EDITORIAL

 

Message from the Managing Editor

 

 

 

The Brouwer Route was discovered in 1611... after sailing down the West coast of Africa, (and, coincidentaly, past the Cape where the future Faculty would emerge!) Hendrik Brouwer cleverly - and bravely - used the prevailing winds to drive him across the Indian Ocean towards the East Indies and Australasia... but then instead of turning around to battle his way on a reverse course against terrific headwinds he continued eastwards across the Pacific Ocean, and up the east coast of America .. and to home in The Netherlands! Thus he enjoyed the benefit of westward winds on both outward and homeward legs!

Those strong winds are the ROARING FORTIES.. .and they blow westwards in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. To the clippers plying their trade, to the Round the World sailors of today, those winds have been of significant assistance. We could claim that their contribution to effective trading has been immense.. .the route cut the passage between Europe and Java by half.

The Faculty of Oral Health Sciences at The University of the Western Cape is bravely entering its own FORTIES...there is much to celebrate in achievements thus far, the contributions to Dentistry and to South Africa have also been immense ...how much to expect when those commitments, energies, enterprise and initiatives which have been developed over the years are now directed with roaring Intensity into the billowing sails of the good ship UWC!

The Festschrift experience has confirmed the dedication and vitality of the Faculty. None more so than the contributions of your Guest Editor., an absolute whirlwind of action! Every congratulation to all who have contributed to this signal publication., forty years of achievement., did you reach forty articles? Well done indeed.

WG Evans: Managing editor, Email:bill.evans@wits.ac.za

 

---

 

Message from the SADA President

 

 

 

It is my pleasure to contribute to acknowledging this auspicious occasion of the UWC's forty years of existence. Being the 'youngest' Dentistry Faculty in the country, following the amalgamation of the two Dental Schools in the Western Cape, it's alumni and indeed the institution itself, must be proud of their achievement!

Oral health education and services are certainly at a cross roads, with developments in the economy and the envisioned changes the National Department of Health is introducing. It is thus incumbent on dental teachers and practitioners to strive to keep abreast of the changes that are happening at a phenomenal speed within the profession. In the education space, it is asked of the programmes to have candidates who are globally competitive and locally relevant.

This obligates the teachers to be abreast of issues that are not only 'discipline-specific' but are locally and economically relevant so as to assist students to be progressive professionals. Gone are the days when the emphasis was only the discipline.

And in the words of the greatest statesman - Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela:

.. .education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world ...

UWC, with its Faculty and alumni, continue to espouse this principle, using it as a passport to the future, because tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today (Malcom X). You can take pride in always preparing for all the todays!

Ρ Moipolai: President, The South African Dental Association

 

---

 

Message from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor

 

 

 

The 40th anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Dentistry comes at a time when the Faculty has made huge inroads in the profession, as well as in oral health care in South Africa and on the continent. Besides being the largest provider of dentists to our system, the Faculty has embraced being innovative in their learning and teaching and research-led in their scholarly work.

It is well positioned to enable students to learn with technology and to grow digital dentistry in the next few years. Their scholarly outputs continue to contribute towards the deepening of the discipline and their community engagement is second to none. I wish the Faculty and all its alumni well on this momentous occasion.

V Lawack: Deputy Vice-Chancellor UWC

 

---

 

Message from the Rector

 

 

Dear Colleagues

I am most proud to be congratulating the Dentistry Faculty on achieving the great milestone of 40 years of existence. I am sure that, as you celebrate this achievement, you are reminded of the dedication and commitment of the many students, alumni, academic and professional staff and Faculty leaders who have brought us here.

There are so many positive associations with the Faculty for me in both my capacity as Rector and as a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, having been closely involved in the merger of the two dentistry schools of the universities of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch.

I can still recall the magnitude of the responsibility that had been placed on us to work with our counterparts from Stellenbosch, led by the late Rector Prof Russell Botman, to chart a way forward that would lead to the successful integration of the two separate entities.

Looking back at 2002 when the merger started, I am reminded again of the mutual recognition from UWC and US that we could only deal with each other as co-partners in the creation of a new school or faculty. Those are valuable lessons for a university about the manner in which it deals with all its stakeholders.

UWC's Dentistry Faculty already had a positive reputation for educating oral health professionals, and the merger served to strengthen the Faculty. From January 2004, the Faculty would carry the responsibility of annually producing more than half of South Africa's oral health professionals and it has done so with great success.

