Dental studies in Tunisia are reserved for a selection of the elites of high school students who have passed their baccalaureate, hence the fact that admission is exclusive to scientific branches having the highest score nationally.[6][7]
History
Foundation
Before the inauguration of the faculty of dentistry of Monastir and until the beginning of the 1980s, Tunisian dentists studied in foreign universities, mainly in France.[8]
The faculty is located on Avicenna Street in Monastir near the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Medicine and the Graduate School of Health Sciences and Techniques and is associated with a university-hospital dental clinic.[15]
Technological and clinical applications of all-ceramics for prosthesis ;
Radioclinical diagnosis and treatment of maxillary tumors ;[19]
A research laboratory on biologically compatible substances.[21]
The university's professors are known for their contributions to the field of scientific and medical research nationally and internationally.[22][23][24]
Associated hospitals and departements
In order to provide a comprehensive training for residents, interns and students in the fourth and fifth grades, they must get through daily clinical traineeship during their studies. These specialized trainings are held in the following university-hospital centers that receive students, interns and residents :
Clinical University-Hospital of Dentistry associated with the faculty and which includes eight main departments :
The programme of medical studies for the national diploma of doctor of dentistry lasts six years: five years of externship and one year of internship, divided into:
two years in the first cycle of dental studies: a basic science-based training, thus more theoretical than practical;
three years in the second cycle of dental studies: theoretical and practical training with immersion in the clinical environment (students spend as many hours at the clinic as the faculty during this cycle);
a year of paid compulsory internship trainee and validated at the end by a final examination:
six months in the Monastir University Clinic of Dentistry divided between two separate departements
closure of the studies and of the internship by a thesis defense[25].
These studies are organized by discipline, modules and certificates and are given in the form of lectures, tutorials, practical work and clinical placements. Students are assessed by written and oral exams, practical and directed exams and clinical examinations.
After the six-year basic cycle, students who got their diploma or validated their internship may pass a national residency examination (specialization exam)[26] to register for the third cycle of specialized studies in dentistry and pursue specialization studies either clinical or fundamental
These specialties are divided into two major categories[27][28]:
Cultural Association of the FMDM: association created in 1997 and regrouping several clubs (video, music, painting, internal radio, dance and magazine);
University Sports Association of the FMDM: association created in 1981;
Scout FMDM: Scouts association created in 1994 by students and mainly concerned with volunteer work;
Tunisian Association for Dental Research: its main objective is to promote research in dentistry by providing various means of training and application;
Tunisian Association of Dental Students: Member of the International Association of Dental Students.
International relations
Since its inception, the university has been developing exchange agreements and cooperations, given the historical circumstances of its creation, as with the faculties of dental surgery in Marseille, Paris-VII, Bordeaux and Alger.
In 2017-2018, the faculty has 42 foreign students out of a total of 1,526, representing 3% of the total student population, in a context marked by the evolution of African cooperation and the opening up of countries of the continent to collaboration in scientific research and the exchange of experiences and information.
Since its affiliation with the University of Monastir in 2004, most of the international conventions are made through it, such as Erasmus +, Erasmus Mundus, the Quality Support Program for Higher Education, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, NursingCAS or other types of bilateral exchanges with foreign universities.