The Oral Health Alliance – a partnership between Metro North Hospital and Health Service and The University of Queensland – is founded on the shared belief that future world-class clinical service, teaching and research is dependent on commitment to integration.
Through the Oral Health Alliance, UQ and Metro North Hospital and Health Service have leveraged opportunities flowing from the integration of clinical service delivery, clinical innovation and education and training of the next generation of the dental workforce in the pursuit of the highest standard of oral health care for the community.
By combining expertise, knowledge and resources, the alliance brings together complementary strengths and takes the combined capacities and potential of both organisations to create a truly world class operation, leading the way in oral health. The Oral Health Alliance is a generational opportunity realised; uniting the clinical treatment capabilities of the health sector with the dental education and research capabilities of the School of Dentistry within the Oral Health Centre – the hub of the Oral Health Alliance.
The alliance represents best practice nationally and internationally, expanding our mission to include the elements of clinical service, teaching and research. It provides an opportunity to truly embed research into the health system; to pursue new knowledge, technologies and innovation.
The Oral Health Centre
The Oral Health Centre is the nation’s largest and most advanced tertiary oral health facility and brings together renowned academics and researchers, leading practitioners and top tier students who are united by their passion to improve the lives of everyday Australians through better care. The OHC is the hub of the Oral Health Alliance, a partnership between Metro North Hospital and Health Service
The Centre provides the new home for the UQ School of Dentistry, which was previously located at Turbot Street.
The Oral Health Centre's teaching facilities include clinical simulation areas, pre-clinical laboratories, lecture/seminar rooms, and research laboratories. Students have access to over 150 dental chairs distributed across 11 clinics, covering general practice dentistry, oral rehabilitation, paediatric dentistry, orthodontics, oral radiology, oral medicine, periodontics, endodontics, special needs dentistry and other specialist services, as well as a state of the art imaging centre, a learning centre and library.
Areas of specialist expertise include oral cancer diagnosis and treatment, with clinics for oral cancer outpatient care, including speech pathology, dietetics and ENT, involving health professionals as well as students from other schools in UQ's Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences. This is conjoint with other multi-disciplinary inter-professional clinics, including special needs dentistry. This provides excellent physical integration of patient care with ready access to the Queensland Radium Institute, the RBWH Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, the RBWH Maxillo-Facial Unit, and other relevant inpatient and outpatient care facilities.
UQ has provided the site at its Herston campus, just 3.8 km from the School of Dentistry’s previous Turbot Street location. The Oral Health Centre is positioned alongside UQ’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health, and is immediately adjacent to the Royal Children’s Hospital.