We give dental students and new graduates free education + workshops to develop new skills to continue to become the best clinician they can be in their first year of private dentistry.
Our Mission
The purpose of Australian Dental Graduates is "Positively Transforming Dentistry." We believe in creating a better future for dentistry in Australia. Many people believe the future of dentistry in Australia is bleak. There are increasing numbers of new graduates, increasing corporate involvement in dentistry, increasing health fund involvement in dentistry, increasing numbers of people seeking dental treatment overseas and increasing competition for jobs. We believe the net result of this will be poorer workplace conditions and cultures, less engaged and less fulfilled teams and hence poorer patient care. However, we believe it is not all doom and gloom and we want to communicate this to the next generation of dentists.
We are extremely lucky to have highly skilled clinicians at our workshops providing feedback and tips from many years experience.
Since 2014 we have mentored and provided free workshops for over 400+ students and new dental graduates.
Australian Dental Graduates was founded by Dr Stephen Dudgeon and Dr Eli Burger of Avenue Dental on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
”When we graduated from Dental School we had amazing opportunities and we believe that there are still great opportunities in this extremely rewarding career of dentistry. We wanted to share this message of hope to new dental graduates so we started the Australian Dental Graduate Of The Year Award in 2014. We were overwhelmed by the quality of students graduating dentistry. There were so many great applicants it made it difficult to pick just one. We felt we wanted to do more to support new dental graduates in Australia.”
The first pilot program for the mini residency started in 2014 in which was such a huge success we have continued to grow each year and expand the opportunities available for mentoring.
Since starting our free education and mentoring programs in 2014, we have helped over 450 students and new graduates.
The aim of this program is to give final year dental students the opportunity to help people in need who would otherwise not have access to dental care in an overseas university setting.
Through the Australian Dental Graduate Of The Year Award, Mini Residency Program, Final Year Student Education and Australian Dental Outreach program we believe we are working towards our purpose of Positively Transforming Dentistry.
The Mini Residency is by invitation only to the top dental graduates that apply for the Australian Dental Graduate of the Year Award. This program consists of 4 free one day lectures and hands on workshops at the training facility in Caloundra. It is spread throughout the first year after graduation.
We believe strongly in devoting our time, material and money to less privileged individuals and communities. With the help of other not-for-profit organisations, we have been able to assist thousands of people in dire need across Australia and around the world. Together, we have assisted communities in regional and rural Australia as well as third world countries. There is also a large teaching component to Australian Dental Outreach. Australian Dental Outreach makes us feel like we are living our purpose of "positively transforming dentistry".
The Final Year Student Education workshops consist of one free full day lecture and hands on workshop at our training facility in Caloundra. It aims to help cement the foundational skills required to be an outstanding general dentist and provide knowledge and expertise from dentists working in the private field already.
The Australian Dental Graduate Of The Year Award is available to all final year dental students at all Australian Dental Schools. The dental graduate who wins the Australian Dental Graduate Of The Year Award will receive $1000, with 5 Runner Up Finalists winning $500.00 each! Dr Stephen Dudgeon and Dr Eli Burger from Avenue Dental started the Australian Dental Graduate Of The Year Award in 2014 as a way of supporting and recognising the next generation of dental graduates.
“The team at Avenue Dental are full of enthusiasm and energy. It is clear they have a passion for dentistry and providing the best possible care for their patients. It is something that they aim to convey to us during the mini-residency and they are successful in doing so. I left the first day feeling energised and motivated to implement new techniques and protocols within my clinical practice. The Mini-Residency is also a fantastic networking opportunity and I was able to meet so many new friends from all across Australia. I am so excited for what else is to come from the Mini-Residency program.”
