Since 2006, the Cook College of Dentists has been a leader in patient care, dental education, and oral science research, and as the only Specialized Dental College for Vocational/Specialist Training and dental school in Rarotonga, we are a source of great strength and pride for the country.

Patient Care.

As an essential part of the James Cook School of Medicine academic health campus, our dental clinics have more than 70,000 patients visits per year. 

The college also has 26 community programs focused on children, patients with special needs, and seniors, including an award-winning Geriatrics Mobile Dental Unit. 

Our dental clinics are an essential resource to the country helping people and communities meet their dental care needs.

To be eligible to sit for the Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Dentists Part - I and II (in your chosen specialty)!

• You must hold a Dental degree that is recognized and acceptable by the Cook Island Medical and Dental Council and/or Dental Council of New Zealand for full or provisional registration.

• First time applicants whose names are not among the CKMDC/DCNZ, GP/Specialist registers must submit their original certificate (or an authenticated copy) of a medical degree acceptable to the council.

• Intercollegiate Examinees are not required to register with the Cook Island Medical and Dental Council and/or Dental Council of New Zealand, before taking the Fellowship Examination. However if they intend to practice Dentistry in Cook Islands/New Zealand a registration with the Cook Island Medical and Dental Council and / or Dental Council of New Zealand is required.

• The applicant must have been qualified for at least Three years post graduation for more information about our eligibility duration contact cdck@jcsmmed.org.

• Evidence of having reached clinical competence defined in the Dental Curriculum.

• Three structured references in the format prescribed by Fellows of the Cook College of Dentists on Fellowship Examinations.

• A maximum of 7 years to complete the examination process

• A Two-year period from their 1st attempt with a maximum of 4 attempts with no re-entry.

• Candidates will have a maximum of 4 attempts with no re-entry.

• Evidence of published research work/papers in Dentistry (shall be an added advantage).

Before taking the Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Dentists Specialty Examination Part - I and II in any of the Specialities, you must have completed speciality training in Cook Island, New Zealand or abroad (for intercollegiate examination).

• You must have attained a Postgraduate Dental Specialist Certificate / Certificate of Specialist Training (CST) In a given Dental Speciality, this takes a minimum duration of 3 years for Dentists and 5-6 years for Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons.

• The Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Dentists Speciality is taken by a Specialist Dentist or Specialist trainees in the last year of Specialty training.

• Normally after Specialty Training, this examination is commonly known as the FCD - (CK) "exit examination".

FCD - (CK) "exit examination"

In the FCD - (CK) 'exit examination' the examinee will be expected to take and successfully pass two key exams: the Fellowship Exam of the Cook College of Pharmacist (in their Chosen Specialty) Part - I and II.

The Fellowship of the Cook College of Dentists, is a Specialist Dental qualification, that enables Dentists practise as Specialist after obtaining necessary council registrations. 

Upon completion and a satisfactorily performance of the of the Part - 1 & 2 Fellowship Examination, Dentists become Fellows of the College and automatically qualify to use the FCD - CK acronym in conjunction with any of the acronyms of their specialties as listed below; e.g FCD - O.M.R. - (CK) for an Oral & Maxillofacial Radiologist, FCD - Paed. Dent. (CK) for a Paediatric Dentist e.t.c.

• Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology
• Endodontics
• Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology
• Periodontics
• Dental Public Health 
• Endodontics 
• Prosthodontics
• Paediatric Dentistry

Learn more about the various Fellowship examinations Parts in each specialties.

PART - I FCD (CK)

Candidates will have a maximum duration of a two year period from their 1st attempt with a maximum of 4 attempts with no re-entry.

This section must be passed to gain eligibility to proceed to FCD (CK) Part - II e.t.c. 

EXAMINATION STRUCTURE

SECTION 1 & 2 (VIVAS).

