FdSc Oral Health Science

Please note that this course is now closed for applications to start in September 2024. Applications for September 2025 are now open.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

Our FdSc Oral Health Science is a programme which leads to the award of a Foundation Degree, and qualifies you to register with the General Dental Council (GDC)* as a Dental Hygienist. It is based on the General Dental Council's (GDC's) guidance document Developing the Dental Team and is kept under continual review to ensure that you are ‘fit to practise' upon qualification. Following the successful completion of this course, you may consider continuing your training with us to become a Dental Therapist through our BSc (Hons) Oral Health Science programme.

There's never been a better time to train as you can now apply for a £5000 grant that you won't need to pay back! There is also an extra £3000 funding available depending on your personal circumstances. You can find more information about eligibility and how to apply on the HSC Scholarships and Funding page.

At Essex we have one of the largest portfolios of oral health science courses in the East of England, putting us in a strong position to provide you with excellent training on this programme. You learn clinical skills in our state-of-the-art dental laboratories and academic dental clinics, studying oral health issues affecting the health of individuals and communities including:

• Pathology and disease
• Environment and work-safety issues
• Heredity, lifestyle, education, socio-economic factors
• Media influences

Through integrating your studies with other healthcare professionals, we ensure that you consider these wider issues in order to adopt a holistic approach to patient care.

Our aim is to create professional learning pathways to bridge the skill gap of the current NHS dental workforce while meeting your learning needs and helping you develop self-awareness, confidence and autonomy.

At the same time, we develop professional hygienists who through continuing professional development (CPD) courses, foster the habit of lifelong learning in order to meet the future needs of individuals and society. Our overarching aim is to widen access to professional education so that you can practise as registered practitioners safely and competently.

The School of Health and Social Care is proud to work closely with our Service User Reference Group (SURG). SURG is made up of service users, carers, and volunteers who generously share their first-hand experiences of health and social care. We work collaboratively with SURG to design our courses to ensure that we truly are putting the needs of patients and clients at the heart of what we do. SURG are involved as part of our course application processes and often form part of our interview panels. This helps us to be confident that we are selecting the right applicants for the course and their future careers. SURG members also support the delivery of our teaching sessions and research activity, which means you'll benefit from an insight into their lived experiences of living with a diagnosis, health condition, or circumstance. You'll find that not only does your clinical knowledge expand, but your empathy, compassion and ability to advocate develops also.

The cost of required uniform will be fully covered by the school.

Location

Whilst this course is offered at both our Southend and Colchester campuses, we recommend that you consider which location would suit you best and apply for that campus. If you apply to multiple campuses, you will only have one interview. If you pass the interview and we are able to offer you a place, you will be offered your first campus choice if available. If that campus is full, you will be offered the other campus. This is the same for applicants who only apply to one campus.

Once your place is confirmed, requests to change campuses are not possible due to the restrictions on numbers.

Placement Opportunities

During your study you will undertake four placements. These are based on educational need and are allocated by the placement lecturer. You will be required to undertake 14 hours of placement per week. Our placements are primarily based in Essex.

As a student of FdSc Oral Health Science you are not eligible for an NHS Bursary but can claim travel expenses if the travel mileage from term time address to placement is greater than term time address to university.

Unfortunately if you need a Student Visa to study in the UK this course is not suitable for you. This is due to the high percentage of work placement which exceeds the amount permitted in the Student Visa regulations.

DBS and Occupational Health Checks

This course requires a satisfactory Occupational Health Check and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) - both of these are organised by the University. Please contact our DBS team or Occupational Health team if you have any questions in relation to these checks.

You will also be required to register for the DBS Update Service. You will need to register for this within 30 days of your DBS certificate being issues. The Update Service costs £13 per year, which the University will reimburse. You will need to keep the subscription to this Service active for the duration of your course. If you do not register for the Update Service within 30 days, or your registration lapses, and you later attend placement where this is a requirement, you will have to pay for a new DBS check, which will enable you to sign up to the Update Service. Please contact our DBS team if you have any questions relating to this.

A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS Check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more. Further information about how to obtain an Overseas Criminal Record check can be found on the Gov.uk website.

We continue to recommend Covid and flu vaccination to all of our students. This is to protect both yourself and the vulnerable people that you may meet throughout your placement.

Professional accreditation

The General Dental Council quality assures and approves qualifications for registration, for the following registrant groups: Dentists; dental hygienists; dental therapists; dental nurses; clinical dental technicians; dental technicians; and orthodontic therapists.

Our expert staff

A unique feature of our School is that you will be taught by a team of specialist clinicians with significant experience in dentistry. This enhances our grasp of the contemporary links between academic research, the major issues of the day and real-life practice.

