Dental education
The demand for dental care is unceasing. Within an ageing population, people are retaining their teeth to an older age and requiring more complex dental treatment and maintenance at their dental practices. Dental teams need to cope with a diverse population with ever-changing disease patterns.
Our research focuses on the development and evaluation of innovative education for the dental team. We develop new operative and learning tools for dentistry – such as the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in dental training – and collaborate with industrial partners, such as Kerr Dental, to test different dental materials and techniques.
We aim to develop health care professionals who can meet the changing demands of the population, and the outcomes of our research could improve the training of the dental care workforce pre and post-qualification. Our work researching interprofessional and outreach activities have also led to improved knowledge, practices and access to dental care for hard-to-reach communities, such as the homeless.
Our research covers the following topics
- Innovation in dental education
- Technology enhanced learning
- Inter-professional education
Methods
We use interviews, surveys and focus groups in our research and conduct experimental design where new training approaches are trialled – including simulation and interprofessional training with other health care professionals, such as Pharmacy workers.
Our research is conducted using electronic systems of monitoring student performance, phantom head facilities, simulation technology for training, and outreach training experiences in the local community.
Project highlights
- Enhancing Learning through Technological Note Making Solutions - We're working with the University's Additional Support and Disability Advice Centre to research the impact on dental students' experience of technologically enhanced learning.
- Portsmouth and Caen Health Promotion Exchange for Pharmacy Students - This is a preliminary study for the development of an International Interprofessional Learning Programme
Publication highlights
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Comparison of traditional and simplified methods for repairing CAD/CAM feldspathic ceramics
The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics, 2017, Volume 9, Issue 4, pages 257-264, DOI: 10.4047/jap.2017.9.4.257, Michele Carrabba, Alessandro Vichi, Professor Chris Louca, Marco Ferrari
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The impact of a postgraduate learning experience on the confidence of General Dental Practitioners
American Journal of Dentistry, Volume 5, Issue 2, 2017, DOI: 10.3390/dj5020016, Peter Fine, Professor Chris Louca, Albert Leung
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British Dental Journal, Volume 225, Issue 5, pages 420-424, DOI: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.744, F. Mirsiaghi, Albert Leung, Peter Fine, R. Blizard, Professor Chris Louca
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The impact of confidence on clinical dental practice
European Journal of Dental Education, Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 159-167, DOI: 10.1111/eje.12415, Peter Fine, Albert Leung, Clare Bentall, Professor Chris Louca
Discover our areas of expertise
Interested in a PhD in Dental & Oral Health?
Browse our postgraduate research degrees – including PhDs and MPhils – at our Dental & Oral Health postgraduate research degrees page.