• Paper - I 120 Single Best Answers [SBA] (2 hours, 15 minutes)
• Paper - II 120 Single Best Answers [SBA] (2 hours, 15 minutes)

The exams can be taken at dedicated centres around Rarotonga Cook Island, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany e.t.c. usually local driving test centres or abroad. 

To Learn more about our examination locations and time kindly contact cdck@jcsmmed.org

PART - II FCD (CK)

Only taken following success of FCD (CK) Part - I e.t.c. (depending on Doctors Specialty). This Examination Takes place over two days.

EXAMINATION STRUCTURE

• Clinical Vivas Oral Surgery/Dentistry: 2 × 10 minutes cases & 1 × 20 minutes case.

• Special Interest Clinical (Dentists Specialty): 2 × 10 minutes cases & 1 × 20 minutes case.

• Oral Vivas: 4 × 30 minutes oral examinations

• Emergency Dentistry/ Oral Surgery/ Trauma/ Critical Care Dentistry (6x 5 minute cases).

• General Dentistry / Oral Surgery Principles & Clinical Practice (6x 5 minute cases)

• Special Interest Dentistry / Oral Surgery Clinical Practice (6x 5 minute cases)

• Special Interest Dentistry / Oral Surgery.

• Basic Principles and Academic station (3x Base questions with 15 minute review of paper).

• Candidates have 30 minutes to read paper prior to starting this station.

• The Special Interest paper will be replaced by a generic paper that will be relevant to the wider field of Dentistry / Oral Surgery.

• Interpretation of radiographs may be included in any of the orals.

To Learn more about our examination locations and time kindly contact cdck@jcsmmed.org

INTERCOLLEGIATE FELLOWSHIP EXAMINATION OF THE COOK COLLEGE OF DENTISTS

Dentists applying to take the Intercollegiate Fellowship Examination of Cook College of Dentists, that have done their Vocational/Specialist Training outside of Cook Island / New Zealand, Australia, United States, United Kingdom and Canada will have to contact the Cook College of Dentists in the James Cook School of Medicine in order to ascertain whether or not they are eligible to take the College's Fellowship Examination.

• Their Specialist Trainee Certificates and course work / hospitals / Clinical Rotations within their various specialities will be evaluated by the College and perused through, to ensure it meets the required standard of the Cook College of Dentists as a minimum requirement to qualify for the Fellowship Examination.

• Only Dentists with Ph.D. Degrees trained in India are eligible to apply for our Fellowship Examination from India.

• To qualify to seat for our Intercollegiate Fellowship Examination, Examinees (Dentists) MUST be a graduate of an accredited Dental school recognized by the Cook College of Dentists.

• Dental Examinees are ONLY eligible to take the Fellowship Examination THREE years Post dental school graduation, while Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Examinees are ONLY eligible to take the Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Surgeons FIVE years Post dental school graduation. A Doctor of Medicine program is embedded in our O.M.S. & S.O.D.O. Vocational/Specialist Trainee Program.

To learn more about the Intercollegiate Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Dentists, and our various departments open for the Intercollegiate Examination contact us via cdck@jcsmmed.org

Honorary fellowship of the college is by direct nomination using a Cook College of Dentist (CD - CK) Honorary Fellowship Nomination form by current Fellows of the College, a short resume of no more than Five pages for the nominated candidate.

Current Fellows of the College nominating others for a honorary fellowship should be aware that their nominee(s) should have made an outstanding contribution either to dental or general science or literature and/or should have given exceptional service in a non-dental capacity to the college, science or practice of dentistry.

The Council may nominate others as Fellows of the College, if the following persons meet these requirements:

• Persons holding a Dental qualification, but are not Members of the College, who have distinguished themselves in the practice of Dentistry, or in the pursuit of Dentistry or General Science or Literature and who have been previously nominated by the Council as specially eligible. No more than ten such persons shall be elected Fellows in any one year, unless in exceptional circumstances.

