Master of Dental Surgery in Oral Surgery

Year 1, Fall semester

13 credit hours

• 1002501Basic Medical Sciences6 credits

  This foundation course in Basic medical sciences shall be presented in an integrated manner covering growth and development, human anatomy and physiology, biochemistry and genetics and clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. It provides the students with advance understanding of development, structure and function of the head and neck in particular and the human body in general. Aspects of basic dental sciences help students focus on the development, structure and function of the organ and tissues forming the oral cavity that includes dental tissues, oral mucosa, salivary glands and saliva and the temporo-mandibular joint. This knowledge is key to understanding and solving congenital and acquired clinical problems in dentistry.

• 1002502Research Methodology I2 credits

  This course will provide an opportunity for students to advance their understanding of research through critical exploration of research language, ethics, and approaches. The course introduces the language of research, ethical principles and challenges, and the elements of the research process within quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Participants will use these theoretical underpinnings to begin to critically review literature relevant to their field of interests and determine how research findings are useful in forming their understanding of their clinical work and patient care.

• 1002541Patient Care I5 credits

  This is a Clinical Practice course that encompasses the scope of minor oral surgery in outpatient oral surgery clinics. Students are closely supervised and given adequate support in developing clinical skills pertaining to history taking, oral examination and diagnosis. Clinical discussions at the chairside emphasizes heavily on anatomy, physiology and pathology of the relevant clinical condition under investigation.

Year 1, Spring semester

10 credit hours

• 1002542Medical Sciences3 credits

  This course introduces the students to principles of medicine and surgery that is crucial for safe and effective oral surgery practice, through rotations in General Medicine, General Surgery, Anesthesiology and Accident and Emergency Medicine. Students learn a complete and thorough medical and surgical history taking, perform a complete general physical examination and familiarize with common radiology and laboratory investigations and their interpretations for the medical and surgical patients. Common medical conditions such as management of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, asthma and allergies are emphasized. They shall assimilate knowledge and skills for in-patient care, particularly the perioperative care of the surgical patients and the head injured patient. Critical issues in nutrition, wound management, fluid and electrolyte balance, blood transfusion, use of antibiotics and analgesics are addressed

• 1002503Research Methodology II (Biostatistics)2 credits

  Biostatistics course provides an introduction to selected important topics in bio statistical concepts and reasoning. This course represents an introduction to the field and provides a survey of data and data types. Specific topics include tools for describing central tendency and variability in data; methods for performing inference on population means and proportions via sample data; statistical hypothesis testing and its application to group comparisons; issues of power and sample size in study designs; and random sample and other study types. While there are some formulae and computational elements to the course, the emphasis is on interpretation and concepts. This course shall strengthen students' preparation in their research proposal in second year of the program.

• 1002543Patient Care II5 credits

  This is the clinical practice part of the Medical Rotation Course in Semester 2. It introduces the students to the practice of medicine and surgery emphasizing on knowledge and basic general clinical skills that is crucial for safe and effective oral surgery practice. Students experience shall include aspects of safe anesthetic practice and management of medical emergencies. Students learn a complete and thorough medical and surgical history taking, perform a complete general physical examination and familiarize with common investigations and their interpretations for the medical and surgical patients. They should be able to recognize symptoms and signs of medical conditions related to hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, asthma and allergies. The course will provide enough basic knowledge and skills for in-patient care, particularly the perioperative care of the surgical patients and the head injured patient.

Summer Elective I (4 weeks)

The study plan prints no credit hours for the summer electives.

