Professor Andrew Sandham: Evolution of JCU Dental School

“Empathy and respect for both colleagues and patients is a sign of maturity of thought and creates a comfortable and productive working environment,” Sandham said. This approach led him to be the foundation Head of the JCU Dentistry program. “It was the start of an amazing adventure.”

From the outset, JCU had a clear focus on how it wanted to do things differently with the

Dentistry course. “In some ways, it was an experiment. JCU aimed to educate dentists in a regional university environment. We wanted a strong emphasis on clinical rural experience, supported by a state of the art clinical and teaching facility.

“There was an acute need to update the traditional dental curriculum and make it relevant for the needs of the community it would serve,” Professor Sandham said.

Reflecting on the program’s first decade, Professor Sandham said he’s pleased to see that those foundations have stood the test of time. “I think the credit goes to everyone who was involved in the development of the course at JCU. Ten years on, those who worked tirelessly to put together the building blocks of the project can see the results on this important anniversary.”

Despite its overwhelming success, Professor Sandham admits the early days were not without their challenges.

“An initial lack of support from professional organisations and practitioners in the early stages of development was disappointing. But we understood the program needed to earn the acceptance of everybody impacted.”

But he said the rewards have been considerable, especially the graduate’s impact on rural dental services.

“The most rewarding aspect now is the contribution it’s made to the profession, through its innovative curriculum, quality of its graduates and the service it provides for rural communities.

“When the dental clinic opened dental waiting lists for treatment in Cairns and the surrounding rural areas were enormous. The amount of dental decay in children in the region exceeded that in any modern society. The main inpatient hospital admissions for general anaesthesia for children was for multiple tooth extraction, a scenario only seen in less developed countries. The presence of the dentistry program in north Queensland has had a big impact, bringing with it a positive change.

“The leadership shown over the past few years has maintained the momentum and focus on providing a rural dental workforce. Together with a strong clinical training environment, the graduates are work-ready general dental practitioners for independent rural practice.

Professor Sandham also has enormous pride in the graduates of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery.

“I often hear that JCU dentistry graduates are much sought after for general practice because of their skills. Their empathy for disadvantaged patients and the skills they show on placements are remarkable,” Professor Sandham said.

Having retired from JCU in 2014, Professor Sandham feels the program is in safe hands and its’ future bright going into it next decade.

“The future of Dentistry at JCU lies in its ability to continuously review the present, accept change and have an innovative approach to the problems and issues that dentistry faces in Australia.

“The curriculum needs to be monitored to ensure the subjects are regularly updated and the University needs to ensure the existing facilities continue to be used to their best advantage, and that it remains innovative, flexible and responsive to change.”