• Honorary Fellowships of the College may be bestowed on persons of eminence, who do not necessarily hold a Dental qualification, but have rendered exceptional services to the Science or Practice of Dentistry.
• Only current fellows of the College can make a nomination using the honorary Fellowship Nomination form and submitted to cdck@jcsmmed.org

To nominate for honorary fellowship please write the College cdck@jcsmmed.org to get started.

Resume's of greater than five pages will not be accepted and candidates may fail to progress to submission.

In any one annual cycle from 2024, no more than 10 honorary fellowships will be allocated.

All proposals for honorary fellowships need to be received by 1 June to be considered by the July Fellowship Council at which honorary fellowships will be elected.

Honorary fellowships will not be considered at any other point in the year.

Our Vocational/Specialist Trainee Program (Dental Residency) leads to a Doctor of Clinical Dentistry (D.Clin.Dent.) in specialized areas of Dentistry like;

• Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology
• Endodontics
• Oral & Maxillofacial Radiology
• Periodontics
• Dental Public Health e.t.c.

Once Dentists graduate from our respective Vocational/Specialist Trainee Programs (Dental Residency), they become eligible to seat for the Fellowship Examination of the Cook College of Dentists. 

Passing this Examination renders a Dentist eligible to use the FCD (CK) acronym, alongside the speciality which represents his/her qualification as a Fellow of the Cook College of Dentists.

Our educational curriculum has been instrumental in educating excellent dentists and specialists across Rarotonga and the world.

Our unique curriculum offers an experience and enables our Specialist Trainees, rotate through their respective Dental Specialities, subspecialties and a wide range of other Dental Specialties at our Hospitals of training.

At the Cook College of Dentists, we have various departments / wide arrays of Dental subspecialties that our prospective trainees can choose from.

Fellows of the Cook College of Dentists and Specialist Trainees always carry out Dental research in different arrays of Dental Specialties.The Cook Dental Research Center and Hospitals of Training are exemplary sites for research within the Cook College of Dentists.

The Cook College of Dentists offers full-time Dental Residency/Specialist Trainee Program / Courses leading to the awarding of a Specialist Qualifications in Doctorate of Clinical Dentistry [DClinDent]

Postgraduate Dental degrees, Clinical Fellowship degrees and Specialist Fellowship Qualifications of the Cook College of Dentists

Training periods ranges from three to six years.  All programs aim at providing exit qualifications for graduates to practice independently and at Specialist level. 

Since its inception in 2001, there have been 324 graduates, Graduates are scattered throughout the Oceania, Americas, to the United States of America, with 95% currently practicing in the region.

All programs aim at providing exit qualifications for graduates to practice independently and at Specialist level in various Disciplines throughout the Oceania

Applicants should be graduates in Dental Medicine from a Dental School or University recognized by the James Cook School of Medicine and be fully registered to practice in any of the Oceanian Countries unless Applicant is an Intercollegiate Applicant (International Dental Graduates)

Preference will be given to those who excel in their respective fields during their undergraduate training.

Time spent in gaining post-internship experience in Oral Medicine / Surgery along with ATLS and ACLS certification, will be of benefit to candidates seeking entry into various medical and surgical programs.

Program durations are between three and six years depending on the specialty/subspecialty.

The courses are divided into two parts.  The programmes have a common two-year Part 1 training period spent in rotations of three months each in various surgical disciplines.  During this period there are structured teaching in Applied Anatomy, Physiology, Oral Pathology along with Principles of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in general. 

At the end of this training period there will be a written and oral examination in each of the four disciplines

Following successful completion of the Part 1 examination, candidates proceed into the second part of the training.  This is spent exclusively in the chosen speciality using six-month rotations.  .

The penultimate year is available for elective rotations in any approved institution.  In this part of the course the candidate is required to prepare a Casebook with commentaries or a research projects/papers for publications in peer reviewed journals before presenting for the final examination. 

To graduate, the candidate should have successfully completed the training period with respect operative experience, have satisfactory assessments, submitted and obtained acceptance of the casebook, and be successful in the written and oral Part II examinations.

