Public Health

Population Oral Health Pathway

A Population Oral Health Pathway is offered in conjunction with the Faculty of Dentistry. This is designed for students who wish to learn about public health aspects of oral health. Note that your transcript will not explicitly identify that you undertook this pathway and you are not restricted to the listed units - they are provided only as a guide.

Dentistry students wishing to pursue a program in Population Oral Health begin by completing the Master of Public Health (MPH) or the Master of International Public Health (MIPH) degree through the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine.

Students must include in their degree the three dental elective units of study listed. Upon successful completion of the MPH or MIPH with an oral health focus, students may then pursue specialist registration with the Dental Board of Australia and may also be able to proceed to study a research degree (MPhil or PhD) in a related area of oral, or general, public health. At present, there are no accredited programs in Australia where completion allows for automatic registration as a dental specialist in public health dentistry. This course will give candidates wishing to pursue specialism skills that will contribute to the current competency assessment pathway in public health dentistry conducted by the Dental Board of Australia that predicates entry into the specialism. The knowledge that these modules will give, compliments clinical practice within the field of dentistry and fosters an appreciation for interventions that are beyond the dental surgery door.

Please note that to undertake these electives you need to have passed PUBH5010 Epidemiology Methods and Uses and PUBH5018 Introductory Biostatistics, which means that you must enrol in Semester 1 and cannot start in Semester .

Students must seek permission from the Public Health Coordinator prior to enrolling in this pathway.