THERE was more than the buzz of drills in the air in the new multi-million dollar simulation laboratory at Charles Sturt University’s Orange Campus yesterday.
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Forty first-year dentistry students got to cut their teeth on the sophisticated new technology installed in 60 work stations in the simulation laboratory at the campus.
“You can just feel the excitement. It is so surreal, and this is just the most wonderful thing for Orange,” said Professor Sabrina Manickam.
“To think we have a state-of-the-art facility like this that is the only one in the Southern Hemisphere and only the second in the world makes me want to pinch myself.”
The students were able to put into practice for the first time their studies as they went to work on their ‘phantom’ models.
The students were getting the feel for their workstations, which will become their second home during the course of their degree as they learn the complex practical skills associated with dentistry.
Recruitment has already begun for the 2010 intake of 40 students, with applications closing at the end of September.
Dr Manickam says she is particularly excited the Orange-based degree will go a long way in addressing retention rates in rural areas where there is a shortage of dentists.
“When I look along just one row of students and think that they will stay in a rural area, it is a very exciting prospect,” she said.
The School of Dentistry has been established at a cost of $25 million, and next the campus will introduce a physiotherapy and rehabilitation degree.
“What a wonderful time this is for Orange with this new dental school and the new Orange Base Hospital,” Dr Manickam said.
