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<\/p>\nIn June 2026, fourth-year dental students Laura Leiti and Szonja Fekete of Semmelweis University spent three weeks in South Africa, gaining first-hand insight into dental education and patient care across a range of professional settings. Alongside their clinical placement at a university in Johannesburg, they gained experience in both community and private dental care and participated in a professional hands-on course and a dental congress.<\/p>\n
The primary setting for the three-week programme was Johannesburg, where the students were hosted by the Faculty of Dentistry and its clinical facilities at the University of the Witwatersrand. During the first week, they joined fourth-year dental students in their daily academic and clinical activities. Their mornings were spent observing practical training, while their afternoons were dedicated to lectures. This provided them with a direct insight into the structure of clinical education in South Africa and the responsibilities undertaken by students at this stage of their training.<\/p>\n
During the second week, Laura and Szonja followed the daily routine of fifth-year dental students, allowing them to observe more complex clinical cases and gain a broader understanding of the clinical responsibilities associated with the later stages of dental education.<\/p>\n
One of the highlights of the programme was a visit to the Community Dentistry department at Zola Clinic, where the students were introduced to the provision of emergency dental care to the local community. As dental students at the clinic also provide paediatric care, Laura and Szonja had the opportunity to observe the specific communication strategies and treatment considerations involved in caring for children.<\/p>\n
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Their university placement was complemented by several days spent at Dr Kearney Advanced Dentistry, a private dental practice. With the support of their hosts, Dr Willem Kearney, Angelique Kearney and their daughter, Dr Robin Kearney, the students gained insight into the day-to-day operation of the practice. They were able to observe current cases, different treatment procedures, as well as the protocols, instruments and materials used in the practice.<\/p>\n
The professional programme was further enriched by participation in a one-day hands-on course organised by Curaden Academy and SciVision. The course focused on the prevention of oral diseases and the development of effective oral hygiene practices.<\/p>\n
The students also attended the SADA Mpumalanga Branch \u2013 Skukuza Mini Congress, held in Kruger National Park. During the two-day event, they attended lectures on a range of dental topics, gaining insight not only into university-based and clinical practice, but also into current professional issues and approaches within the South African dental profession.<\/p>\n
The three-week experience, however, extended well beyond professional development. Thanks to the warm hospitality of the Kearney family, the students were also able to experience South African everyday life and gain a deeper appreciation of the country\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe are extremely grateful to the Kearney family, whose support and hospitality made our time in South Africa possible. In addition to the professional experience we gained, they also gave us the opportunity to experience South African everyday life and culture from a much more personal perspective,\u201d the students said in their account of the programme.<\/p>\n
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Over the course of the three-week placement, the students were introduced to several different levels of dental care in South Africa, ranging from university-based clinical education and community dentistry to private practice and professional continuing education. The experience also enabled them to compare the educational and patient-care practices they encountered in South Africa with those of the Hungarian system, providing valuable perspectives on different professional approaches and practices that may prove beneficial throughout their future studies and careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In June 2026, fourth-year dental students Laura Leiti and Szonja Fekete of Semmelweis University spent three weeks in South Africa, gaining first-hand insight into dental education and patient care across a range of professional settings. Alongside their clinical placement at a university in Johannesburg, they gained experience in both community and private dental care and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102625,"featured_media":35384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[302],"tags":[408,406,410,412,365,404],"class_list":["post-35382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ir-news-en","tag-bilateral","tag-internationalrelations","tag-nkai","tag-nki","tag-scholarship","tag-southafrica"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35385,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35382\/revisions\/35385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/nki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}