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The University of Sheffield

Discover Dentistry

The University of Sheffield via FutureLearn

Overview

Learn how to become a dentist and what that means

Are you fascinated by the world of dentistry? Try our 6-week course by the University of Sheffield and learn the essentials of dentistry from leading dental experts.

You’ll explore the intricacies of what dentists do, learn how to become a dentist and discover the rich history of dentistry.

Understand tooth anatomy and development

To start with, you’ll meet the dental team and receive a tour of the dental surgery. You’ll experience a dental check-up with experts and discover the basics of tooth anatomy and development by looking at 3D models.

Find out if you’ve been brushing your teeth the right way, and glimpse into the different dental specialities. Learn what an oral pathologist does and experience a virtual tour of a tooth.

Learn about dental treatments and different dental materials

You may be familiar with dental treatments such as dentures and crowns, but you’ll discover more about dental restoration in this course.

We’ll be thinking about dental materials that can be used to restore and replace teeth, including plastics, ceramics and metals such as gold and titanium.

Discover the future of dentistry and dental public health

In the final few weeks, we’ll be thinking about the future of teeth and how to care for the teeth of a population. From water fluoridation to diet effects, teeth are not immune to damage.

Spark your curiosity and take a look at current research in dentistry, such as nerve regeneration and tissue engineering. The future of dentistry holds many exciting possibilities.

To finish, you’ll get the chance to learn how to become a dentist and get a valuable introduction to studying dentistry degrees.

This course is for anyone interested in dentistry or science and is designed to be enjoyed without prior knowledge.

It would be especially valuable for dentistry professionals, or anyone thinking of entering the profession.

Due to the highly visual nature of dentistry, a small number of exercises in the course, unfortunately, won’t be accessible to learners with visual impairment.

Syllabus

  • Discover dentistry
    • Welcome to Week 1
    • A brief history of dentistry
    • The Dental Team
    • Week 1 Summary and quiz
  • Teeth and their care
    • Welcome to Week 2
    • Introduction to tooth development, shape and function
    • A dental checkup
    • Instruments and charting
    • How to brush like a pro!
    • Week 2 Summary and quiz
  • Oral disease and trauma
    • Welcome to Week 3
    • Meet the specialists
    • It's not all about teeth!
    • Oral Pathology
    • Your dental experiences
    • Week 3 Summary and quiz
  • Restoring and replacing teeth
    • Welcome to Week 4
    • The history of dental materials
    • Dental restoration and dental materials
    • Modern dental materials
    • Do try this at home: Kitchen experiments
    • Week 4 Summary and quiz
  • Caring for a population's teeth
    • Welcome to Week 5
    • What is Dental Public Health?
    • Discussion: The Big Issues
    • Discussion: Your diet
    • Dental ethics and the law
    • Week 5 Summary
  • The future of teeth
    • Welcome to Week 6
    • Current research in dentistry
    • Final course assessment
    • Farewell video

