Ariane keen to contribute to oral health in Indigenous communities
Published on 10 May, 2012
Ariane Anderson is grateful to have access to Indigenous student scholarships to support her study in the Bachelor of Oral Health at CQUniversity.
While her current focus is tackling the course content, in years to come she's looking forward to working somewhere she can help improve the oral health of Indigenous communities, most likely in far north Queensland.
Ariane Anderson has a vision for her future in Oral Health. LINK for a larger image
Ariane has previously worked as a dental assistant, after stints in hospitality and real estate administration, but this degree will enable a much more complex role. She'll become an oral health therapist who is qualified to perform preventative and operative dentistry, including examination, risk assessment, diagnosis of periodontal disease and dental care, scaling and cleaning, and oral hygiene instruction.
LINK also to CQUni Oral Health leader welcomes 'blitz' on public dental waiting lists
Associate Professor Leonie Short, the Discipline Leader for Oral Health, says there are only a small number of Indigenous people working as dentists and oral health therapists around Australia. Eighteen dentists and 15 oral health professionals is very low number when compared with over 140 Indigenous doctors and over 1136 nurses.
She said that, as well as Ariane who has started her degree, another Indigenous student, Charlene Homes, has indicated she's keen to apply for Oral Health at CQUniversity in 2013.
Ariane (right) enjoys her first residential school in the new Oral Health laboratory
Ariane is among 26 new Oral Health students who are learning with dental equipment and instruments* that are the envy of some dental practitioners.
Outside her study life she enjoys a bit of fishing and hopes to have time one day to return to the netball courts.
"I'm coping with the transition from a work environment back into study while enjoying the chance to study anatomy and physiology," Ariane says.
"It's appealing to be learning with new, state-of-the-art equipment, having the opportunity to expand on the oral health knowledge I already have from four years as a dental assistant."
Ariane has praised the availability of support from the Nulloo Yumbah Indigenous Learning, Spirituality & Research Centre on Rockhampton Campus.
"Nulloo Yumbah has been a massive help, from organising tutors to someone to talk to when things get tough."
[* Rockhampton Campus now has a purpose-fitted oral health laboratory of 15 A-dec simulation units with Columbia manikins and teeth models. These units simulate a dental chair with a patient laying in it. The unit can be raised and lowered, with the simulated patient placed in a seated or reclined position. The manikin head can also be rotated to the left or right, and with the chin tilted up or down. This simulates the normal operating position when the student is working on a tooth in the upper right or the lower left quadrant of the mouth.]
