The Dental Training Centre of the Faculty of Dentistry celebrates its 10th anniversary

The Dental Training Centre of the Faculty of Dentistry celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. The construction of the building was finished in April 2007 and was equipped with modern educational tools of European standards. Nearly 100 dentists’ chairs and several laboratories are in operation at the centre. Besides the 10-year history of the building, the lecturers of the event also emphasized the changes that happened at the faculty since the establishment of this centre.

The participants were welcomed by Dr. Péter Sótonyi, Rector Emeritus, who recalled the cooperation among the faculties that enabled the building of this modern centre in Szentkirályi street 10 years ago. As he expressed, the faculty’s idea related to the necessity of a new training centre was born earlier than 10 years ago, which was supported by the leadership of the faculties and the members of the Senate of the university. Finally, together with Dr. Tivadar Zelles, former Dean of the faculty, they managed to receive a governmental financial support for the realization of the plan. Dr. Sótonyi highlighted that the leadership of each faculty supported the idea, which clearly shows that the university manages to reach its goals with the strength of unity.

Dr. János Gerle, President of the Dental Training Centre, also emphasized the dedication and hard work of Dr. Péter Sótonyi and Dr. Tivadar Zelles in order to establish the modern centre of the Faculty of Dentistry. Dr. Gerle showed photographs and recalled the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone. He briefly told the history of the Dental Training Centre to the audience according to which education and health care were started in the new building in 2007, which was provided with modern tools and equipment. As Dr. Gerle explained, the employees of the faculty also brought and added their knowledge and their experience of 50 years, therefore one of the largest European dental institutions was born of which the two main pillars are education and health care. He also added that in the Dental Training Centre students of dentistry are also allowed to examine patients, and most of the teachers are also dentists in practice, therefore health care and education operate in unison. Dr. Gerle explained that the building was under a constant development during the previous decade: one of the milestones of the history of the Dental Training Centre and the history of the faculty was the fusion of the Department of Oro-Maxillofacial Surgery and Stomatology within the centre in 2013.

During the ceremony Dr. Tivadar Zelles handed over one of the bricks of Pátria Printing House to Dr. Gerle. The building of Pátria Printing House used to stand where currently the Dental Training Centre is located. In his speech Dr. Zelles explained that the building first was opened in 1891 for the children of teachers working at the countryside, youth who continued their university studies in Budapest. Then it was the location of an association representing Székely university and college students, afterwards it was functioning as a museum and only after World War II did it become a printing house. Dr. Zelles recalled the memories of how difficult it was for the faculty to receive the building, which was reconstructed with the help of a successfully received PPP (public private partnership) grant, and they partially financed the expenses of refurbishment from the resources of the faculty.

In his speech about the history of the Dental Training Centre, Dr. Gábor Gerber, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry rather focused on the most important current information related to education among the three pillars of the faculty (education, health care, research). According to Dean Gerber, the number of students was increased with 42% within this period, which was further supported by the introduction of separate programmes for German speaking students. Due to this, the number of participants of the German language programmes is continuously growing. As Dean Gerber expressed, this is especially important because the revenue from the foreign language programmes is spent on the development of the Faculty of Dentistry. Currently foreign students from 37 countries are studying at the faculty, and with this number the centre has reached its maximum capacity level. In his presentation Dean Gerber also talked about the necessity of the increase of the number of academic staff members.

Dr. Péter Hermann, Vice-Rector for Educational Affairs, President of the Department of Prosthodontics, explained that due to the so called box system established at the Dental Training Centre, the intimacy of health care has greatly improved. According to Vice-Rector Hermann, besides the more modern equipment, the philosophy of health care and education changed, too: on the first two floors there are 99 dentists’ chairs available for the students, where the teachers of the clinics hold classes for them. One of the most important novelties is the set of dental equipment prepared for left-handed dentists. In his presentation, Vice-Rector Hermann introduced the current number of patients, the number of employees, students and residents, as well as the division of the revenues.

In his presentation, Dr. István Gera, Professor, introduced the data related to research. He highlighted that the Faculty of Dentistry has a strong scientific collaboration with several university institutes and other Hungarian institutions as well. Following the opening of the Dental Training Centre, the number of course books and handbooks published by the faculty has increased. Together with the volumes that are about to be published shortly, all of the courses taught at the training centre will have its own course book. Dr. Gera informed the audience about the data related to the faculty’s publication activities, the faculty’s participation in the education of the new generation, the activity in the Students’ Scientific Association and the faculty’s participation in organizing congresses. Dr. Gera also emphasized that in the past ten years 14 students of dentistry received a PhD degree, and currently 20 students of dentistry are active participants at the School of Doctoral Studies.