dental health professionals from the area to further their careers through education.

The opening on Sunday was attended by Chief Dental Officer for England Dr Sara Hurley, who said that the facility is the spirit of best practice in care, learning and social enterprise.

“Recognising a need to improve access, the Exeter Dental Education Facility offers not only a place for excellent patient care but an outstanding environment for the high quality of training of the next generation of dental professionals,” she said.

Exeter Member of Parliament Ben Bradshaw added: “It was great to see the students learning in such state of the art facilities and the local patients benefitting from their care. The dental school has been a valuable asset for Exeter in recent years and it is wonderful to see it in such a fantastic, brand-new setting.”

The dental training facility in Exeter originally opened in 2008 and has provided NHS dental care by students under supervision of qualified dental professionals to more than 18,000 people across Devon and Cornwall, according to Peninsula figures. There are currently four dental education facilities run by the organisation in the South West, with the other three based in Plymouth and Truro.

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