Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE DNS2102

 
TITLE Operative Dentistry

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 8

 
DEPARTMENT Restorative Dentistry

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will provide undergraduate students with theoretical and practical tuition in the discipline of operative dentistry, as part of the expertise required for comprehensive patient care and oral rehabilitation.

Study-unit Aims:

To provide high quality pre-clinical training that will:
a) Give students the knowledge and skills required to be competent in operative dentistry.
b) Set a solid foundation for students to be able to progress and provide a high standard of dental care to patients in their forthcoming clinical training.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Describe the aetiology and classification of caries and tooth wear.
- Discuss the importance of clinical examination and describe methods of diagnosing dental caries.
- Discuss the principle of minimally invasive dentistry.
- Explain the rationale for operative dentistry in caries control.
- Describe the armamentarium for restorative dentistry.
- Describe the principles of infection control as applied to operative dentistry.
- Describe the principles involved in the restoration of carious teeth.
- Explain the importance of principles of maintenance of the restored dentition.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- Confidently handle operative dentistry armamentarium.
- Follow infection control policies.
- Carry out various basic operative procedures of acceptable standard on extracted teeth and dental mannequins.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- Banerjee A, Watson TF. Pickard’s Manual of Operative Dentistry. 9th Ed, 2011. (Required reading - suggested to buy)
- Garg N, Garg A. Textbook of Operative Dentistry. 2010. (Suggested to borrow for supplementary reading)
- Kidd EAM. Essentials of Dental Caries: the disease and its management. 2nd Ed, 1997. (Suggested to borrow for supplementary reading)
- Dental Update and BDJ journals issued each month provide a continuously updated “textbook”. (Suggested as reference for supplementary reading)

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-requisite Study-units: DNS1100, DNS1102, RDN2101

A pass in this study-unit is required before registering for RDN3101, RDN3108 and RDN3110.

Attendance to scheduled sessions, inclusive of lectures/tutorials, practical, laboratory and clinical components is compulsory. Students who do not attend at least 90% of the scheduled sessions will not be allowed to sit for any of the assessment components mentioned below.

Please note that a pass in all assessment components is obligatory for an overall pass mark to be awarded.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Independent Study and Practical

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Practical [See Add. Notes] (1 Hour and 15 Minutes) SEM1 Yes 25%
Practical [See Add. Notes] (1 Hour and 15 Minutes) SEM2 Yes 25%
Examination [See Add. Notes] (2 Hours) SEM2 Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Juliana Cortes
Adrienne Busuttil
Dennis Cutajar

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit