In Australia, dental students fail 10 times more than medical students !!

One out of seven recent dentistry graduates failed their final exams on the first attempt. Photo: Angela Milne

DENTISTS fail their final exams at a rate more than 10 times higher than that of medical students but eventually pass through remedial assessments - qualifying to move straight into private practice.

One in seven recent dental graduates in NSW failed their final exams at first attempt and passed only after further training and the opportunity to resit. The rate in medicine was closer to one in a hundred.

In the University of Sydney's dentistry class of 2010, two students had to sit their final exam three times before passing.

The Herald revealed last month that complaints against dentists have more than trebled in three years and, of the hundreds of complaints made against dentists in NSW, only a handful resulted in disciplinary action.

Since then, students and dentists have expressed concern over the quality of graduates from NSW and other states.

''The rot starts at the university level. There is simply a very poor level of training … Most of us graduate with a requirement, with very little experience,'' one student said.

''There is entrenched protectionism in the profession - starting from universities … pushing through students, right through to the [Australian Dental Association] maintaining its monopoly pricing on the service.''

An associate professor at the University's of Sydney's faculty of dentistry, Liz Martin, said 14 per cent of the 2010 final-year cohort could not graduate and had to take up remedial learning.

''Some had failed in the written component, some had failed in the [oral] component. The remaining ones were held back for clinical reasons,'' she said.

Ten per cent of last year's students failed one or more theory modules in their final exams.

They were given the opportunity to look at their exam papers before resitting the same exam, although with different questions. In some cases, by consent, those students would sit written exams in place of the oral exams they had failed.

A further 4 per cent had not completed required clinical competencies and were given five days of intensive oral surgery training before graduating.

The dean of the faculty, Chris Peck, said all students graduated at a competent level.

''Really, by the time that you get to final year, those that are not suitable for the course have actually failed back in first year or second year,'' he said.

The University of Sydney is the only school graduating dentists in NSW, although Charles Sturt University will produce its first graduating class in two years.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/dentistry-faculty-does-bridge-work-on-high-fail-rate-20110908-1jztp.html#ixzz1XRqKxzkf