CQUniversity Unit Profile.

This unit covers key topics which are foundations for preclinical and clinical study in the Oral Health Therapy Course. You will study morphology and development of teeth, basic occlusion and microscopic anatomy of oral structures. The study of distinct features and traits of teeth, in primary and permanent dentitions, will enable you to identify and examine teeth, as well as develop an awareness of root morphology required for primary tooth extractions and periodontal treatment for the adult dentition. The study of the development of teeth and the sequence of eruption and exfoliation will develop your understanding of the changes with age from infancy to adulthood. This knowledge and understanding will also enable you to predict changes in the dentition with age and identify abnormalities in the eruption sequence. The study of dental morphology and occlusion will provide you with an understanding of tooth shape and function that applies to the restoration of natural tooth form. The microscopic study of teeth and oral structures will support your study of dental caries, periodontal disease and oral mucosal diseases.

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from Student evaluations and in-class.

Students enjoyed the residential school and felt it was a valuable learning experience. Each year students are given directions on carving a tooth from wax and preparing anatomical drawings of teeth. There are always mixed responses to these activities as some students feel they take up too much time and are not happy about the marks given for the task. While students enjoy the learning activities at residential school they report feeling very stressed by the multi-station practical test.

Residential school will remain in 2019 as it is an important learning experience. Wax carving and tooth drawing will remain as part of the activities at residential school but as formative assessments only. It is recognized that these activities are time consuming activities, especially when the residential school is only two days long. In 2019 ways of streamlining the tasks will be examined. The multi-station practical test will remain as part of the assessment. Time given for the test and questions included will be reviewed.

Feedback from Student evaluations and in-class

Students would like all content for the week to be available at the beginning of the week. With the lecture recorded on Thursdays afternoon, some students felt that they were behind all term as the recording was only available at the end of the week. However students appreciated the weekly study guides, quizzes, sample exam questions and tutorial exercises which were always available at the beginning of each week.

It is understood that students would like every resource to be in place when they begin their week of study. While it is not possible to schedule all lectures on Mondays, steps can be taken to avoid scheduling lectures later in the week. Before attending or watching the lecture on-line, students are encouraged to read the recommended chapter in the textbook and follow the study guide as these are made available in advance of the scheduled week. Students are reminded that the slides for the lecture will only be uploaded on the day of the lecture to allow for weekly updates. If students still wish to listen to and view a lecture before the scheduled time, a copy of the previous year's recording will be included on a separate page on Moodle.

Feedback from Student evaluations

Students felt written assignment was clinically relevant and enjoyed researching topics that were informative and useful. Some students felt they needed more time to complete the assignment and more guidance. Students would like the topics available on week one.

Although the topics for the written assignment related microscopic anatomy of oral structures to clinical practice and student enjoyed researching these topics, the written assignment will not be part of assessment in 2019. The topics will be covered in the weekly learning material and the written assignment will be replaced by two on-line quizzes in 2019. This change should benefit students’ workload.

Feedback from Student evaluations and in-class

Student would like the opportunity to participate face-to-face in tutorial exercises, especially to discuss difficult concepts and problem solving activities.

ORAL11005 is a challenging unit. There are a number of difficult concepts to understand and a number of the questions in the in-class test and final written exam require problem solving abilities. Tutorial exercises will be further developed and students will be encouraged to ask questions in the Q&A forum. Activities at residential school will be reviewed to include a group problem solving activity.