CDA Essentials 2019 • Volume 7 • Issue 2

21 Issue 2 | 2019 | N ews and E vents Dr. Mary MacDougall, dean of UBC Dentistry, put forth a proposal to relocate the DLC to UBC’s Sutherland Clinic, a somewhat aging facility housed in an original UBC dental building circa 1968. The newly outfitted Patterson Dental Learning Centre, named in honour of Patterson Dental/ Dentaire, the donor behind one of the largest gifts to UBC Dentistry to date, is now open at UBC as a venue for local study clubs to promote lifelong learning. “Dean McDougall’s impressive and cost-effective business plan won the day, honouring the original intent of securing a dedicated space for hands-on training with patients—and exposing new dentists directly to the benefits of our rich study club tradition in BC,” Dr. Kin-Kong Wan, BCDA past- president, wrote in a November 2017 report. The clinic provides a venue for collaboration and curriculum-based learning to enhance the efficacy of hands-on training to dentists and students. The UBC campus site gives dental students the chance to have direct exposure to additional master clinicians by undertaking rotations in the dental learning centre as observers and assistants with various study clubs. An integrated approach to professional dental education resonates well with students, educators and study club leaders: all agree that it contributes to the modelling of lifelong learners. Patterson Dental and A-dec were instrumental to the relocation, renovation and outfitting of the Sutherland Clinic, named for 40-year dentistry veteran Dr. Douglas J. Sutherland, in recognition of his efforts to promote dental education and his role in establishing the UBC faculty of dentistry in 1962. The companies’ donation of 11 existing DLC dental chairs, along with other dental equipment supplied for the previous BCDA site, plus financial support, were the cornerstone to realizing the dental learning centre at UBC. Renovation work commenced in June 2018 and the Patterson Dental Learning Centre opened the following September, in time to accommodate use by local study clubs. a Donations and InnovativeThinking Revive Original UBC Dental Clinic When the British Columbia Dental Association (BCDA) decided to close its dental learning centre (DLC) in 2017, the association turned to industry suppliers and the local study club community for ideas on what to do with the existing DLC infrastructure—preferably in keeping with the donors’ original intention of supporting a study club facility. The Patterson Dental Learning Centre is available for use by all study clubs. To book sessions for your study club, contact 604-827-5696 or cdeconf@dentistry.ubc.ca For more information on the history and revival of the UBC clinic, visit dentistry.ubc.ca/ revival_pdlc_ubc Before After