The programme aims to produce graduates equipped with the academic knowledge and clinical skills required for specialist level clinical practice in periodontology; it aims to: Provide the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the student fundamental to diagnosis and treatment of periodontics and related procedures; provide the knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable critical evaluation and problem solving for periodontal problems to allow independent practise; provide the knowledge relating to the contemporary practise of periodontics (including an appreciation of an interdisciplinary approach to comprehensive patient care), to allow communication with both specialist and non-specialist audiences; produce students who are competent in the design and interpretation of original clinical research at the forefront of current dental research; provide students with the knowledge and experience to plan, implement and complete a research project showing initiative and personal responsibility; develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to prepare for advanced clinical practise in periodontics; provide the knowledge to have a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues involved in the scientific basis of periodontology.