Contributions

We welcome contributions from students about courses and study, also articles of interest that other BOH students would find interesting. If you have an articles you would like to have considered for inclusion please forward to the editor Karen Turanga

Student Membership

If you are a Bachelor of Oral Health student at AUT or Otago we would love to have you join our Association. There are many benefits for students not the least of which is being involved with your peers prior to graduating.

You can find the 'Student Membership' information in 'Join NZDHA' on the left. One of the key advantages for students is the reduced fee. As a student member you are only required to pay 25% of the full membership fee, the cost for this is only $45

We look forward to having you join our membership.
NZDHA Executive

University of Otago

Posted April 2009
After a long summer break the year began with a welcome ceremony and morning tea for the new students at the town hall. Tis marks the beginning of an exciting year for the Bachelor of Oral Health programme at Otago University, as 2009 is the first year for graduates with this degree, and also for having students in all three years of the programme with over 100 BOH students now.

 The second and third year students are fortunate enough to have had a ‘hands on’ Cavitron seminar thanks to Dentsply in March. This provided students with a useful learning experience which will help with clinical skills. Patient clinics resume for the final year students in March and the second year students begin seeing patients after Easter.

The first year students are now in the process of learning those vital initial skills and becoming   familiar with the dental clinics. The therapy side of the programme will see the final year students placed in dental clinics throughout New Zealand for a four week placement in the middle of the year and the second year students will assist the final year students in their therapy clinics prior to seeing their own patients so they can get an understanding of how these clinics run. 

The final year students will also undertake one week placements with hygienists later in the year and are looking forward to seeing how private practice operates. So there’s plenty to look forward to for all the students this year and it looks like 2009 is going to be another busy one.

Amanda Buxcey
University of Otago Student Representative

Auckland University of Technology

Posted November 2008
We are the first class of oral health students dual trained in dental hygiene and dental therapy. The end of our degree is approaching very rapidly. Twenty-three of us are due to graduate on the 9th of December this year, all going to plan. We have been extremely busy in the past few weeks writing our last assignments and studying for our final exams which start November 4th. Alongside that we have been obtaining our final clinical competencies in the AUT and ARDS clinics. We are also finishing treatment on our dental hygiene patients and putting them on a recall for the following year’s students. As well as this we recently helped Colgate promoting oral health in various locations around Auckland for oral health month.

In our spare time that we barely manage to find, we are searching for our first jobs as dental therapists and dental hygienists. To celebrate our success we will be having a prize giving which will be sponsored by numerous dental companies who have supported our program. Annette King will also attend this event. This is to be followed by a dinner sponsored by Colgate the night before graduation. We are thrilled to be graduating soon and are looking forward to joining the profession.

Bridget Ranger and Sheena McPhail                   
AUT Third Year Oral Health Student Representative