Welcome to Discover Dentistry

Want to know more about dentistry, the mouth and oral health? Read on.

Discover Dentistry: a massive open online course (MOOC) for those wanting to learn more about our mouths and the people that care for them. Over six weeks, starting in March 2014, this free online course will be an interactive learning experience exploring many aspects of dentistry: the dental team, history, materials, big issues and the future.

The course is suitable for anyone wanting to learn more about the topic, but will be particularly useful if you are considering applying to study in dentistry (dentistry, dental nursing, dental hygiene or technology). We’ll cover the basics, and in doing so will prepare you for further exploration of the subject (eg getting work experience, doing further reading) and also for some of the interview questions that might arise during university interviews.

We have a lot of experience in supporting students in applying to dentistry at the University of Sheffield, through running open days and tours, but also in the Access to Dental Occupations: Practice and Tutoring (ADOPT) scheme which supports local students from under-represented backgrounds in higher education to work towards an application and interview for a dental subject.

In fact, nearly all the people you will see on screen during Discover Dentistry have been involved in admissions for a dental course at Sheffield and they know what potential applicants would need in order to explore the career fully.

So why have we made a MOOC, and not just put all the videos and articles on to this website? The power of a MOOC is that people can learn together. By learning at the same time as others, people can discuss, collaborate, share, even disagree on the course materials, week by week. We don’t think the workload of the course is large (a few hours a week), so we hope that most people can keep up with the course to the end.

The course is also international, so Discover Dentistry students will have a unique opportunity to learn about dentistry from a global perspective, greatly increasing the understanding of the context in which dentistry sits.

If you want to sign up, it’s free and there’s no commitment, and we hope you’ll learn something about dentistry you’ll find useful.