• 1002544Patient Care Elective I

  This 4 weeks Summer Elective Clinical Practice is an oral surgery clinical practice course that encompasses the scope of minor oral surgery, which is a continuation of Patient Care I course where students were initially exposed to preliminary training in outpatient oral surgery clinics. This course further builds students' skills for partially independent minor oral surgery practice with indirect supervision. Students shall clerk patients' history and examination, perform the necessary investigations and develop an oral surgical treatment plan after analyzing all risks and benefits associated with a particular case. The case will be presented to the faculty for discussion and approval. Students working in pairs will then prepare the necessary logistics and perform the minor oral surgery procedure in the presence of the supervisor. Incremental independent surgical practice is given to students based on their performance. Students are expected to understand their limitations and return to the clinical supervisor whenever the need arises. Direct feedback is given immediately at the end of every operation. At the end of the 4 weeks' oral surgery clinical training, students are expected to be able to practice uncomplicated minor dento-alveolar surgery with minimal supervision.

Year 2, Fall semester

10 credit hours

• 1002545Surgical Sciences3 credits

  The course in oral surgical sciences prepares the students for an advanced career in oral surgery beyond the level of general practice. A more detailed knowledge of maxillofacial pathology, dento-facial radiology and oral medicine is necessary to embark on advanced oral surgery. Surgical sciences course further introduce students to the use of contemporary technology in dental surgery including laser, ultrasound therapy, CAD-CAM principles, 3D-printing and bio-modeling and robotic surgery and surgical navigation technology. Students will also learn about the operating room techniques and safety issues such as using the surgical diathermy machine and other risks in the operating room environment. There are laboratory practical sessions working on models, cadaver head and sheep's head that would further enhance the skills of the students. This course thus forms the key foundation and concepts of oral and maxillofacial diseases and its surgical management and surgical techniques. All this knowledge in surgical sciences is critical in clinical decision making for the oral and maxillofacial surgery patient. Students would be introduced to more complex oral surgery practice under general anesthesia. There will be experience in managing pediatric oral surgery problems too. A combination of this knowledge and skills are then employed to perform safe and effective advanced oral surgical procedures.

• 1002504Research Project I2 credits

  In this course, students are expected to search for a suitable research topic, and identify a suitable supervisor to support them through the research project. They shall be guided to perform a literature survey and identify key areas and research gaps in a particular clinical or fundamental science area. The course enables students to generate research hypothesis and further introduce them to write a research proposal. They will also learn to request for relevant human ethics and animal ethics approval, and expected to perform a preliminary research proposal presentation.

• 1002546Patient Care III5 credits

  Patient Care III is the Clinical Practice course that takes the students towards advance oral surgery practice. The course shall build further oral surgery skills such as incision and drainage of oro-facial abcesses, removal of complex tooth impactions, related to wisdom tooth, buried canine and premolars, pre-prosthetic surgery, complex apicectomies, oral soft tissue and bone biopsies, release of tongue tie and closure of oro-antral fistula. Students are also introducing to minor oral surgery problems in the pediatric population, that include multiple tooth extractions under general anesthesia, release of tongue-tie, dento-alveolar pathology and management of the special needs children and adults.

Year 2, Spring semester

9 credit hours

• 1002547Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine2 credits

  Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine Course introduces the students to the multidisciplinary nature of oral surgery practice. Emphasis are given on the basic management of the dental occlusion, basics of dental implantology, and the oral medicine aspects in management of salivary gland diseases, facial pain and the temporomandibular and oral mucosal diseases, and management of the medically compromised patients.

• 1002505Research Project II2 credits

  In this course, students shall organize and prepare their research logistics, begin their pilot study, or validate their questionnaire or run laboratory test to optimize their methods; or begin collecting data either in field work or laboratory experiments. They should ensure that they already have their human or animal ethics approval in place, or they may be needed to provide more information to satisfy the committee in order to get their projects approved. Project supervisors shall support their research activities very closely.

• 1002548Patient Care IV5 credits

  This Clinical Practice course allow the students to practice advance minor oral surgery in the oral surgery clinic and hospital-based oral surgery practice. In the clinic, students plan their dental implant cases with a multidisciplinary team and present them to the multidisciplinary faculty that involves periodontist and restorative dentists. Students also participate in multidisciplinary facial pain clinics and managing patients together with oral medicine specialist and physical therapist. They will also manage oral medicine cases, that deals with diseases of the oral mucosa and salivary gland pathologies. Special needs children and medically compromised patients who need oral surgery care including exodontia are seen in special needs clinics.

Summer Elective II (4 weeks)

• 1002549Patient Care Elective II

  This 4 weeks Summer Elective Clinical Practice course is a continuation of Patient Care IV clinical course that shall provide a sound foundation in advance oral surgery, with respect to implant dentistry, facial pain, non-surgical treatment of oral diseases (oral medicine) and management of special needs and the medically compromised patients. Students shall be given more independent work with "loose supervision", while working in teams with other colleagues from the First Year. The course involves clinical training in oral surgery and oral medicine and hospital based oral surgery practice.

Year 3, Fall semester

12 credit hours

• 1002650Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery I3 credits

  This course introduces the student to conditions that affect the oral cavity, cranio-maxillofacial region and the neck. It begins with an in-depth instructions regarding the surgical anatomy of the head and neck that allows the students to understand the mechanisms and concepts around trauma to the face including dental, oral and maxillofacial trauma; oral and maxillofacial infections, craniofacial deformity and its implications on dental esthetics and malocclusion; speech pathology and sleep-disordered breathing; and benign and malignant tumors of the mouth and jaws and associated structures in the neck.

• 1002506Research Project III2 credits

  This course shall concentrate on research activity implementation, with emphasis on data collection and tabulation of preliminary results.

• 1002651Patient Care V6 credits

  This Clinical Practice course introduces the students to the clinical management of maxillofacial trauma, cleft and craniofacial deformities, benign and malignant tumors of the jaw and oral cancer. Students are exposed to the roles of the oral surgeon in a multidisciplinary trauma, cleft and oral cancer team; and the part they play in managing major oral and maxillofacial surgery cases. The clinical practice course include training in maxillofacial surgery clinics, operating sessions under general anesthesia and on-call duties in the general hospital setting. Joint multidisciplinary treatment plan session with restorative dentistry and orthodontics, and with oral medicine are also conducted in this course. The joint clinics include the combine cleft lip and palate services and combine head and neck oncology clinic.

• 1002507Multidisciplinary Treatment Planning I1 credit

  In this course, special cases needing a complex periodontal-restorative and implant treatment, will be critically discussed by the group of all graduate students and instructors. The treatment will be coordinated so that graduate students of different programs shall manage patients according to the discussed and approved consensus and holistic treatment plan.

Year 3, Spring semester

11 credit hours (programme total: 65)

• 1002652Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery II2 credits

  This course consolidates the comprehensive knowledge of the student in oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral medicine, gained over the last five semesters, and include some oral surgical aspects of dermatology, ENT and plastic surgery. Students will have an exposure to facial esthetics medicine and rejuvenation and some key concepts in geriatric oral surgery. The course guides the student to think holistically in the management of the oral surgery patient.

• 1002509Research Project IV2 credits

  This final course in research supports the students in analyzing their research results and writing-up their thesis. They revisit their knowledge in biostatistics and apply relevant formulas/ statistical methods to evaluate and validate their research findings. Students must complete their thesis writing and publish a paper related their research work.

• 1002653Patient Care VI6 credits

  This Clinical Practice course consolidates the comprehensive clinical skills of the student in oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral medicine, gained over the last five semesters, and include some oral surgical aspects of dermatology, ENT and plastic surgery. Students will have an exposure to facial esthetics medicine and facial rejuvenation. They are introduced to some key concepts in geriatric oral surgery. The course guides the student to think holistically, and provide the opportunity for them to be a "team leader" for junior residents, in the management of the oral surgery patients.

• 1002508Multidisciplinary Treatment Planning II1 credit

  This is a continuation of Multidisciplinary Treatment planning I whereby special cases needing a complex periodontal-restorative and implant treatment, will be critically discussed by the group of all graduate students and instructors. The treatment will be coordinated so that the graduate students of different programs shall manage patients according to the discussed and approved consensus and holistic treatment plan.