State-of-the-art dental facilities in new $150 million Griffith Health Centre

Griffith University has opened its impressive new $150 million Health Centre at Southport on the Gold Coast hinterland, in a ceremony performed by Her Excellency the Honourable Quentin Bryce AC CVO, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Health Centre together with the newly built adjacent Gold Coast University Hospital on Parklands Drive, forms a 'healthcare knowledge precinct', representing the university's biggest building project and largest investment in its 42-year history.

The multidisciplinary Health Centre includes an 82-station A-dec simulator lab and a 96-chair dental clinic, providing hands-on teaching facilities for dental students, plus dental services for both private and public patients. There is also a separate dental research laboratory equipped with W&H laboratory motors and advanced CAD implant manufacturing and laser welding equipment.

Director of Clinical Services, Ms Jenny McDonald, said students were extremely excited about the move into a facility that has been purpose-built and is able to cater for their learning needs in a modern clinical environment.

The dental units, simulators and LED lights were installed by A-dec Australia in conjunction with its Gold Coast service provider, East Coast Dental Services, Palm Beach.

Speaking in a promotional video, School of Dentistry Lecturer, Dr Chris Barker, said the semi-open plan facilities at the new Parklands campus were a significant improvement on the former Griffith School of Oral Health, in terms of patient dignity, patient management and being able to holistically treat a patient.

Dr Barker added that the cutting-edge equipment underscored the institution's status as a premier facility, able to deliver the best treatment possible.

"We're looking at different implants and how we can predictably place these structures in different parts in the mouth. Griffith is leading research in this field in Australia, if not the Southern Hemisphere and is now a world-hitting power," Dr Barker said.

During her opening remarks, Her Excellency, Quentin Bryce, praised Griffith University for being at the forefront of rigorous standards in scholarship and in state-of-the art design and construction.

It is the most recent in a series of dental teaching schools established in Queensland since the opening of the former Griffith School of Oral Health in 2004 (which was the first new dental school built in almost 60 years) and marks Griffith University's elevated status of a centre of excellence in research and dental education in Australia.