Organization of Education

Education

At the Faculty of Dental Medicine at the Medical University of Sofia, students are taught dental medicine to graduate as “Master of Dental Medicine".

This education provides knowledge and skills required for proper prevention, diagnostics, and treatment of oral diseases. Theoretical preparation is acquired through compulsory, elective and facultative courses via lectures, seminars, exercises, and self-training. Practical skills are obtained through practical exercises during semester training, schooling practices, and pre-graduate internship. Students' practical training involves a certain amount of therapeutic activities.

The education of students in dental medicine is organized in three stages:

First Stage
During the first two years, students receive medico-biological training.

State Examinations
Students who pass them successfully are awarded Doctor's qualification in Dental Medicine and a Master’s degree. From 2005/2006 a credit system was introduced for the implementation of Ordinance №21 / 30.09.2004. The Faculty's management encourages students to take part in research activity. Credits are also awarded for student participation in scientific and research projects, congresses and conferences, as well as for publications in Bulgarian and foreign journals. The duration of dental education is 6 years. It takes ten semesters of 15 weeks each, divided into two semesters per year. After the second, fourth, sixth and eighth-semester students must complete a 30-day summer internship. The tenth semester is followed by pre-graduate internship - 6 months (1014 hours). The educational process for obtaining a Master's Degree in Dental Medicine ends with 6 state exams in the major dental disciplines - conservative dentistry, prosthetic dental medicine, dental, oral and maxillofacial surgery, pediatric dental medicine, orthodontics, and periodontology.

Elective Courses
From the first till the fifth year, students are required to collect 9,6 credits from elective courses, as well as participation in scientific research projects, congresses and conferences, and publications in Bulgarian and foreign journals.

At the Faculty of Dental Medicine, Sofia, students can choose from the following elective courses:

• Physiotherapy - Department of Conservative Dentistry
• Dental Implantology - Department of Prosthetic Dental Medicine
• Dental Allergology - Department of Imaging and Oral Diagnostics
• Oral Medicine - Department of Imaging and Oral Diagnostics

Students in dental medicine can also attend elective courses from the Medical Faculty.