Dear Year 1s, Congratulations on receiving your offers to the Dental School. We from the Singapore Association, University of Adelaide warmly welcome you into our midst. As part of our efforts to make the acclimatisation to living in a foreign country more comfortable and smooth sailing, I’ve prepared this information pack for you. This information pack will contain:

1) Things to buy 2) Leaving Singapore 3) Arriving in Adelaide

Things To Buy Dental Instruments The school will release an instrument list to you on the first day of school when you attend the welcome briefing. If things go as it did for my batch, there will not be a need for instrument use till after the first mid-sem break, meaning some time near April. There were 2 categories of instruments that we needed, with the set with fewer instruments being used in April (The examination kit). This will be purchased together with the school. The rest of the instruments will only be used from second semester onwards. Most of us got the Examination kit from the suppliers that came to talk to the school, and the rest in Singapore from a supplier (East Dent). My batch got them all together. Dental school calls in the local supplier and they sometimes offer pretty competitive pricing, although Singapore would definitely be cheaper. When the time comes we can give you more information on this. (Bargining, Contact details) There is no need to rush to buy them first, as the school might change some requirements and some of you may also want to get 2nd hand instruments. There will be more information released to you by the school when you arrive. You will no longer be using the Frasaco tooth model to practice on, Instead you will be using a Columbia model, which you would have to buy through the school. ($200) Please do note that if you are buying instruments here and bringing them with you to Adelaide, remember to put them in CHECK-IN luggage! Semester 1 Examination kit: Mirror Handle Mirror heads (pack of 3) Tweezers AE-DA241 S/E Explorer HF-EXS23 S/E Perio-Probe HF-PQW Laboratory kit: Plaster bowl Plaster Spatula Plaster Knife Wax Knife Lecron carver Semester 2 Excavator HF-EXC17 Excavator HF-EXC19 Plastic Filling instrument HF-PFI1 Plastic Filling instrument HF-PFIA6

Pluggers HF-PLG1-2NS Pluggers HF-PLG0-1NS Burnisher HF-BB27-29 Beech Carver M-101200 Hollenbak Carver HF CVHL 1 2 Dycal applicator WN-9503695 Delject amalgam carrier DJ-355036 R/Dam frame (child) HF-RDCF5 R/Dam forceps (Stockes pattern) KR-6777 R/Dam punch (Ivory pattern) AE-DF392 Scissors AE-BC110 R/Dam Clamps HF-RDCM W3 R/Dam Clamps HF-RDCM W14 R/Dam Clamps HF-RDCM W2 R/Dam Clamps HF-RDCM W8 R/Dam Clamps HF-RDCM 7 Haemostatic forceps mosquito curved AE-BH111 Tofflemire Univ Matrix Retainer HS – 097 Gracey Curette HF – SG1-2H6 Gracey Curette HF SG11-12H6 Gracey Curette HF SG13-14H6 Scaler D/E HF –SH6-7H6 Scaler McCalls HF-SM13-14SH6

Teeth During your course you would need to collect a full set of permanent(Adult) teeth. This will be used during the second part of the first semester. It might not be easy to just get the teeth from Adelaide, so you could ask your local dentist if he/she could help you collect any teeth that he/she might pull out from his/her patients. You could possibly bring this over if you go home during the mid-semester break, pack it in you check-in luggage on the way back (maybe ask a friend who went back too) You would need to store the teeth in milton solution(aka. Bleach) to keep the teeth hydrated and useable for practice.

Textbooks The Dental School has made MAJOR revamp of the curriculum, and your batch is the 3rd year that will be undergoing this new curriculum. The booklist here has been tabulated based on the materials that are/were relevant to the 2011 batch of BDS 1, and should therefore be relatively suitable for your batch. However, the need for the books is all subject to individual preference and usage, and so please do not rush out to buy every book here before reading this WHOLE document.

Some of the books you may or may not use, and the library does have copies to loan out if and when you do need the book for a particular chapter. 2nd hand books are also available.

