Program Overview

Program Overview

The RAK Medical and Health Sciences University offers a comprehensive Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) program. The program is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in dental sciences, as well as clinical training and experience.

Program Structure

The BDS program is a five-year course that includes both theoretical and practical training. The program is divided into five years, with each year building on the previous one to provide a comprehensive education in dental sciences.

Year 1

• Anatomy-Head & Neck and Cell Biology: This course provides an understanding of the basic anatomy, embryology, histology, imaging, and relevant clinical anatomy of the Head and neck region, CNS, along with a general outline of Respiratory, cardiovascular, and digestive systems.
• Physiology: This course provides a system-based approach to the normal organ functions and the various physiological processes of the body that maintain homeostasis.
• Oral Biology and Tooth Morphology: This course describes the micro and macro structures and function of the oral cavity, including teeth, bone, soft tissues, and salivary glands, and associated structures, along with theories of formation, growth, and development of these tissues.
• English: This course provides the basic skills of the English language required in dental practice.
• Health Sciences Communication in Arabic: This course provides the students with the basic knowledge and skills of communication in the Arabic language with patients and healthcare staff.
• Information Technology and Innovation: This course focuses on identifying the components of the information systems, namely the hardware, software, and connectivity.
• Health Sciences Communication in English: This course aims to train students to be able to communicate with clarity, sensitivity, and effectiveness in their interaction as dentists to communicate with patients and their families.
• Islamic Culture and Medicine: This course discusses the current medical and scientific issues from the Islamic perspective.
• Emirates Society: This course introduces students to the main social features of the Emirati community and its core values and heritage.

Year 2

• Biochemistry: This course focuses on the conceptual discipline based on the structure and function of components of living tissues in health and disease.
• Pharmacology and Therapeutic: This course describes the principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, including factors that modify drug action.
• Pathology: This course builds upon an understanding of the normal structure and function of the human body and enables the students to relate the basic concepts of general pathology to understand the pathogenesis and morphology of diseases.
• Pre-Clinical Operative Dentistry & Biomaterials: This course describes the basic concepts of cavity design with minimum cavity extension, materials used in the various conservative procedures, their manipulation, and properties.
• Microbiology: This course provides the student with an understanding of the natural history of oral infections and other systemic infectious diseases with oral manifestations.
• General Medicine: This course provides the students with the etiology, signs, and symptoms of common medical problems encountered during dental practice.
• Infection Control: This course focuses on the protocols of infection control and the mechanisms by which infectious diseases are transmitted in dental practice.
• General Surgery: This course introduces the student to the basic concept of surgical patients.
• Ethics in Dental Practice: This course helps students to understand the place of ethics in professional life.
• Practice Management: This course focuses on dentistry as a business, dental team & patient management, importance of legal and ethical issues, communication skill, financing, purchasing equipment, documentation, and regulations of dental practice management.
• Evidence-Based Dentistry: This course is designed to teach students how to find, evaluate, and apply research evidence to make decisions regarding the care of their patients.
• Pre-Clinical Periodontics: This course exposes the students to a complete spectrum of normal structure of periodontium, various forms of periodontal diseases, plaque, and systemic conditions affecting the periodontal tissues.
• Clinical Orientation: The concept of clinical orientation is to acquaint the students with dental operatory.
• Biostatistics and Research Methodology: This course is designed to teach students how to find, evaluate, and apply research evidence to make decisions regarding the care of their patients.

Year 3

• Community Dentistry: This course introduces the students to different oral health problems at a community level along with general epidemiological methods.
• Ethics in Dental Practice: This course helps students to understand the place of ethics in professional life.
• Pre-Clinical Prosthodontics & Biomaterials: This course introduces the principles and lab procedures related to dental materials, removable and fixed prostheses.
• Pre-Clinical Oral Surgery: This course presents the complete pharmacology of local anesthetic agents and commonly used injection techniques.
• Oral Pathology: The course is designed to study diseases involving the soft tissues, bone, and dental hard tissues of the maxillofacial region.
• Oral Radiology: The course focuses on the basic principles of X-ray production, the biological damage effects of ionizing radiation, and protection from radiation hazards.
• Clinical Periodontics: The course focuses on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning of various forms of periodontal diseases based on the comprehensive clinical examination.
• Pre-Clinical Endodontics: The course focuses on knowledge of pulp diseases, diagnosis, and treatment planning related to endodontics.
• Oral Medicine & Oral Diagnosis: The course describes various oral diseases and conditions, including white lesions of the oral mucosa, oral ulcerations, disorders of pigmentation, and pigmented lesions.

Year 4

• Clinical Operative Dentistry: The clinical operative dentistry course builds on the preceding principles and techniques presented in the pre-clinical operative course.
• Clinical Prosthodontics: The course focuses on diagnosis, treatment planning, and prognosis of removable and fixed prosthodontic cases based on the comprehensive clinical examination.
• Clinical Endodontics: The course focuses on knowledge of pulp diseases, diagnosis, and treatment planning related to endodontics.
• Clinical Oral Surgery and Implantology: The course focuses on diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning of common dento-alveolar problems with an emphasis on oral surgical procedures performed by general dental practitioners.
• Clinical Pediatric Dentistry: This course provides training in primary and comprehensive, preventive, and therapeutic oral health care for infants and children through adolescence.
• Hospital and Geriatric Dentistry: This course provides an opportunity for the students to observe hospitalized patients with medical and surgical problems.
• Treatment Planning and Problem-Oriented Learning: The course focuses on patient examination, education, oral health risk assessment, development of personalized prevention strategies for dental and oral health-related diseases.

Year 5

• Clinical Orthodontics: This course provides the students with knowledge about the basic terminologies, rationale of orthodontic treatment, facial growth, development of normal occlusion, classification of malocclusion, etiology of malocclusion, diagnosis skills, extra and intra oral examination, study model analysis, cephalometric analysis, histology, and physiology of tooth movement.
• Comprehensive Clinical Dentistry - I: This training is designed to improve clinical skills in diagnosis, comprehensive treatment planning, and management of patients with various dental problems as comprehensive care under the supervision of clinical faculty and staff.
• Research Project: This course provides the students an opportunity to select a suitable topic for research in dental sciences under the guidance of the course coordinator and a member of the dental faculty.
• Comprehensive Dentistry II: This training is designed to improve clinical skills in diagnosis, comprehensive treatment planning, and management of patients with various dental problems as comprehensive care under the supervision of clinical faculty & staff.

Elective Courses

• Esthetic Dentistry: This course prepares the students to diagnose, form a treatment plan, and perform a number of esthetic procedures with the latest available materials.
• Rehabilitation in Pediatric Dentistry: This course describes the principles of comprehensive oral rehabilitation in pediatric patients.
• Advanced Endodontics: The advanced endodontics course builds on the preceding principles and techniques presented in the clinical endodontics course.
• Dental Implantology: This course presents the complete orofacial anatomy, bone physiology, concept of Osseo integration, and tissue reaction on implant material.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the BDS program, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the principles of dental sciences.
• Apply their knowledge and skills to diagnose, treat, and prevent various dental and oral health-related diseases.
• Communicate effectively with patients, families, and healthcare teams.
• Demonstrate critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Apply ethical principles and professional values in their practice.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of lifelong learning and continuous professional development.

Accreditation

The BDS program is accredited by the Ministry of Education, UAE, and recognized by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The College of Pharmacy at RAKMHSU has obtained dual national and international accreditation for its Bachelor of Pharmacy program from the American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA).