About

The Department of Odontology (The School of Dentistry) is located at Nørre Campus (Panum) in Copenhagen and is part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

Core tasks include research and education of dentists as well as specialized clinical examinations and treatments.

Students are taught in the large clinic, comprising more than 200 dental units, and the curriculum is based on the ongoing research that is being conducted at the department, in the clinic, and in the laboratories.

Approx. 450 students are enrolled in the dentistry programme. One hundred new students are enrolled each year (in 2023 the number was raised to 120).

There are currently approx. 15 PhD students, who are in different stages of their research education.

The Department also houses the postgraduate programme in Orthodontics, a 3-year full time education programme, with an intake of 4-5 dentists annually.

A brief history

The dental education programme was established as an independent subject in Denmark in 1888. From 1941 to the end of 1990 the School of Dentistry was an institution of higher education with its own rector and senate.

In the late 1970s an integration of the health education programmes was discussed and a decade later the University established the Faculty of Health Sciences, which included the Central Department of Odontology comprising two scientific and one clinical section.

In the 1990s a revision of the dental education programme resulted in 60% joint courses with the medical programme, full implementation from 1992.

The Department of Odontology received its current designation with the introduction of the new university law in 1993.

The first school of dentistry was located in a residential flat in central Copenhagen (Nygade) in the early 1890s. The school moved its location twice, first in 1894 to Stormgade where the facilities were shared with the Teachers College and a school museum, and in 1928 to Trommesalen. In 1941 the school moved to newly constructed facilties in the eastern part of Copenhagen (Jagtvej).

During the years 1983-86 the school moved yet again to the recently erected Panum Institute in the northern part of central Copenhagen, - a part of the University's Nørre Campus.

The Panum Institute is currently under reconstruction in order to provide better facilities for educations and research in health and medical sciences. Construction of new addition The Maersk Tower began in 2012 and was officially initiated in January 2017.

Sources:

Ib P. Sewerin: Tandlægeskolen i København 1888-2000 - Liv og historie. Munksgaard Danmark, 2005
Tandlægebladet no 9, June 1988, year 92: 100 år Københavns Tandlægehøjskole.
Copenhagen Royal Dental College 1888-1988. Royal Dental College/Informationsudvalget (pamphlet).