The Department of General Dental Preclinical Practice started its operation on November 1, 2011, after the existing infrastructure of the Faculty of Dentistry Education Centre allowed the creation of an independent institute from the Faculty’s Propaedeutics Unit.
Odontotechnology education had already been going on at the Faculty of Medicine since 1900, under the leadership of Lajos Hattyassy. At that time, this was only possible on the first floor of the Faculty of Medicine’s Economic Office.
From 1909, however, the education of dental technology could take place in an 18-seated laboratory in the basement of the Stomatology Clinic founded by József Árkövy.
Hattyasy was replaced by two highly experienced practitioners, Henrik Salamon and, from the 1920-s, Dénes Máthé, whose literary work is internationally outstanding.
When the independent dental education started in 1952, the new Practice Laboratory was established by Imre Földvári in the designated rooms of the present Institute of Pathology and Experimental Cancer Research.
The quality of education was greatly enhanced by the establishment of a phantom-head laboratory initially for 30 students and later extended for 70 students. Here, in addition to dentist instructors, dental technicians also took part in the education. Here, in addition to teaching Dental Materials and Metallurgy and Odontotechnology, the teaching of Prosthodontics and Conservative Dental Prosthodontics was started, as a result of which students learned the basic steps by simulating them on phantom heads.
György Huszár took over from Földvári as head of the Teaching Laboratory, which has since been attached to the Clinic of Prosthodontics and reduced in size. However, this did not lower the quality of teaching.
The next head, György Götz, equipped the Teaching Laboratory, as the Prosthodontic Department of the Clinic of Prosthodontics, in the 1990s with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, which were then state-of-the-art in Europe.
After György Götz, Pál Tóth and then András Kóbor headed the Department as lecturers of Material Science, but from the 2000s the teaching of Dental Material Science and Odontotechnology and Prosthodontics separated, so Péter Kivovics was appointed to head the teaching of Odontotechnology alongside András Kóbor.
In 2007, the faculty’s new Education Centre was inaugurated, where the Teaching Laboratory received new, world-class teaching facilities. It now offers high quality teaching in Odontotechnology and Materials Science, as well as in Prosthodontics, Conservative Dentistry, Periodontics, Oral Surgery, Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics.
By 2011, the need for the establishment of a consolidated Department of Prosthodontics was expressed. In 2011, Krisztina Márton was entrusted with the coordination of its establishment by the Dean Pál Fejérdy. Today, the Department is the only educational institution of its kind in Hungary.
Recently, in 2025, after its refurbishment a completely new world class educational facility has been established with 118 phantom head – dental unit workstations, in 3 teaching halls. 13 microscopic stations are also available for to students to study high precision interventions.
Our previous leaders:
Lab:
– Lajos Hattyasi 1900-1919.
– Henrik Salamon 1919-1922.
– Máthé Dénes 1922-1945.
– Imre Földvári 1945-1968.
– György Huszár 1968-1977.
– György Götz 1977-2001.
– Pál Tóth 2001.
– Péter Kivovics and András Kóbor 2001-2011.
Department:
– Krisztina Márton 2011-