Taught by

Christopher Stokes

Reviews

4.9 rating, based on 166 Class Central reviews

4.9 rating at FutureLearn based on 210 ratings

Start your review of Discover Dentistry

  • Profile image for Rachel Turner
    Rachel Turner
    Excellent course! It doesn't assume any prior knowledge, so is accessible to everyone (though a little background understanding of basic science and a bit of biology/human biology is helpful, but not essential). I found it really interesting and learnt...
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    I worked as a nurse in hospital nursing homes for 40 years I am now retired, I go mosque regularly, I have 3 grandchildren, By joining this course I learn a lot I didn't realize that small part in your mouth is important, and a major player...
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    I am doing this course to, primarily, help me to gain a better insight into the realms of dentistry and what dentists do. It has been an interesting and eye-opener journey. The many facets of dentistry and the practice of the profession in various specialities...
  • Anonymous
    The discover dentistry course has been incredibly beneficial to me. I've found it very informative and enjoyed taking part in all the activities. The simulations provided a realistic experience to an online classroom and benefitted greatly. I found it...
  • Anonymous
    Discover Dentistry is the best course I have ever done! Professor Chris and others from the University of Sheffield have put in a lot of effort into making this course the best it can be, and it shows. The course has a range of different elements, including videos, practicals and quizzes, all of which help greatly in learning and remembering the content. Speaking of the content, it is so fascinating that there must be something for everyone. It has a different focus each week, beginning with the foundations of dentistry, through the processes and information of the modern day, right up to fields of research. I would like to give great thanks to Professor Chris for making such a fantastic course!
  • Anonymous
    I am in my late 70s and did the course to add to my knowledge of dentistry. My previous knowledge was confined to experience of dentists working on my teeth. I had assumed that was all they did although I knew nerves connected with the teeth penetrate a long way into the rest of the body. This course has been fascinating and shown me that the profession is varied and dealing with one of the most important parts of the body, the face. Damage to the face is very likely to cause social exclusion so its extremely important. I am too old and my academic ability is insufficient but this course has taught me that the dentistry profession has the greatest value.
  • Anonymous
    This course is really interesting. If you are unsure about studying dentistry at university, This course provides some amazing information about what you may study, The history of dentistry, Its overall background, and a little insight into what overall dentistry is in this world. The course is split into 6 weeks which ensures you are not overloaded with information and is really well structured with many activities and videos to support your learning. Thank you for this amazing course.
  • Anonymous
    This course was very informative and very engaging. With videos, images and links to research papers, it has everything you need to stay interested and gives amazing insight into the dental profession, specialities and whether it is right for you. I would highly recommend this to anyone thinking of taking this course :)
  • Anonymous
    Was a very interesting course overall with an incredible host. It’s structure was easy to understand in that it went ina chronological fashion but also had lots of interesting and engaging content. Would definitely recommend for anyone looking to study dentistry or just interested in the subject
  • Anonymous
    Extremely interesting and educational course. Took into consideration many aspects of dentistry and explained the basics in detail. Truly inspiring and definitely worth participating in if you’re interested in dentistry.
  • Anonymous
    Such an informative, immersive and interactive course. So so impressed. I would highly recommend for anyone aspiring to study within the Dental field or just looking for some subject insight! Deffo great value for money too.
  • Adnan Abdalghfar Abdalrhman Alabsye
    Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the preparation of this wonderful course, which I consider one of the best courses in the field of oral and dental health
  • Anonymous
    I really enjoyed this course, I learnt alot and it has really helped me in expanding my knowlage on dentistry.
  • Mariam Abdelfattah Aish Ali Mustafa

    Mariam Abdelfattah Aish Ali Mustafa completed this course, spending 2 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.

    I would like to thank all the dentists and every one who contributed in this effort, l have learnt lots of amazing information,I have observed things that I have never focused on before, thank you all for making my first experiment in dental courses that good.
  • Anonymous
    It was very helpful and useful and very informative about what I hope to do as my job. The second week was my favourite, it was very fun to watch the dental check-up and to do the dental assistant activities.
  • Anonymous
    This course has been both engaging and inspiring. It touched on so many aspects of Dentistry and showed how diverse and broad Dentistry really is. The course had really interesting articles and videos filmed with healthcare professionals talking about their experiences and knowledge. The communal chat at the bottom of each section was also so useful to share thoughts and read other peoples discussions and points of view.
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous completed this course.

    Amazing introduction to dentistry, all aspects of it. Anatomy of the tooth, different dental specialties, restorations... A lot of good introductory information.
  • Bernard Kong Yoon Leng
    Thank you Professor Chris Stokes and his marvelous Team at the University of Sheffield for specially assembling a panel of dental specialists from different dental specialization for this 6 -week Course. Targeted at the interested learners, the course content is well balanced. It covers broad academic and technical subjects and even touch on dentistry of the future ; all well presented via videos/articles with in-between quizzes, non -assessible tests along the way to help with the learning and even simple home experiments to deepen learning. The Final test, based only on subjects taught in the Course , without surprises is easily achievable for those who have invested their fair share of efforts in dutifully following the Course.
  • Anonymous
    A truly fantastic course. It is very interactive, and provides an insight into what dentistry is all about. It has helped me confirm that dentistry is the course I want to pursue. I am very thankful to have found this great course.
  • Anonymous
    This course was extremely fun and fascinating and I learnt a lot, not just about dentistry nowadays but also what dentistry and general oral health was like in the past and what it will be like in the future. This course explained the importance of different members of the dental team and provided a lot of information about the different types of careers/job roles within the dental sector. The part I loved the most was learning about the history of dentistry, learning how to identify the different teeth, and the materials that are used in dentistry.

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