Full details of our staff can be found on the HSC Staff Profiles.

As a School, we specialise in applied, multidisciplinary research that addresses issues of national and international concern to health and social care policy and practice, and related fields. We also host the NIHR Research Design Service for the East of England.

Specialist facilities

The School of Health and Social Care is located at two sites; in the Kimmy Eldridge building at our Colchester Campus and in the Gateway Building at our Southend Campus.

In Southend, the Oral Health Science facilities are located in the Gateway Building. In Colchester, the Oral Health Science facilities are located at our Bromley Road Academic Dental Clinic. We offer clinical laboratories with the very latest equipment and IT facilities - in particular, a state-of-the-art dental skills lab with the latest simulation ‘phantom heads' to practise on. View our image gallery and find out more about our Oral Health Science facilities.

Your future

Foundation degrees are work-related, higher education qualifications designed in conjunction with employers to offer accessible and flexible learning opportunities relevant to a student's career. A foundation degree is shorter than a standard undergraduate degree but is a higher education qualification in its own right and it can be used as a progression route to a full undergraduate degree.

The successful completion of this programme leads to the award of a Foundation Degree Oral Health Science, with 240 academic credits. This qualification is recognised by the General Dental Council (GDC) and gives you eligibility to register as a dental hygienist.

86% of our graduates are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2024).

UK entry requirements

• GCSEs: Mathematics and English Language C/4. Acceptable alternatives are listed further down this page. GCSE Science C/4 is also required if you are applying with a National Dental Nurse Certificate or Diploma in Dental Nursing.Single Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are all accepted.
• A-levels: CC to include a core science (Biology, Chemistry, Applied Science or Physics).
• BTEC: MPP in a science-related subject.
• IB: Two Higher Level certificates with 44 to include Biology, Chemistry or Physics.
• IB Career-related Programme: We consider combinations of IB Diploma Programme courses with BTECs or other qualifications.
• QAA-approved Access to HE Diploma: 45 level 3 credits at Pass.
• T-levels: Pass of a Science-related subject with E in the Core.
• Dental Nursing qualifications: We accept the National Dental Nurse Certificate or Diploma in Dental Nursing along with a minimum of two years' experience from either pre-or post-qualification employment.

GCSE/level 2 requirements

All applicants must have, or be working towards, acceptable level 2 Mathematics, Science, and English qualifications such as GCSE grade C/4 or equivalent.

• We accept OFQUAL regulated level 2 maths qualifications, including Functional Skills level 2, Key Skills level 2 or numeracy units taken as part of an Access to HE Diploma.
• If you don't need a Student visa and are either a first language English speaker or have a lived in the UK for over three years, we can accept OFQUAL regulated level 2 English qualifications, including Functional Skills level 2, Key Skills level 2 or literacy units taken as part of an Access to HE Diploma.

For those invited to interview, decisions are communicated and offers are made after all interviews have been held. This will be no later than mid-May each year.

Additional requirements

This course has additional requirements including pass of an interview, a satisfactory reference and Occupational Health Check and Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check. For more information see:the school of Health and Social Care Undergraduate page

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.

Details of English language requirements, including component scores, can be found here

If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.

English language shelf-life

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

Pre-sessional English courses

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Pending English language qualifications

You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.

If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please email ugquery@essex.ac.uk .

Additional Notes

If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College

Course structure

This programme is full-time and you are expected to complete the minimum number of weeks required by the GDC, which is 90 weeks. Term dates do not coincide with our normal University term dates due to this requirement and you are in placement throughout the summer. Any time missed by non-attendance, through sickness or other personal reason, will need to be made up in order to register.

The dates for holiday breaks are timetabled throughout the programme and these cannot be changed for individual students. The planned holiday periods include time at Easter, summer, Christmas and New Year.

These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they'll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you.

We're reactive, we're pioneering, we never stand still, so modules might change from year to year in response to new developments and innovation. Those listed below show how a typical course might look, but more detail on course structure, including details of all optional modules, is available on our Programme Specification.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• The theory part of this programme is taught at our campus at Southend on Sea
• Practical skills are gained through a variety of clinical environments, including community and general dental practices across the county of Essex
• You attend six separate placements during this programme, with close supervision from a named Clinical Educator in the workplace to support and guide you – these may be dentists, dental hygienists or dental therapists
• Clinical Educators will also provide tutorials to link academic learning with your clinical experience
• Teaching methods including problem-based learning, tutorials, e-learning and seminar-based teaching
• Teaching takes place with other health students to promote multidisciplinary learning and working
• Communication and clinical skills are taught in our state-of-the-art laboratory
• You undertake placements in six different clinical settings

Assessment

• Continuous assessment, module by module, means that there is no end of year examination