A practical, career-elevating examination course designed for dental hygienists and Oral Health therapists who are ready to expand their clinical confidence, improve patient outcomes, and contribute more meaningfully to patient care.

Event Dates 2026

Melbourne November 14th, 2026

The Victoria Hotel, Little Collins St, Melbourne

COURSE INCLUSIONS $1090 (ex GST)

1.     Take-home course book

2.     Catering for the hands-on day, including tea, coffee, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

3.     Access to eight (8)hours of online content

4. One day LIVE hands on (8)hours Melbourne CBD.

Expert-Led Sessions

Learn from practicing dentists, OTHs and dental specialists who understand the challenges and rewards of dentistry.

Hands-On Experience

Engage in hands-on training. In a real- world environment.

Tailored Content

Content created exclusively for OHTs and Dental Hygienists.

Whether it's mastering the placement of sectional matrices, understanding and simplifying aesthetic restorations or the art of polishing, our course covers it all.

Are you an Oral Health Therapist or Dental Hygienist looking to elevate your examination skills?

 

EXAMINE has been developed to enhance the clinical skills of Hygienists and Oral Health Therapists- it combines theory and practical application. Participants will develop confidence in comprehensive patient assessment, clinical decision-making, documentation, communication, and patient-centred care.  

Independent clinicians don’t simply record findings- they recognise patterns, identify risk, apply clinical judgement, and confidently guide patient care.

Let us help you to create a Comprehensive Assessment System.

EXAMINE is designed to take you beyond the basics.

This course will help you move from simply “checking and recording” to confidently identifying disease patterns, communicating findings, and contributing to better patient care.

This course is for you if you want to:

- Work more confidently at the top of your scope

- Improve your diagnostic thinking and clinical decision-making

- Identify more early disease, risk factors, and treatment opportunities

- Communicate findings clearly to patients and dentists

- Increase your clinical value within the practice

- Ethically improve patient outcomes through better examination and communication

What you’ll learn:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

Master a structured examination system

Implement a repeatable, time-efficient full examination protocol that improves consistency, confidence, and clinical accuracy.

Diagnose, not just detect

Differentiate between findings and diagnosis while recognising early signs of caries, tooth wear, cracks, structural compromise, failing restorations, and disease progression.

Elevate periodontal and risk-based decision-making

Apply periodontal classification, identify risk factors, and determine when to monitor, intervene, or refer.


Integrate whole-patient thinking

Use medical history, medications, systemic health, and behavioural risk factors to guide clinical decisions.

Communicate with clarity and confidence

Present findings in patient-friendly language that improves understanding, trust, treatment acceptance, and collaboration with the dentist.

Expand your clinical impact

Identify opportunities for preventive care, early intervention, restorative referral, and behaviour change — while ethically increasing patient outcomes.

Implement immediately

Leave with practical workflows, communication scripts, documentation prompts, and systems you can apply in practice the next day.

Why this course is different

This is not a basic oral examination course.

This is a clinical thinking, communication, and implementation course designed specifically for hygienists and OHTs working in real-world private practice.

You will learn how to connect what you see clinically with what the patient understands, values, and accepts.

What you’ll walk away with:

A structured comprehensive examination framework

Practical clinical decision-making pathways

Risk-based recall and treatment planning prompts

Patient communication scripts

Dentist handover language

Documentation prompts

Confidence to contribute more meaningfully to patient care and practice growth

Who should attend?

This course is ideal for:

- Dental Hygienists

- Oral Health Therapists

- New graduates wanting structure and confidence

- Experienced clinicians wanting to expand their knowledge and clinical influence

- Clinicians who want to improve patient outcomes

Course format Total 16 hours CPD

Full-day hands-on, case-based CPD course, combined with on-line content 

This course combines clinical theory, case discussion, practical workflows, communication training, and real-world implementation systems.

You will not just learn what to look for — you will learn what to do with what you find.

Course outcomes

After attending EXAMINE, you will be able to walk into your next clinical day with a clearer system, stronger communication, and greater confidence in your ability to identify, explain, and escalate clinical findings.

You will be equipped to become more than a provider of hygiene care.

You will become a key clinical driver in the practice.

The Dental Health Network difference

Dental Health Network courses are designed by clinicians, for clinicians.

Our focus is practical, immediately applicable education that helps dental professionals increase confidence, improve patient outcomes, and grow within their scope.

Your examination is one of the most powerful tools you have.Learn how to use it with more structure, confidence, and impact.

See more. Detect more. Become more.


  • PO Box 2524 Chermside Centre, QLD 4032

0433 824 144

© Dental Health Network. All Rights Reserved.

Will this intensive training give me adult scope?

All Dental practitioners exercise autonomous decision making within their particular areas of training, education and competence to provide the best possible care for their patients. APHRA (The National Board) approves programs of study, (i.e. University Bachelor degree courses) as the minimum requirements for registration as the main divisions of Dental Practitioners (Dental Specialist, Dentist, OHT, Dental Hygienist and Dental Therapist). Within each division, registered practitioners must only perform those dental procedures that they have been trained, educated and deemed competent in by the approved programs of study.

