ADC Exam Preparation | How to Become Registered Dentist in Australia

A dentist who has got a bachelor's degree from a non-Australian institution needs to pass the skill assessment examination conducted by the Australian Dental Council (ADC) and then needs to register oneself in Dental Board of Australia to practise as a general dentist in Australia or to get a job in public or private sector. 

The ADC examination is a screening examination to establish that dentists trained in dental schools which is not formally reviewed and accredited by the ADC, have the necessary competence to practise dentistry in Australia. 

Following are the steps, an overseas dentist needs to go through to qualify the ADC examination: 

Books for ADC Examination

The following books have been recommended by Australian Dental Council.

General Dentistry

1. Australian Dental Association Inc. Policy Statement 6.5.1, Code of ethics for dentists.
2. Australian Dental Association, Victorian Branch. By-law 2, Ethics.
3. Fan KFM, Jones J. MCQs in dentistry, 2nd edn. Knutsford, UK: PasTest Ltd, 2010
4. Ireland R, ed. A dictionary of dentistry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
5. Mitchell DA, Mitchell L. Oxford handbook of clinical dentistry, 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014

Journey of a Dentist for ADC Exam Part 1

Introduction 

This story of a dentist talks about the journey of a dentist for ADC exam and the mental, physical and economic sufferings that the whole family went through after his failure. 

Ganesh was a general dental practitioner with a nice practice in a class two city. Isha was a tutor in a Dental college in the same city. The couple had been living a happily married life with their 5 years old son and their parents in a joint family.

Traveling towards Dream 

 

Adelaide South Australia

As every couple in India has its own dream, they also had one. They wanted to settle abroad with decent earnings and a bit of respect among their relatives. They decided to try their luck and settle in Australia. So, the plan decided between them was, Isha will be working as usual along with taking care of the home while Ganesh will study hard to pass ADC licentiate examination. Once Ganesh will get a registration as a GP and a job in Australia, Isha will also qualify the ADC exam and will start working there.   

The plan seemed very natural. 

 The Preparations for ADC Exam 

Ganesh started preparing though an Online Course, worked very hard and sat in the part 1 examination in 2008 in New Delhi center for his second attempt. The result of the preliminary examination was positive, and the couple was elated for the first time in the last three years. They even started to plan further as to how and where they would prefer to settle in Australia.  

Ganesh left for Australia for part 2 practical examination. The examination center was in Adelaide in Royal Adelaide Hospital. The part 2 examination was spanned in two weeks. Ganesh took the joy giving the exam in daytime and enjoyed the evening in the Rundle Mall area and along the northern terrace with his friends as he was confident about his exam result.       

The post examination week was full of adventures as he went for a tour in the outback and tasted the great wine in the wineries of Barossa valley. What he didn’t assess was the economics of the trip.  

All the time, effort and money were wasted as the result showed a “Fail” with few remarks after a few weeks back in India.  

The pair got a huge shock. The parents came forward to console and again, Ganesh decided to take a second chance. He was determined to pass it on the second attempt. Father was ready to spend all his life savings for the great future of his Son.  

 The Courage 

After one year, in the Westmead Hospital, Sydney, the second take of the part 2 practical exam of ADC went well. Although, he was doubtful about his performance at a few moments of the exam, but confident that the examiners would be considerate about his overall performance.  

Westmead Hospital Sydney*

He enjoyed his second trip as much as the previous trip a lot and saw the eastern coast extensively, collected a lot of sweet memories with his friends and even decided as to where he will settle in Sydney. He liked the eastern coast a lot.  

Back to India, his wife and he started thinking of preparing to pack up. His parents were also highly optimistic about their future and happy even though their lifetime savings had been drained out.    

They were full of confidence about refilling the coffer within a year of working in Australia. 

The waiting period ended, and the long-awaited letter came. His heart missed a beat looking at the weight and thickness of the envelope. The words of his friends started swirling around in his head, ‘thick envelope means more papers-that again means papers having a lot of suggestions about the future course of action. 

The Apocalypse 

The world around him started revolving, Ganesh felt dizziness for a while and lost his senses. 

He and his whole family lost all hope of the life they had been dreaming of just. 

Financially, they were broken. Neither was their courage nor finance to try out one more attempt.  

The coming years were much stressful. He did not realize the moment when he became a chronic alcoholic. The strain between the couple remained for years. The marriage was at the stalk. Chronic depression settled in the whole family. His planned journey for settling in Australia resulted in apocalypse. 

There always remained the guilt of losing so many years of life, lost family time, hard earned lifetime savings of father and permanent loss of hope for a life the pair dreamt of.     

Years afterwards, he used to think, had I taken the help I was constantly offered from so many experienced successful dentists, life would have been happily going on a different path.    

This story will continue. I shall write the second part of the story-Painful Journey of a Dentist for ADC Exam after a while.  

Read part 2 of the story HERE.

 Image source: Internet

copyright & ownership belong to the holder. 

*The Pulse, https://i0.wp.com/thepulse.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/WMH-Emergency-Dept-800x445-1.jpg?w=800&ssl=1 

Iridium Course Schedule

A 20 Weeks Course for ADC Part 1 exam

Academic Schedule for March 2024 session

Once you will have subscribed the course, you can have access to full schedule and the course.

To buy, scan QR code and pay Rs. 75,999.00 60,799.00 only.

Periapical/Radicular Cyst

A cyst is defined as “an epithelial lined pathologic cavity”. The periapical/radicular cyst is an odontogenic cyst. The classification of the cysts can be seen HERE. It is important to read for ADC Exams or NEET MDS purpose.

Periapical/Radicular cyst

Periapical cysts are inflammatory cysts. Their epithelial lining originates from the odontogenic epithelium of the tooth buds that remains within periodontal ligaments (epithelial rests of Malassez) after completion of tooth maturation. Due to inflammatory response, the epithelial rests of Malassez start proliferating and provide cystic lining.

Exopsure Time for Dental Radiography

The exposer time for dental radiography is dependent upon the speed of the film whether its ‘D’ or ‘E’. The exposer time for various areas is given in the table below.

For exact data, you can see the instructions written on the inner side of the carton of the film. The modern microprocessor controlled radiography machines are coming with software that takes care of everything. You need to place the film properly, choose whether the patient is an adult or child, choose the tooth/area desired and shoot the film. You must take care of yourself and your staff for radiation protection. For radiation protection, read the article given below:

Radiography: Radiation Safety

 

Ref:

1. Oral Radiology Principles and Interpretation 5th Ed