Dental Clinical Practice:

a. ‘Primary Preventive Dentistry’ – Harris & Garcia-Godoy, 7th Ed  

Useful for completing your assignments and getting more details about Fluoride and Minimal Intervention. It is also one of the recommended texts to read when pre-reading is required. We didn’t use it THAT much though, so you might want to borrow them from the library rather then buying it.

b. ‘Color Atlas of Dental Hygiene: Periodontology’ – Wolf & Hassell

Marcus: Not really relevant to the BDS 1 2011 batch. Was really only useful because of the need to view coloured images when completing lab assignments. However, the school does upload the coloured images, so the books aren’t really necessary *I have the e-copy, and can send it to you, so you don’t really have to buy it unless you really want to have the hard copy of it.

   

c. ‘Essentials of Dental Radiography and Radiology’ – Whaites, 3rd Ed (PDF E-Copy Available

Marcus: Really useful for your radiograph assignments and gives you a much better understanding of the lectures. Most of us have this and it contains radiographic techniques for higher years as well.

d. ‘Dental Radiography Principles and Techniques’ – Iannucci & Howerton, 4th Ed

This is an alternative to Whaites. Although it’s slightly cheaper, most people still got Whaites.

Human Biology:

a) Physiology a. ‘Human Physiology: From Cells To Systems’

– Sherwood, 7th Ed (PDF E-copy available)  

b. ‘Fundamentals of Anatomy And Physiology’ – Martini, 9th Ed

c. ‘Principles of Anatomy And Physiology’ – Tortora & Derrickson, 13th Ed (PDF E-Copy available)  

Pick one of the above as your Physiology text.

Marcus: I really like Tortora. Diagrams are straight forward and to the point. The depth information is also appropriate for the lectures. Sherwood is useful, because lecturers take diagrams from there and teach following the text. Only disadvantage

about it is the lack of an anatomy reference AND, its really quite in depth. I usually study Tortora, and supplement with Sherwood only when needed.

*I have the e-copies of Tortora and Sherwood(only a simple scanned copy), and can send it to you, last year I bought Sherwood, and studied tortora from my laptop.

YingHui: Marieb was pretty good too. It has simple & concise chapter summaries classified according to subtopic. "Marieb EN, Hoehn K, Human anatomy & physiology, 8th ed".

b) Histology a. ‘Wheater’s Functional Histology’ – Young,

Lowe, Stevens, Heath, 5th Ed (E-copy available)  

b. ‘Basic Histology’ – Junqueira & Carneiro, 12th Ed

c. ‘Histology, A Text And Atlas’ – Ross, Kaye & Pawlina, 6th Ed

Pick one of the above as your Histology text.

Marcus: Junqueira is useful because tutorials are straight for the text itself. However the ORGANISATION of the information in Junqueira isn’t the best, and some feel that there is simply TOO much details. Not great for revision. Wheaters have a greater selection of Histology slides and concise explanations – too simple to answer your tutorials though. Think of it as Junqueira is Wheaters, like Sherwood is to Tortora.

*I have the e-copy of wheaters, and can send it to you, so you don’t really have to buy it unless you really want to have the hard copy of it.

Ross is pretty decent as well. It’s the most HARDCORE of the books though, so I used it only very infrequently. You can borrow it from the library if you want.

c) Biology a. ‘Biology’ – Campbell, Reece & Myers, 7th or

8th ed (Scanned E-copy available)  

Those who did Bio A levels should already own this book. It is good for the 1st few weeks of Bio when you get overwhelmed by the “basics”. It’s ok not to have it. Too simple for the subsequent lessons, so not overtly useful (I barely used it over the whole year) .

NOTE:

These books are in addition to your subject manuals which you will rely on much more.

The books recommended for Dental Clinical Practice is what the lecturers would call as “Essential Books” but as you’ve read from the comments, you may not use them as much as the lecturers think you would. Nevertheless, it’s good to start building a dental library.

New Curriculum:

Under the new system, you will only study 1 stream (subject) called Dental Science and Practice (DSP). This is to help you integrate everything you learn into dental practice. That being said, you might still notice that the books do have classifications to them. Broadly you will study Physiology, Histology and then there are the Dental-related things. The exams however, will combine everything and relate them, and so there is no segregation into individual subjects.

