Students at Glasgow Dental School and hospital are falling behind in their studies due to the lack of patients taking advantage of the free treatment on offer; the school – which provides teaching for Glasgow university students – offers free fillings or root canals to help students build up enough points to pass their course. Without patients to practice on, the students may not have the points to graduate at the end of the year.
One student, who did not wish to be named, spoke to the Glasgow Evening Times, saying ‘there is nothing you can do about this if you don’t have the patients, and people at times don’t have enough to work on. I think people in Glasgow should be made more aware of the free dental care we provide at the school. It benefits them and us.’
The school said that they advertise for patients around once a year, but students are worrying that this is not enough. Another student, also anonymous, added ‘I found myself in this situation when I had to carry out root canal treatment on a patient and unfortunately there weren’t any available patients needing it performed.’
A spokesman for Glasgow University added that ‘People are able to go on to the University of Glasgow website where they can find more information about signing up for free treatment with our dental students’.