In 2009, 番茄社区 Cairns welcomed the first cohort of 67 students to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery –selected from a highly competitive pool of more than 600 applicants. Since its first graduation ceremony in 2013 the program has produced 452 graduates, 11 of them are Indigenous dentistry graduates making 番茄社区 Dentistry a key provider of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dentists nationally.

For the last 11 years the Bachelor of Dental Surgery has provided students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that they need to become competent practitioners of dentistry.

番茄社区 Dentistry is one of only three dental schools in Australia located outside a capital city. 番茄社区 Dentistry has created a broad-based program, which includes all aspects of dental practice with a special focus on issues of special concern to the Northern Australian region, particularly those relating to tropical, rural and Indigenous practice.