Others

a. Ladies, i. you need to bring enclosed flat heeled footwear for Clinics. It

must be totally covered (no flats) I can’t give more precise info other than enclosed flat heeled (no sports shoes).

ii. You need to bring office work pants for clinics b. Gents,

i. bring Office wear for clinic sessions (Black shoes, Black pants, Shirt). These take place once a week.

ii. Apply for exit permit and deferment from army through www.ns.sg

c. Stationery (Much cheaper from home, but bring in reasonable amounts)

d. Laptop i. There is a University of Adelaide apple store which give you

cheaper prices. e. Labcoat, if you already have one with you (or you can purchase one

from the school) f. Lab Googles, You will be needing this for clinic and Lab Sessions (Or

you can purchase one from the school)

Leaving Singapore

1) Essential things to bring with you for customs a. Offer Letter and photocopies, Certificate of Enrolment b. A couple of Passport sized photos c. Student Visa

2) Others a. Drivers license b. Prescriptions for any regular medications c. Work/ Character references

As you can see, the stuff that needs to be brought is really that which is listed above. Not much really. You can get most of your stuff like clothes hangers and the like over there. Slightly more expensive, but saves the hassle of packing and the luggage allowance and all that.

Arriving in Adelaide

1) Flight a. We recommend that you arrive on a weekday. Most banks close on the

weekends so this will make it easier for you to complete your bank details needed for applications

2) Accommodation

a. Uni is within the city centre itself, and so my suggestion for first years is to stay nearby, where you don’t have to really pay to be transported around, and where everything is.

b. The Uni-run accommodation is called the Village. It is located off-campus, to the west of the city, near Chinatown. Uni is in the North. It is not extremely far off, though it can be an approximate 25 min brisk walk to school. There is a free city-loop service as well. More details later

c. Private accommodation. Various apartments and townhouses are scattered within the city. You can access the rental database from the School’s Accommodation services webpage.

d. Sharing is always cheaper, but be aware that miscellaneous costs can build up, such as furnishing costs. Also, splitting of bills can be an issue for some.

e. Representatives from the Uni will be speaking at the Pre-departure briefing, which I strongly recommend everyone attend. This will give you a clearer picture as to what to expect

f. When you first arrive in adelaide you should first get your address settled as you would need this to finish applications for your desired bank and phone companies

3) Phone

a. The prices and plans for most of the major telco companies are quite expensive. There are also some internet based companies that do provide telco services at a much cheaper price. I have ranked them below based on cost.

i. Telstra à This telco company has the best coverage (apx $60) ii. Optus à This is the second best among the majoy companies

in terms of coverage (apx $50) iii. Vodafone à The worst in term of coverage, however their

coverage within the city is fine (apx $40) iv. TPG à This is a internet company which uses the optus

network (apx $18) v. Liveconnected à Another internet company which uses the

optus network, however the credits they provide does not include overseas call (apx $10)

b. Both pre-paid and post paid options are available and it is entirely your choice to decide what is best for you. Australian mobile companies work on a credit system, in the way that you get a sum of credits that you can use in a month, and that sum can be used for both SMS and

calls. Most companies have free calls to each other, so you should coordinate which telco company your batch wants to choose.

c. There is also options for you to bring your own phone and just receive the SIM card from the telco company (BYO Phone Plans)

d. You will need some info with you when you sign for your plan, and this includes your Passport, BSB (which is bank account details. You need to get a bank account set up first, and then ask the bank to supply you with one so that the Telco can verify), Student Visa and COE.

e. Australia’s country code is +61. Tell your parents to put this in before dialling your number in Australia. Also, all mobile numbers start with 04. However, when dialling to mobile internationally, the 0 is omitted. (ie, +614__________). Within Australia, mobile to mobile numbers, just dial 04_________.

f. Adelaide’s area code is 08. This is for Landlines only. This follows the same rules as the mobile numbers.

