phd in periodontology uk

Postgraduate study
Postgraduate taught courses

Periodontics

Explore this course:.

Apply now for 2025 entry or register your interest to hear about postgraduate study and events at the University of Sheffield.

School of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Health

Three students chatting in the lobby of the Dental School building

Course description

This course is for dentists who want to specialise in periodontics and earn speciality membership of the Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd). At the end of your final year, you can sit a single exit assessment held jointly between the University of Sheffield and RCSEd. Candidates will be awarded a DClinDent from the University of Sheffield and a membership from the RCSEd in the relevant specialty, without the need to sit a separate examination.

Although periodontics will be your speciality focus, you will learn alongside students in our Endodontics and Prosthodontics courses. With small class sizes (a ratio of 1:4) you will gain a broader knowledge base, preparing you well for the RCSEd membership exams and a clinical career in restorative dentistry.

All our courses are mapped to the UK General Dental Council’s speciality curricula and in this way, we ensure that the whole syllabus is covered throughout the three years.

Your first year is shared between all students in the three speciality courses. This provides a unique opportunity to develop a solid foundation in all aspects of restorative dentistry. All aspects of restorative dentistry in all three specialisms will be covered, including operative skills, clinical assessments and patient care. You will develop new practical skills in clinical training sessions, and attend consultant clinics and case discussions.

In the second and third years, your learning and professional development will focus almost exclusively on your mono-speciality working towards the end-of-programme con-joint examinations. You will gain the confidence to make sound judgements in complex and unpredictable patient care.

You will further develop a speciality skill set in the multidisciplinary environment of the programme; working, learning and sharing experiences with students and trainees from other areas, including orthodontics, dental public health and paediatrics. You will develop your skills and professional aptitudes in all domains so that you can communicate confidently, clearly and professionally with specialists, non-specialists and your patients.

Why study at Sheffield?

State-of-the-art facilities and bespoke patient clinics - You will develop your clinical skills via skill simulation environments, laboratory production laboratories (digital and conventional) and in NHS patient clinics, where you will work alongside a dental nurse assigned to support you in patient care throughout your study with us.
Small class sizes - You will be taught clinical skills by registered specialists with a ratio of 1 teacher to 4 students, and learn from and collaborate with clinicians across all three restorative dentistry mono-specialities.
Develop your research skills - You will take part in a research project, culminating in a peer-reviewed journal publication written by you.

Do you have a question? Talk to us

Book a 15-minute online meeting with our course leader to find out more information and ask further questions.

Book an appointment with Professor Nicolas Martin

An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses.

Book a space on our next open day on Wednesday 27 November

3 years full-time

You will learn and develop through a wide range of complementary educational methods, each one specifically designed for the task in hand. These include

demonstrations
operative skill learning in phantom heads and VR environments
critical appraisal of the literature
journal club
VR simulation
case-based discussions
reflective feedback
research seminars
participation in clinical and research groups, and extensive patient-centred practical clinical experience

All your clinical learning, teaching and supervision is provided by registered specialists with a 1:4 clinical tutor-to-student ratio to ensure optimum support of your learning, feedback, reflection and mentoring.

All clinical patient-centred care is provided in our dental hospital facilities at the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital , which provides NHS care to patients. You will have exclusive use of a designated dental chair and be assigned a dental nurse to support you in your learning and patient care. This is complemented by on-site dental technology laboratories for all fixed and removable prostheses, including full implant provision. You will learn and use conventional and fully digital fabrication processes, using state-of-the-art intra-oral scanning and fabrication technologies

We will use a combination of formative and summative assessments including different competency-based clinical assessments, end-of-module examinations, written reports, verbal presentations, logbooks and research publications.

Entry requirements

A university-accredited degree in dental surgery that enables the practice of dentistry.

IELTS 7 (with 6.5 in each component) or University equivalent.

You should have at least two years of post-qualification experience in any sphere of restorative dentistry, including general dental practice.

You must also meet our health and Disclosure and Barring Service requirements for clinical courses.

Applicants must include the following in their application:

Degree certificate and transcript.
Two up-to-date references.
Curriculum vitae (CV).
Supporting statement outlining why they want to study the course.
English Language Qualification.

See our supporting documents webpage for more information on the documents we require. We do not issue conditional offers for this programme, so only applications submitted with all the necessary supporting documentation will be considered.

The deadline for your application to be considered in the first round of shortlisting is 15 December 2024 . Any applications received after this date will only be considered if places become available and another round of shortlisting is required.

Application timeline for 2025 entry

Applications open: 15 September 2024

Application deadline: 15 December 2024

Applications received after this date will only be considered if another round of shortlisting is required.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an online interview. These will take place in late February 2025.

You should expect to receive a decision by March 2025.

Offer holders must accept their offer and pay a £5,000 fee deposit within four weeks of receiving their offer letter. Otherwise, the offer will be withdrawn.

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school/department .

Fees and funding

Additional costs.

The following costs aren't included in your course fees:

dissertation binding
registration, travel and accommodation expenses for external conferences and meetings
examination fees and related expenses for the conjoint examination (if you decide to sit this) and any other external examinations such as the MRD, MFDS or ORE

You can apply now using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It's a quick and easy process.