A day in the life of a Nigerian dental student

The dental degree in Nigeria is a bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) degree. It’s a 6-year program that doesn’t require an undergraduate degree. A school year starts in January and ends in December with only one break during Christmas. During the first four years, basic medical science subjects are taught. We attend lectures with our medical school colleagues during our second through fourth years. Anatomy (where we dissect cadavers), biochemistry, physiology pathology, hematology, microbiology, oral biology, pharmacology and epidemiology are some of the classes that we take.

In the second part of the fourth year we have a junior operative technique course, which involves an introduction to prosthetic and conservative dentistry. We have to make a complete denture and prepare Class I and II cavity preps. For a class of 49 pupils there are only five working phantom heads available for practice of cavity preparation and one slow hand piece shared between five students. Read more to see how I faced a day in dental school…