4) Banking a. There are a variety of banks for your to choose from for your banking

needs, and these include BankSA, WestPac, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB, etc. Look around for the ones best suited to you

b. We would recommend that you go for ANZ as they have the option of credit cards which you can use to pay for your school fees (gives you tons of points)

c. BankSA has a standing agreement with the school that allows you to directly pay the invoices (School fees, etc) through the Bank. This is just for convenience of course.

d. Apply for a Tax File number and provide it to the bank to log into the system so that you don’t get charged a withholding tax every financial year for interest earned

5) Internet & Computer services

a. Most of the telcos also offer internet plans, but bear in mind that these plans are not as competitive or affordable as their equivalents in Singapore. Also an important to note is that Unlimited internet is costly and uncommon compared to here.

b. Please look at the fine print and conditions carefully before going ahead with signing a contract for internet, especially for excess bandwidth charge. If you are not careful, this thing can blow a hole through your pocket.

c. If you’re staying in the Village, you can access the school internet service directly at no cost. The usage of bandwidth is subtracted from your allocated quota. For us it is 2GB a semester. Sites deemed educational by the school (such as youtube) do not count toward your bandwidth usage. Also, during our time, after hours usage between 5pm and 8am was said to be unlimited.

d. Alternatively you can engage in a pre-paid internet plan that the Village has going on with Amcom. This taps the same connection port in the room as that for the Uni internet. This is much faster without any restrictions, and no excess data charge. Just throttling of speed. Cost is not too competitive though. Infrastructure does NOT allow you to engage with another external Telco, so the only other option within the Village is to use mobile broadband which is expensive.

e. The school provides student printing services in addition to an allocated Internet Quota. This printing quota amounts to about $36 per semester, exceeding which you must top up at the Student centre. This is pretty sufficient for most of us in any case. There are various computer suites located around school, and the residents of the Village have access to the computer suite there as well that taps into the school internet and printing services. Printing is Black and White at most terminals, with some that provide colour printing at a much higher rate.

6) Transportation

a. Adelaide has a dedicated Metro service that runs both buses and Trams. Both use the same tickets

b. Students enjoy concession priced tickets that can be purchased from selected stores as well as on board the bus/tram itself.

c. There is such a thing as a multi-trip pass that is valid for 10 trips. There are 2 kinds of tickets: Off-peak and On-Peak. On-Peak tickets are any hour before 9am and after 3pm (I think. Need to check on this via the website), as well as on weekends.

d. Each ‘trip’ logged on the ticket is essentially valid for 2 hours from the point of boarding the transport. This means that within that 2 hour time frame, you can transfer to another bus/tram at no cost!

e. The tickets work in way that the old Transit-link cards used to (Pre-EZlink era)

f. Recently they have started a service known as Metrocard, it is similar to the EZ-link card we have in singapore. You might choose to go for this instead.

g. There is a 99C City Loop service that plies the city every day. This bus stops along North Terrace which is where the Uni is located, and the Dental Hospital a short distance away

7) School a. When you arrive you need to go to the international student centre

where you will i. Collect OSHC Card

ii. Have a welcome briefing by the University iii. Go for school Tour iv. Take photo for student card

b. Classes in school are scattered in the sense that lectures are held where the rooms are available to be booked. Typically it involves the Medical School building as well as a select few other places. Laboratory sessions are held in either MSS (Medical School South) or ADH (Adelaide Dental Hospital). Clinic sessions are in ADH proper.

c. Year 1s are required to construct Natural Tooth Manikins. You are expected to collect extracted teeth from dentists, and keep them moist in Milton’s solution. You will need this sometime after the first Mid-sem break. The school will release more information to you during the first day brief, but you might want to start asking your dentists in Singapore to start collecting them for you if you prefer. Documentary proof is preferred when you are checked at Quarantine. My suggestion is not to bring them with you this first trip, as you would not have a written request (school will issue this to you), nor your Dental Services Card. You can also find dentists in Adelaide to help, but then you will be competing with the other students to collect them. Regardless, you have a few months to do so, and everyone manages to construct theirs, so do not worry too much

There is plenty of other information that is available, but would be too much for you guys to handle at this point in time. Part of the beauty of living overseas is to figure out things on your own too!

If there are any further queries, please feel free to email me to clarify.

Best regards, Neil Tan neiltan99@hotmail.com SG: +65 9003 0040 AUS: +61 405 703 040

* this document was prepared by Ng Song Ping, BDS 4 (: *Updated by Neil Tan BDS 2, Marcus BDS 3 & others :D