Furthermore, UWC's Dentistry Faculty has always played a significant role in providing services to communities in the Western Cape region. It has left an indelible legacy among disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape through a range of services and interventions. Through these endeavours, the Faculty lives and enacts UWC's vision of locating itself within society and engaging with matters of significance that make a difference.

I am convinced, as the Faculty enters a new decade of existence, it will continue to uphold its formidable reputation of teaching and research, and community engagement that seeks to improve the lives of others.

I wish you great success and a deserved celebration for growing the Faculty from strength to strength.

Τ Pretorius: Rector UWC

 

---

 

Message from the Dean

 

 

As we celebrate 40 years of excellence in the provision of oral health care services, training and research it is important that we reflect on our past. The Faculty of Dentistry of the University of the Western Cape has transformed from an apartheid institution, created to train dentists of colour, into a leading member of the Dental Training Institutions internationally.

The faculty started in 1974 with a class of 25 dental students and two oral hygiene students after the De Villiers Commission recommended that a separate training facility for dentists of colour be established, as the existing three dental schools in the country at that stage (University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria and the University of Stellenbosch) together only trained two dentists of colour per year.

The new faculty was established in the Tygerberg Hospital precinct. In the early nineties - in line with the University's commitment to community-based education and training and under the Rectorship of Prof Jakes Gerwel - the faculty relocated to the Town Centre in Mitchells Plain.

This move made comprehensive oral health care readily available to the Cape Flats communities, including Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Phillippi and Crossroads - and at the same time provided an excellent opportunity for students to develop clinical proficiency in the context of a community setting.

In 2004, with the mergers of universities in South Africa as proclaimed by Minister Kader Asmal the dental school of the University of Stellenbosch was incorporated into the UWC Faculty of Dentistry. A condition of the merger was that service delivery should not be compromised at any of the sites previously serviced by the two faculties. As a result the merged faculty's footprint in the community extended throughout the Western Cape, and it became the largest faculty in the country with regards to service delivery and the training of oral health workers.

Today the faculty boasts a 46 seater simulation laboratory that is equipped with state of the art technology to assist students in their pre-clinical training, a video-conferencing facility that links the two main training sites and that also provides access to webinars on the International platform, a private practice simulation centre and world class service facilities.

Currently the faculty treats in excess of 120 000 patients a year at its seven service delivery sites, while training 90 dentists, 25 oral hygienists and specialists in Orthodontics, Prosthodontics, Maxillo-facial and Oral Surgery, Community Dentistry, Oral Medicine and Periodontology and Oral Pathology. In addition to this the faculty has an established post-graduate diploma in dentistry in all disciplines as well as structured and research MSc and PhD programmes. These are all sought-after programmes and support the World Health Organisation mandate to train the trainer.

The WHO has again accredited the faculty as a collaborating centre for the next five years, with terms of reference which include supporting the region and the continent with expertise and opportunities in the delivery of oral health care policies, practices and personnel.

In addition to service rendering and training, the faculty has established research niche areas with expertise in clinical research, laboratory-based research and epidemiological research.

Research by undergraduate and postgraduate students has consistently enabled these students to win national competitions. Included among the accolades the students received was representing South Africa over the years at Congresses of the International Association of Dental Research such as at the IADR Meeting in San Francisco (USA) in 2017, and in London (UK) in 2018.

Furthermore, staff are committed to a University-wide research proposal involving early childhood development and, along with the Western Cape government, research into the first thousand days of a child's life once they formally enter the schooling system.

Due to the huge burden of disease with regards to oral health nationally, and in particular in the Western Cape, the faculty has been sought out as a collaborating partner with international institutions resulting in memoranda of understanding with these partners including the University of Missouri, Kansas City, the University of Oslo, The University of Bergen, Asahi and Meikai Universities in Japan and the Ministry of Health in Kuwait. In Africa the Faculty is well placed to train specialists and subspecialists for the Region and the Continent

The achievements of the faculty over the past 40 years through it staff, students and now alumni all over the World would not have been possible without the support of the University of the Western Cape and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape. May this bilateral relationship go from strength to strength so that the faculty can continue to strive for outstanding performances in the provision of oral health care training, services and research. May it always be a beacon of hope for aspiring oral hygienists, dentists and dental specialists.

 

Y Osman: Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, UWC