Low number of dental students

There were 59 applicants for the course of Bachelor of Dental Surgery, of whom 38 applied for the course as first preference and the others, 21, applied for the course as second preference.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina said 20 applications were not accepted.

She also told Parliament that, should the number of students in the Faculty of Dental Surgery increase, the standards of the course programme would suffer. She said the faculty produced the best students and a lowering of the standards would be reflected in the care given to Maltese patients.

The University would open detailed discussions to study the situation in depth. Currently, only 32 clinical students were accepted due to the numerus clausus.