Dentistry Electives Abroad: Observations & Practicums
Our Dentistry Electives Abroad
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Kenya dentisry electives
Join our professionally managed and support Dental Electives Abroad
You will be able to carry our supervised practicums on each of our dentistry electives abroad placements in line with your verified practicum experience to date on your university course.
Each placement offers a contrasting experience. The army dental corps provides a very well managed-experience for you and the patients, with up to 200 booked in out-patients per day, (serving and veteran army personnel and their immediate families) across all specialisms. with consultants and dentists who lecture globally, and completely free.
In Ghana, access to dentists outside Accra is limited, and therefore visits are limited to paying patients, except where outreaches are organised by the medical partners, when many scores can turn up to be seen.
Dental Electives with the Sri Lanka Army
Country: Sri Lanka, Colombo, & Anuradhapura
Location: SL Army Hospitals
Weeks: 2 - 12
Code: SL _DE _AH
Elective Description
Our dentistry electives abroad with the SLA dental corps is (as are those in Kenya and Ghana), delivered through English at the army’s two dental hospitals in Sri Lanka. These are located within each army hospital, the larger, and most modern being in Colombo; the smaller in Anuradhapura, which like the civilian hospitals there are still lauded for their lifesaving work on the front line of the civil war.
All major dental specialities are covered, with modern, well equiped facilities. Each hospital has its own technicians making implants, and dentures, crowns etc., and Colombo has an in-patients ward for OMF cases.
For comprehensive information about this unique placement opportunity, please read the information go to the page Sri Lanka Army Dental Corps Placements
Dental Electives in Ghana
Country: Ghana, west Accra
Location: Ghana Local Hospital
Weeks: 2 - 12
Code: Gh _DE _LH
Elective Description:
These dentistry electives abroad In Ghana provide a unique opportunity to carry out your practice in a low-income, and low-resourced setting. This is the background to which our dedicated medical professional partners work in each day, and a reason they encourage people such as yourself to join them is for the benefits hosting you brings.
Dental elective abroad students in Ghana will be fully supported by our dedicated medical partners in Accra, themselves working in the hospitals you will be based in, and formed into a recognised NGO supporting medical work.
You have hands on experience performing dental procedures, supervised by mentors, in accordance with the practical work they have carried out through their university experience. (Student electivee’s letters of application must be supported by a recommendation letter from their university’s dental department, confirming the practical experience they have had, and the associated hours.)
Your accommodation in Accra, 5 minutes drive from the main hospital, (20 minutes walk) and 40 mins drive from the teaching hospital is provided by our partners.
Your elective will provide much needed support to the dentistry care of the local population and dental elective students are always well received given the limited access to dentists in Accra. You will gain a great deal of experience working in a busy urban hospital in a low resource setting.
Our partner organisation also plans and manages outreaches into local village communities, where the numbers of dental elective volunteers (and dentist volunteers) numbers 4 or more at any time. Dental outreaches can also include education drives in schools to raise awareness of the importance of oral hygiene, and of looking after their teeth. When the organisation knows the numbers that are coming, they set up a GoFundMe page to pay for the outreach programme, which elective students are asked to support by telling others about it.
Dental outreaches can also include education drives in schools to raise awareness of the importance of oral hygiene, and teaching children how to look after their teeth.
We offer two different hospitals for our dentistry electives abroad in Ghana, depending upon the requirements of your university. These are:
The teaching hospital, Accra*
A main hospital, Accra
*Placement at the teaching hospital costs an additional US $250 registration fee, in addition to the cost of an elective (price of weekly mentorship included) at the main hospital.
Your elective in low income, and low resourced settings
Tooth sticks for dental hygiene as sold in African markets
The first point to make is that the Sri Lanka elective placement takes place in a very well resourced setting, both in terms of staffing, and resources. There is a marked contrast to the civilian hospitals in Sri Lanka, which, like the army, provide completely free medical and dental treatment.
Our dental electives abroad in Sri Lanka take place in in the Sri Lanka Army’s 2 hospitals, within which are dental units. The larger of the 2, with 20 chairs, is Colombo, compared with that of Anuradhapura with 5 chairs,
Our Ghana dental electives take place in a main hospital located in west Accra. In both you will be able to do supervised practice, depending on your experience. For example, 4th year UK dental students at the University of Dundee have already completed 8 procedures*, and in Sri Lanka they will be able to carry those out under supervision.
Studies highlight the challenges facing dental care delivery in Africa and Sri Lanka, which your dental elective abroad in either of these low-income, and low-resourced countries will highlight to you. It must, howvere, be said, that the Sri Lanka army hospitals are superbly resourced, at levels not seen in the civilian hospitals.
Your dentistry elective abroad in Ghana supports the local healthcare system, as the money you pay for the placement goes directly to the hospital, providing much needed foreign capital. This not only supports provision, but is a source of encouragement to the health professionals and local population.
Access to dental care is a major concern in low-income, low-resource countries, and dental electives provide opportunities for dental students and professionals to witness these disparities firsthand. You have a unique opportunity as dental students to make a positive impact while gaining invaluable experiences, which you will always look back on, we hope, with an understanding and empathy that guide your choices and advocacy in the future.
Dental electives abroad offer an environment for dental students to refine their clinical skills in diverse and challenging situations. You may learn to adapt and innovate with more limited resources, ultimately becoming more versatile and resilient practitioners. The experience gained in these settings can often enhance your problem-solving abilities, which may be something you’d like to explore in the future with organisations such as MSF.
Dental electives abroad involve you meeting with other local healthcare professionals, and organizations, as well as living with and spending time with other medical volunteers. This experience can help dental students understand the importance of teamwork and interprofessional collaboration, as well as gain a wider understanding of the healthcare systems you are training in, skills that will develop your own skills and adaptability.
In resource-constrained environments, the focus should shift towards preventive dentistry, but the nature of low resourcing means that budgets are directed at treatment and not prevention. The community outreach planned by our partner organisation in Ghana seeks to bridge that gap, and they are always successful, and draw many people who would otherwise not see a dentist. This and educating the community, which our partners do, is a recommended approach to delivering better dental hygiene quickly, through personal responsibility. Our dental electivees are also encouraged to emphasize the significance of public health and prevention as a fundamental approach to oral healthcare, lessons which can be applied globally. In Ghana, where suffcicient numbers join, well attended dental outreaches are arranged to villages, including educating community members about proper oral hygiene and dental care, helping to create sustainable, long-term improvements in oral health.
Our dental electives abroad in low-income, low-resource countries not only improve the oral health of underserved populations but support the growth and development of dental professionals. They instil empathy, resilience, adaptability, and a global perspective, which is so necessary today, while equipping individuals to make meaningful contributions to oral healthcare worldwide.
*History taking & examinations│Restorations (amalgam and composite)│Fissure sealants and Hall Crowns on children│Root canal treatment│Crown and bridgework│Periodontal treatment│Constructed dentures (partial and full)│Extractions under local anaesthetic