Students Get Hands On Lesson in Irish Dentistry

Eoin Halpin, left and Mike DiOrio at the Dublin School of Dental Medicine.

Mike DiOrio had never heard the term "atraumatic caries removal'' until he visited Ireland.

But at Dublin Dental School  it seemed symbolic of the nation's approach to oral healthcare, said DiOrio, a fourth-year student who last month travelled abroad as part of an exchange program arranged through the RSDM Office of Students Affairs and funded by the International College of Dentists. Because more involved dental procedures often aren't covered in Ireland, which has socialized medicine, dentists are likely to rely on cheaper, more minimal care to save costs yet still meet patient need, according to DiOrio. "They take a more conservative view. They'll just go in with a hand instrument, take out the cavity and put a filling in place. They're not so concerned with drilling to refine all the edges and make sure every bit of caries is removed,'' he observed.

DiOrio also learned that a shortage of dentists in the country, which only has two dental schools and a population of six million, means that practitioners often don't specialize because there's an emphasis on building skills that will enable them to be proficient in many different types of dentistry and oral healthcare. "They train super general dentists,'' said DiOrio, who participated in the program with classmate Eoin Halpin.

DiOrio and Dr.Louis DiPede

The greatest differences between Irish dental schools and dental schools in the U.S., however, were the age of the students, who are often fresh out of the Irish equivalent of high school, and the admissions process, which is determined by soley by  GPA, said DiOrio.

The exchange program, held for several years at RSDM, provides an important glimpse into healthcare in other parts of the world, says  RSDM Dr. Louis DiPede, assistant professor of Restorative Dentistry and deputy regent of the 9th district of International College of Dentists. "It allows them to see not only how dental care is delivered in other parts of the world, but how its taught,'' he said. Added DiOrio, “It was nice to represent the U.S., to see how they practice, what they value and have the chance to network so we can compare notes, and ultimately,  so we can all work together.''