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University College Cork

Dental Public Health

Course Outline
The aim of this postgraduate course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead and support the development of dental public health nationally and internationally.

Dental public health is the science of preventing oral diseases, promoting oral health and improving the quality of life through organised efforts. It concerns not only actions directed at populations as a whole, but also at the groups and individuals that make up populations.

Highly-trained public health specialists are required in Ireland and abroad to tackle issues such as health inequalities; their causes and solutions; communicable diseases; oral health; obesity; smoking and international health development.

The MSc Dental Public Health is an innovative course designed to offer multi-disciplinary academic and experiential development.

The course emphasises:
student-directed learning
multi-disciplinary teaching and learning
problem-solving
skills training
flexibility

This course will appeal to dental professionals:
who wish to develop the knowledge, skills and commitment to develop services which are equitable and fair

who wish to develop a greater understanding of the competing demands, resource implications and expectations in providing a public dental service in the twenty-first century

Why Choose This Course
Dental public health is recognised as an important component of the modern dentist's skill set. As populations live longer, the focus must be on adding 'life to years rather than years to life'. Oral healthcare must be planned and delivered to optimise scarce resources. This successful outcome is fostered throughout the MDPH, exposing the student to research methods, fostering evidence-based practice, healthcare evaluation and encouraging leadership, through structured modules.

Entry requirements

Requirements
Prospective students must satisfy the following:

students accepted on the course should hold a BDS (Hons) Degree of the NUI or equivalent degree. Health care professionals, for example medical doctors, nurses or auxillary dental workers holding relevant degrees will also be considered

include with application form a sample of their own written work

satisfy an interview board

All applicants should indicate on their application form their reasons for wishing to enter this programme and will be required to discuss these at interview.

Note: In exceptional circumstances applicants with a primary degree in another discipline may be recommended for entry to the programme following a review of their individual qualifications and experience by the course committee. Admission of such applicants may be subject to the approval of the College of Medicine and Health Executive Committee.

English Language Requirements
Applicants that are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university approved English language requirements available here.

For applicants with qualifications completed outside of Ireland
Applicants must meet the required entry academic grade, equivalent to Irish requirements, please find our grades comparison by country here.

International/non-EU applicants
For full details of the non-EU application procedure please visit our how to apply pages for international students. In UCC, we use the term programme and course interchangeably to describe what a person has registered to study in UCC and its constituent colleges, schools, and departments.

Not all courses are open to international/non-EU applicants.

For more information please contact the International Office.

Duration

1 year full-time

Careers or further progression

Skills and Careers Information
At the end of this course you will be able to:
analyse critically and debate the theories and issues related to dental public health and effectively communicate your perspective to peer groups:

construct arguments around the social, political and economic factors determining the health of populations

demonstrate competence in the key disciplines and theories underpinning public health including health informatics; epidemiology, including needs and demands assessment; communicable diseases, including healthcare associated infections; biostatistics; social and behavioural sciences and social policy

design and discuss the provision, economic evaluation, management and leadership of health services

analyse and synthesise evidence-based research and its application to the practice of dental public health

develop and evaluate appropriate oral health protection and promotion initiatives at the population level

develop and apply research methodology by conducting a specified programme of research under appropriate supervision.

Further enquiries

Dr. Mairead Harding
e: m.harding@ucc.ie
t: + 353 (0) 21 490 1103
http://www.ucc.ie/en/dentalschool/study/postgraduate/

Liz Flynn
e: l.flynn@ucc.ie

Subjects taught

The following modules are taken as part of the course:
EH6051 Principles and Practice of Public Health
EH6052 Applied Research for Public Health
EH6053 Public Health Informatics
EH6054 Leadership in Public Health
PA6001 Decision Analysis and Evaluation Methods in Health Care and Health Care Financing
SS6028 Critical Social Science Perspectives on Public Health
OH6001 Dental Public Health
OH6002 Preventive Dentistry
OH6003 Dissertation in Dental Public Health

Full details may be found on the College Calendar.

Modules
Further details on the modules listed above can be found in our book of modules. Any modules listed above are indicative of the current set of modules for this course but are subject to change from year to year.

University Calendar
You can find the full academic content for the current year of any given course in our University Calendar.

Comment

Course Practicalities
Lectures are scheduled for Thursday evenings and all day Friday. Extensive reading is required. Reading lists are provided with each module. The course is a taught master's, modular in format with assessment through written examination, project work, essay and completion of a minor dissertation. The course draws on the experience across the university with teaching being provided from the College of Medicine and Health, Centre for Policy Studies and Applied Social Studies. International speakers are also invited to provide seminars on the course, enhancing the experience of the student and exposing you to different approaches.

Assessment method

The course is a taught master's, modular in format with assessment through written examination, project work, essay and completion of a minor dissertation.

Application date

Applications for academic year 2020/2021 are open.

EU Applicants: UCC operates a rounds closing date system for the majority of postgraduate taught courses, which means offers are made four times a year on a rolling basis. Some courses have one specific closing date, please check your course prospectus page for this information.

The UCC rounds closing dates for postgraduate taught courses are below. Applicants are advised to apply as soon as possible.

Deadline for receipt of full applications:
For all completed applications received by January 10th 2020
Offers will be made by January 24th 2020

For all completed applications received by March 2nd 2020
Offers will be made by March 16th 2020

For all completed applications received by May 1st 2020
Offers will be made by May 15th 2020

For all completed applications received by July 1st 2020
Offer will be made by July 15th 2020

Late applications may be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for any courses that have remaining capacity.

Non-EU Closing Date: 15 June
Non-EU Applicants: Information for Non-EU applicants may be found on the International Office Website https://www.ucc.ie/en/international/