Istanbul Okan University Faculty of Dentistry started the education life by admitting the first students in the 2014-2015 academic year with its strong, dynamic and experienced academic staff who have a vision on national and international platforms.
Since the 2017 - 2018 academic year, "English Dentistry Undergraduate Program" has been carried out in our Faculty, as well. The duration of the dentistry program is five years, excluding the compulsory English preparatory class.
Basic medical sciences and dentistry courses, and their practical trainings included in the first two years of our curriculum are carried out in the high-tech laboratories and classrooms of the Dentistry and Medical Faculties located in the "Health Sciences Education Complex" at Tuzla Campus of our University.
Preclinical education is carried out in our Manipulation, Plaster and Acrylic and Simulation (Phantom) Laboratories, which are prepared to enable our students to have a contemporary preclinical training. With the aid of the hi-tech camera and audio setup on the instructor desks, our students can simultaneously watch the teachings guides and practical applications of their instructors on their personal LCD monitors.
Our Faculty accomplished another first in dentistry preclinical training in our Simulation Laboratory by establishing a radiovisiography (RVG) system and placing an education-oriented modern phantom (mock-up patient) and X-ray device in an armored room for protection against radiation in accordance with the relevant legislation. In this way, while our students are working in their personal phantom units and getting prepared for patient treatment in the clinics, they also learn how to take radiographs and use this digital radiography system, which they will frequently use in endodontic treatments, and correct their possible mistakes by viewing the radiographs on their personal monitors, at the preclinical stage.
In addition to our Faculty of Dentistry Mecidiyeköy Education and Training Hospital, which has been serving since our establishment; our Faculty of Dentistry Education and Training Hospital in Tuzla has also been in service, since the 2017-2018 academic year.
Starting from the 3rd grade, our students continue their theoretical courses and clinical education program at the "Faculty of Dentistry Education and Training Hospital", which is 20 minutes away from Tuzla Campus and 5 minutes from Istanbul Okan University Hospital.
Our Faculty of Dentistry Hospital in Tuzla includes the high-tech lecture halls, library and seminar rooms, research laboratory, general anesthesia operating rooms, modern clinics equipped with the most advanced technological dental units, devices and materials for the students and the academic staff, and high-tech radiological imaging devices to provide contemporary dental education for our students and the patient service.
The ‘technological water disinfection system’ which has been used in our Faculty Mecidiyeköy Education and Training Hospital for the first time in our country is also available in our Faculty Tuzla Education and Training Hospital and contributes greatly to the safety of our students, patients and our academic and administrative staff in terms of infection control.
For the international students enrolled in our Faculty's English Dentistry Program, it is compulsory to obtain a Turkish (TÖMER) certificate minimum at the level of B2 while starting the 3rd class. Being a clinical student in the 3rd grade, the students must understand, speak and write Turkish in order to communicate with the patients properly, gain their confidence and make an appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Turkish will be spoken with the patients and the teachers only during the practical training in the Clinics in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades of the dentistry education. All theoretical courses in our education program and their exams will continue in English for the entire 5 years.
The education program (curriculum) of our Faculty has been carried out in line with the "National Core Education Program for Undergraduate Dentistry Education (DUÇEP - 2016)" prepared by the Education and Research Sub-Committee of the Dentistry Deans Council (DDK) and approved by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) to be implemented in all dentistry faculties in Turkey.
Since 2015, when we were assigned by DDK, the Education and Research Sub-Committee, which consists of nine academic members from different universities and different departments and, which I am the chairman of, has been working intensively on preparing and revising the National Core Education Program for Dentistry Education, and DUÇEP - 2021 update is also about to be completed.
In parallel with these studies, our Education Program is constantly updated by the Education Commission of our Faculty in line with contemporary and dynamic education requirements, and our Faculty's Extended Education Program (GEP) is prepared.
Our students who graduate from our Faculty will start their professional life as competent dentists, equipped with the most up-to-date knowledge and skills on oral and dental health in theoretical and practical terms and who know how to learn and access information, and can work independently.
A wide range of professional life and career opportunities await our students who successfully complete the five-year dentistry education program in our Faculty and receive the "Dentistry" diploma with the master's degree and graduate with the title of "Doctor of Dental Surgery" (DDS). They can serve in their private practice; work in state institutions or private dentistry institutions; receive doctorate education in any field of dentistry they want, if they are successful in the exams of the doctorate program; receive speciality training, if they are successful in the Dentistry Specialty Examination (DUS); after the doctorate (PhD) diploma or specialty (MSc) certificate in dentistry, they can continue their academic career by fulfilling the necessary criteria.
Since 2018, our Faculty's "Orthodontics" and "Endodontics" Doctorate Programs have been carried out within the Institute of Health Sciences of our University. It is aimed to open new doctorate programs for the next year.
With its strong and dynamic academic staff, our Faculty continues the contemporary dentistry education in an assertive and determined manner.
We wish success to our students.
