She had the choice of a number of different countries including Sweden, Norway, Paris, Turkey and Latvia. She chose Norway and here she tells us all about it. Above is an image of the Northern Lights that she captured!
I completed my ERASMUS dental exchange during my final year of the BDS course for three months at the University of Oslo, Norway between September and December 2009. I was there with two other dental students from my year. We lived in student accommodation in Oslo and went to the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo where we were integrated into their Third Year.
During the course of three months we attended their undergraduate lectures (some of which were partly taught in Norwegian!) and attended clinics where we were responsible for treating our own patients (luckily the Norwegians' speak very good English). We had to use rubber dam on every composite filling case.
I completed my Final Year Project in Norway, this included interviewing their dental students and asking them about different treatment plans of different clinical scenarios. In Norway, the dentists do not use dental amalgam. This resulted in some interesting treatment plans for the different clinical scenarios. And also included composites in very subgingival cases, using glass ionomer as a sandwich in subgingival cases as well as electively root filling a vital tooth in order to place a post in the tooth to help hold a post for retention of the composite material.
It was not all work work work in Norway. We also had the opportunity to travel around the Scandinavian countries. This included a visit to the Arctic Circle where we went to the most northern hemisphere Dental School at the University of Tromsø¸. The facilities at this dental School were fantastic and very modern. We also managed to go on an excursion to witness the Northern Lights on a very cold icy clear sky night as well as spending some time on a husky dog farm. The husky dogs are working dogs that are vital for transport for some locals. One weekend we also travelled by train to the local ski resort just outside Oslo, where we managed to perform some skiing as well as making plenty of snow angels in the copious snow. This was quickly followed by numerous hot chocolates in the local cabin to warm up from outside's sub zero temperatures.
Outside of Norway we were able to visit some other Cardiff dental students also on ERASMUS at University of Gothenburg, as well as a trip to Stockholm and its various islands. There was an overnight ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen where we explored the city and saw The Little Mermaid statue.
The ERASMUS experience was fantastic and taught me a lot about different techniques as well as different materials that different dental clinicians utilise in the profession of dentistry. There were numerous challenges to working and studying in a different country (where English was not the first language) but the Norwegian people were very friendly and helpful that they made our stay in their country an experience that I will never forget. We made new friends as well as having the opportunity to explore the beautiful country of Norway.
Learn more about ERASMUS here lifelonglearningprogramme.org.uk
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The author has asked to remain anonymous.