At the Department of General Dentistry, Cook College of Dentistry James Cook School of Medicine, we have a Comprehensive Care Clinic is designed to provide clinical fellows, vocational/specialist trainees and senior dental students with the knowledge and skills necessary to become competent in all aspects of general dentistry.

We train aspiring Dentists by performing a wide variety of clinical procedures in an environment that simulates dental practice and enables them to make independent clinical decisions.

The educational experience will be provided in an open and supportive environment emphasizing a humanistic approach (respect, tolerance, understanding, and concern for others fostered by mentoring, advising and small group interaction).

PATIENT CARE

At the same time, we will provide the best dental care possible using a patient-centered approach which considers the patient’s social, economic, and emotional circumstances in making treatment decisions.

We emphasize efficiency and teamwork, utilizing dental specialists and fellows in a cost-effective manner with the consultant dentist serving as a role model for students in making treatment and referral decisions.

OUR MISSION AND HISTORY

Founded in 2000 the Department of General Dentistry was created to bring patient care into an all encompassing full care dental atmosphere.

The General Dentistry Mission is to teach students to apply their diagnostic and therapeutic skills;

By providing comprehensive care for the patients; advance the science of dentistry; and provide professional development opportunities for the faculty and staff.

We offer Vocational/Specialist Trainee Programs (V/STP) ranging from 3 - 6 years, and Clinical Fellowship Programs ranging from 1 - 3 year(s) in collaboration with the Department of Surgery.

VOCATIONAL/SPECIALIST TRAINEE & CLINICAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery - M.Chir. & C.S.T. (M.D. Program Inclusive - See (Cook College of Surgeons) 
• Surgical Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopaedics - M.Chir. & C.S.T. (M.D. Program Inclusive - See (Cook College of Surgeons)
• Dental Public Health - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Endodontics - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Periodontics - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Prosthodontics - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Paediatric Dentistry - D.Clin.Dent. & C.S.T.
• Maxillofacial Prosthetics - C.C.F.
• Oral Medicine - C.C.F.
• General Dentistry - C.C.F.
• Maxillofacial Prosthetics & Dental Oncology - C.C.F.
• Transitional / Preliminary - C.S.T.

CLINICAL FELLOWS

• Mason P. Dexter, D.M.D., D.Clin.Dent., FCD - O.M.P. (CK) - Chief Fellow, CFY - II
• Hannah K. Dwennon, D.D.S., D.Clin.Dent., FCD - Paed. Dent. (CK) - Chief Fellow, CFY - II
• Aldwin E. Milton, D.M.D., D.Clin.Dent., FCD - Endo. (CK) - Chief Fellow, CFY - II
• Osward A. Sigeberth, D.M.D., FCD - Prosth. (CK) - Fellow, CFY - I
• Georgina O. Warrick, D.M.D., D.Clint.Dent., FCD - O.M.R. (CK) - Fellow, CFY - I
• Sophia Y. Linz, D.M.D., D.Clin.Dent., FCD - Dent.PH. (CK) - Fellow, CFY - I
• Bethela K. Sung, D.D.S., D.Clint.Dent., FCD - P.D.T. (CK) - Fellow, CFY - I

RESIDENTS

• Ogden A. Reginald, B.D.S., M.D.S. - Chief Resident, PGY - III
• Patrice I. Angelo, D.M.D. - Chief Resident, PGY - III
• Theresa D. Wystan, D.D.S. - Resident, PGY - II
• Aaron C. Benton Jr., D.M.D. - Resident, PGY - II
• Alicia V. Zagreb, D.M.D. - Resident, PGY - I
• Dickson R. Lewis, D.M.D. - Resident, PGY - I

DURATION

• V/STP (M.Chir. / D.Clin.Dent.) - 3 - 6 Years

• Clinical Fellowship Program - 1 - 3 Years 
  

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