A Dental Practitioners scope can evolve from the time they receive their qualification. Recently, the National Board has removed the reference and approval for programs to extend scope from the registration standard. This has been decided to be delivered by Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The board has currently no approval process for any CPD event run by any organization, including DHN or even the Universities. Unfortunately, this means there is no tick box solution for OHTs to increase their scope to adult restorative and hence there is no registration Division for an OHT with Adult scope. The age restriction for some OHTs and the extension of scope to potentially treat adult restorative may be considered an extension of scope but could also be considered building on fundamental scope.

If one decides to complete CPD that broadens knowledge, expertise and competence: one needs to: ·        

-Self-assess whether sufficient clinical experience has been provided         

-Assess the quality of training of incorporate the acquired knowledge and training into clinical practice ·        

-Make sure the practice is within the relevant division of registration and definition of dentistry ·        

-Be mindful whether your professional indemnity insurance covers any new procedures and techniques ·        

-Make sure you always practice in accordance with the boards Code of Conduct

AHPRA has some useful information regarding the self-reflection tool on their website which is advised for practitioners looking at validating their scope of practice.

At DHN, we pride ourselves in providing real world dental education on current best practice, including practical training for participants on real life situations on live patients. A Certificate of Attendance for CPD points will be provided.

Am I guaranteed to work on live patients?

Our aim is to ensure all participants undertake hands-on training treating live patients. However we take our responsibility to the patients participating in this course very seriously. If you are deemed unfit or unprepared to work on live patients, we reserve the right to prevent you from treating live patients. In such cases, the participant will be provided with further training and mentorship, which may include working on a typodont model during the time they were originally scheduled to perform live treatments.

We do reserve to right to exclude a participant from the live training if we reasonably believe the student is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Can I bring my partner or children to the event?

As this is an intensive educational event, social time is limited. However your partner is welcome to join the group for the dinners and celebratory festivities (additional fee will be applied). We are happy to discuss arrangements that would enable you to take part in the event. Please contact us if you have a unique situation that requires someone to attend with you.

What happens if I am late or need to leave early?

While all active participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance, you may miss valuable CPD hours. So please ensure you are punctual for the live event and plan your flights and accommodation accordingly.

For the pre-event online training

We highly recommend that you block out the time to attend the on-line training sessions. This will enable you stay on track with the coursework. We will be able to log your attendance at these sessions, and your non-attendance will result in a reduction of your CPD hours; your CPD Certificate will reflect this.

For the live event

You must arrive 30 minutes early on the first day of training to allow time for registration. As there is no parking available at The Australian Dental Centre of Excellence (ADCE), all participants are leaving together via bus transfer to our first training session at ADCE, and we will not delay the bus for late students. 

The clinical training will finish at 6pm on the final day. However, there will be an awards ceremony and celebration on Saturday night which you will not want to miss out on!

We recommend considering your transportation and accommodation options, and ensuring you have plenty of time to arrive on time for the event. If you need to arrange additional accommodation on either Wednesday or Saturday evenings, please contact our team directly. 

If I'm not able to participate in the event, can I get a refund?

We have a 48-hour cooling off period, where you can request a refund if you change your mind within 48-hours of making payment to participate in this training. However, due to the limited number of spots available for participants in this training, we do not offer any further "change of mind" refunds.

We arrange custom items for participants in the training courses and incur upfront costs that we must pay regardless of whether you participate or not. If you cancel your booking, you may also forfeit your paid fees, depending on how close we are to the start date of the online training.

More than 60 days' notice of cancellation (Prior to the commencement of Online Training Sessions): Your 15% deposit (when paying via HUMM), or 15% of the final price will be non-refundable, any other money paid by you will be refunded.

Less than 60 days' notice but more than 30 days' notice: Your deposit will be non-refundable, plus you also forfeit 50% of the balance money paid by you.

Less than 30 days' notice, no show on the day, or partial attendance: No refund of any amount paid. We acknowledge that there may be extenuating circumstances preventing your attendance at the commencement or any part of the course. You must apply to us in writing for consideration of your circumstances.

What repayment terms are available through Humm?

We've partnered with Humm to offer a 24-month interest-free payment plans. However, to secure your spot in The Live Patient Adult Restorative Mini-Residency for OHTs & DTs, a 15% deposit is required to be paid upfront via direct deposit. The remaining 85% of your fees are eligible for funding through Humm, pending finance approval.

If you choose the 24-month plan, your fortnightly repayment will be approximately $169/fortnight.

In addition to the weekly repayments, Humm charges an $8/month Account Fee.

You will also need to pay an Establishment Fee for the payment plan to be setup. If you're new to Humm, you'll pay a $60 Establishment Fee. However if you are already a Humm customer, you will pay a $22 Repeat Purchase Fee to set up the new payment.

What transportation and parking is available?

You must arrange your own transportation to and from the event. Free parking is available at the event hotel. However, there is no parking available at The Australian Dental Centre of Excellence, so all participants must meet at the event hotel for bus transfer to ADCE.