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Dentistry
IF YOU wish to qualify as a dentist, you have a choice of two colleges in the Republic: UCC (199F8 cut-off points: 525) and TCD (1998 cut-off points: 535).
Mr Denis O'Mullane, head of UCC's department of oral health and development, says the most important quality in a would-be dentist is "an interest in helping people and a sympathy for patients needs. You need to treat the people who come seeking your help with care, attention and kindness, especially as many people are a little bit afraid of dentists."
Mr O'Mullane says new students are sometimes surprised by the level of work expected of them. "It can be a long and demanding day. Students have to do practical and clinical work during the day and then go home and study at night. A lot of people are surprised at how hectic the course is. However, there's a great comradeship in the class and we have a very, very low dropout rate.
The first two years of the course are spent in the university studying basic medical science. The final three are spent in the Dental School and Hospital and the attached Cork University Hospital.
Mr Brian Murray, the chief executive of the Dublin Dental Hospital, says dentistry students have heavier class "contact" hours than most disciplines, and the course is probably more work-intensive than medicine, partly because contact with real patients is an integral part of the degree course.
"Dentistry graduates are carrying out irreversible procedures with a high-speed drill. They can't repair their mistakes."
TCD's dentistry course is based on problem-solving, and learning is independent and self-directed", according to Mr Murray.
"Instead, they find out what they need to know themselves in a directed way. It's a method that's been tried out in a lot of medical schools in the United States and Europe, but not very much in Britain and Ireland."
This October's dentistry intake will be the second brigade of students to start their course in TCD's new dental hospital, which the college describes as "one of the most modern in the world".
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