Before treating a patient: how dentistry students study at St Petersburg University
St Petersburg University continues to improve the Accreditation and Simulation Centre for Continuing Professional Education in Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery. This is where future doctors gain practical skills.
Dentistry students begin to acquire practical skills from the first year of their study. Students deepen and consolidate the knowledge gained during the theoretical training course in simulation classes.
The centre is equipped with first-class dental equipment, including simulation equipment, instruments and dental materials made in Germany, Italy, Russia. It enables students to get almost all possible diagnostic, therapeutic and prophylactic practice that a dentist should have.
During preclinical training, future dentists learn to: treat dental decay and its complications; restore teeth using modern materials; perform tooth extraction and implant treatment; practice the effective anaesthetic techniques; perform prosthetic dentistry procedures; and get preventive dental practice. Dental simulation units and dental phantom head models with replaceable jaws and teeth make it possible to simulate any real-life clinical situations.
For example, students learn how to treat dental decay using tooth models that imitate the difference in tooth hard tissues: enamel is the hardest top layer; and dentin is less hard. These dental models enable students to feel how dental hard tissues differ during their processing, and demonstrate the need for the correct choice of instruments and working methods. Special models equipped with sound sensors are intended for students so that they master and consolidate the skill of conducting anaesthesia. If the pain management is correct, the simulator beeps. Tooth models that can be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of orthodontic treatment will show the result of the doctor's work. If the braces are successfully installed due to heating, the teeth will take the correct place in the dental arch. The centre demonstrates dental models of: teeth with roots and root canals designed to work inside a tooth; children's teeth; broken jaws; partial or complete teeth loss. Also, it has dental models for: carrying out gum disease treatment; performing dental hygiene procedures; extracting a tooth; and performing insertion of implants. Many more dental models are used in the learning process and provide high-quality training for future dentists.
Classes are held in the simulation centre several times a week. Students have practice under the guidance of teachers – professors and associate professors with extensive clinical experience, who daily treat patients in the city clinics and conduct research. Students are divided into small groups of five to seven people. This enables teachers to take an individual approach to teaching.
Everything is acquired better and faster while practicing. Everything becomes clear when you watch, practice dentistry using simulators, and repeat actions. I think that when we treat real patients, we will adapt very quickly.
Karina Khisamova, a student of St Petersburg University
In the same centre, students prepare to participate in the Olympiads. After receiving their degree certificates, they will undergo their first accreditation in their lives to prove their professional level and work as a doctor.
