Bachelor of Oral Health

As a Bachelor of Oral Health student you'll develop all the scientific, theoretical and clinical skills to practice in oral health therapy - which includes careers as both dental hygienist and dental therapist.

You will learn alongside dental students at the Melbourne Dental School in a high-tech clinical setting. You will also have the opportunity to undertake placements in metropolitan clinics and rural areas.

You will learn from a clinical teaching team including active practitioners and world-leading academics who bring international leadership, research and policy expertise to the degree.

The Bachelor of Oral Health has combined vocational outcomes in hygiene and therapy.

On graduation you could practise as an oral health therapist, a dental therapist or a dental hygienist.

In these roles, you may examine and diagnose oral and dental health conditions, plan oral health care, help prevent disease, provide clinical dental treatments, undertake oral health promotion and perform orthodontic and preventative procedures, including impressions and applying topical fluoride or fissure sealants. You will provide fillings and extract deciduous teeth for children and young adults as well as plan care, treat periodontal conditions and clean, scale and root plane teeth for people of all ages. You will also take and interpret radiographs, and work in collaboration with other dental and health practitioners to improve oral health.

We'll teach you how to work empathically with people to help them improve oral health, to plan and deliver oral health promotion interventions for individuals, groups and communities, and contribute to public oral health programs.

As a graduate, you'll find employment in private practices, public hospitals and the health services. You'll also find work in oral health research and teaching.

All domestic students apply for this course through the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC).

If you are a domestic student studying your final year of secondary school outside Australia, you still apply through VTAC and you must submit your final results, as soon as they are available, to VTAC. You can submit your application to VTAC before you get your final results.

If you are applying to commence in second-year or later, you still need to apply through VTAC.

This is a vocational entry-to-practice qualification. Applicants over qualified for the Bachelor of Oral Health may not receive an offer for the program.

The Bachelor of Oral Health has a quota of 36 places available per year based on the availability of dental chairs at the Royal Dental Hospital Melbourne and the Melbourne Dental Clinic. Offers will only remain open as long as there are places still left in the course.

In the event acceptances exceed the number of places available in the Bachelor of Oral Health:

• International applicants will be admitted based on the date of their acceptance
• Domestic students will be admitted based on the date of enrolment