UWA PLUS
Social Dental Practice - DENTM590
This micro-credential focuses on enhancing and streamlining the knowledge and practice of social dentistry required by dental health care professionals to successfully manage and deliver culturally appropriate and trauma-informed dental services to a wide range of priority populations groups. Lectures and subsequent reflective case based learning will facilitate and develop understanding of culturally appropriate and trauma-informed dental practices and intersectionality between/for specific priority groups including: (i) Aboriginal, (ii) migrants and refugee, (iii) people living rural/ remote, (iv) individuals experiencing (a) homelessness, (b) family/ domestic violence and (c) child abuse and neglect.
Upon successful completion, you'll receive:
- Three (3) PD Points
- A Certificate of Achievement
- A UWA Plus Professional Development Transcript, listing all successfully completed micro-credentials
- Delivery mode
- Online - combination of workshops, online lectures, self-directed study and assessment preparation.
- Course date
- 3 March 2026 - 10 April 2026 [MC-1H]
- Registrations close
- 23 February 2026
- Duration
- 6 weeks
- Effort
- 75 hours
- Academic lead
- Dr Mohammed Junaid and Dr Therese Kvist
- Cost
- $440 inc. GST
- Critical information summary
- DENTM590 Social Dental Practice [PDF 245KB]
What you'll learn
Enhanced understanding of the social determinants and intersectionality of oral health and how these factors influence diagnosis, treatment planning and prognosis
Ability to communicate patient-centred treatment plans and tailor care to individual needs, ensuring culturally appropriate and trauma-informed dental treatment
Instil dental professional's social responsibility and incorporate practice of social prescribing within regular dental practice
Why study this course?
- While the current dental curriculum is grounded in biomedical principles, there is growing recognition of the need to further integrate social context and culturally appropriate patient care into patient management.
- This micro-credential focuses on developing, improving and enhancing knowledge of general dentists and allied dental health professionals in providing culturally appropriate trauma-informed care to priority population groups.
- This course will be delivered online thereby offering flexibility catering to working dental health care professionals. At the end of the course students should be competent in providing culturally appropriate trauma-informed dental services to our priority populations.
Who should study this course?
The course is ideally suited for graduate dentists. With the expanding scope of practice in auxiliary areas, the suitability expands, but is not limited, to include the following: Oral health therapists, Dental Hygienist and Dental Nurse.
Recommended prior knowledge:
This is aimed at postgraduate dental professionals. Undergraduate studies in a relevant area of expertise is mandatory.
Five modules to be completed over up to six weeks. Approximately: 2-3 online lectures and 1 tutorial per module. Recommended 7-8 hours reading/review/reflective writing per module. Approximately: 2 hour for the scenario based questions in the final exam 12 hours for case based reflective writing as part of final exam . Total anticipated time is approximately 75 hours.
What's next after this course?
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Enhanced clinical competence: Dental practitioners will be better equipped to deliver culturally appropriate, trauma-informed care to priority population groups, improving patient engagement, treatment acceptance and continuity of care. Improved capability for reflective and socially responsive practice: Skills developed through case-based learning and reflective practice are directly transferable to quality-improvement activities, service design, policy development and advocacy for equitable oral healthcare.