Foundation Dental Therapy Training Enhanced Programme

Our  Enhanced Programme provides an opportunity to experience different dental specialties in a supportive environment. The placements are in Paediatric Dentistry, Community Dental Services, Oral Health Education, Dental Public Health and Research. Each Foundation Dental Therapist has been assigned to one of these specialties.

In each placement you will be assigned a named Tutor that will be your principle point of contact within the service. Progress meetings will be held with your Tutor at the beginning, middle and end of the placement and detailed records of the work you have completed logged on the e-portfolio.

Oral Health Education placement:

This placement is with the Directorate of Multi-Disciplinary Dental Education based at our Bourne House facility in Durham, but it is outreach teaching so commuting across the North East region will be required. You will be involved with educating other health professionals in Oral health, for example visiting Care Homes, Pharmacies or GP Practices. As part of your training you will also complete a Level 3 Qualification in Education and Training.

Community Dental Services placement:

This placement will be based at Community Dental Service (CDS) sites across the North East in NHS Foundation Trusts. It will involve working with CDS teams, within your scope of practice, giving you an experience of working in specialist services and provide opportunity for more diverse career pathways.

Paediatric Dental Department Placement:

This placement is based on the Paediatric Department at Newcastle Dental Hospital. It will involve working with the clinical team on the department, experiencing the unique aspects of specialist paediatric dental care.

Dental Public Health

This is a non-clinical placement based with the Dental Public Health team in the North east. You will be working alongside other Specialist Public Health trainees on projects across the region, that will integrate with Local authorities and Health and Social Care systems. It will include training on analysing and manipulation of large data sets, with an aim to present the outcomes of these projects at a national meeting/conference and include a possible publication in a peer reviewed journal. There may be need for travelling across the region as part of data collection activity, and therefore independent transport will be required. 

Research Placement:

One placement will be available to work with the Clinical Research Team at Newcastle University School of Dental Science. Due to the lead time on research and the length of time of the programme, this placement will involve desk-based projects (e.g. secondary data analysis, systemic reviews or economic analysis). It will provide a fantastic opportunity to be involved directly in a research project, giving insight into possible future career pathways in academic research.

You can watch a video (here) to learn more about Dental Therapist Foundation Training in the Northeast.