Gaining Experience for Dental School
It is recommended you have some dental work experience before you apply to a dentistry course. Being able to demonstrate a clear understanding of what a dentist does is essential for all dentistry courses.
Gaining dental experience
Work experience in a dental setting will help you learn more about being a dentist. Up to two weeks is recommended. A combination of NHS and private experience can be beneficial.
Look for shadowing opportunities within:
- NHS and private practices
- community general practices
- dental schools
- dental hospitals and orthodontists
- maxillofacial departments
- dental laboratories
“Being a dentist demands diagnostic, clinical and social skills and allows you the unique opportunity to pursue several careers which offer an intellectual and practical challenge, as well as a service to society and a respected place in the community.”
Check with the school you are applying to
It is important to check with individual dental schools how much work experience they prefer. Some schools may have stricter requirements, such as two weeks formal work experience. Other schools, including Newcastle University, may have more relaxed requirements. Other research about becoming a dentist may be accepted. Examples of this can include dental observations, discussions with dentists and online courses.
However, it is still vital that you have taken significant steps to discover what being a dentist is like. It is important to reflect on this in relation to your own career aspirations in your application. If your experience or shadowing was gained overseas, some UK-based experience would be helpful too.
You will also need to keep up to date with dentistry and the NHS in the media:
Finding additional relevant experience
Whilst experience in a dental environment is recommended, additional work experience is also valuable. Working in a care environment allows you to gain experience with people of different ages and circumstances. This includes people who are vulnerable or in distress. This work will develop your communication skills, empathy and ability to develop rapport.
It might be useful to find experience that links into the NHS core values:
- Working together for patients. Patients come first in everything we do.
- Respect and dignity.
- Commitment to quality of care.
- Compassion.
- Improving lives.
- Everyone counts.
Examples of relevant experience in a health related field include:
- healthcare assistant in a hospital, hospice, residential/nursing home or for an individual
- community work with disabled adults or children
- St John Ambulance volunteer
- patient advice and liaison service officer
Where to find paid opportunities
- MyCareer - log in to find internships, placements and part-time jobs. Often advertises personal carer, care assistant and support worker vacancies
- NHS Jobs includes part-time jobs
- Gov.uk: Find a Job regularly advertises part-time care assistant and similar roles
- Recruitment agencies often have temporary and part-time vacancies in social care
- jobsgopublic - includes part-time vacancies in social care
- Community Care Jobs
- CharityJOB - occasional part-time care assistant vacancies
- Probation and social work - part-time care and support vacancies in Finding Jobs section
Where to find voluntary experience
- Go Volunteer, based in the Students’ Union. There is a range of relevant volunteering projects working with the elderly, children people with disabilities.
- Do-it. Find opportunities across the UK in a wide range of roles including:
- disability
- drugs and addictions
- health and social care
- mental health
- the elderly
- Some volunteering opportunities are available in the NHS. Contact NHS Trusts directly to find out what is available.
- See Volunteering for more opportunities including some abroad. (There is usually a cost involved in these). An online search will also bring up many more organisations but do your research before handing over any money
- See our Healthcare page for more information. It also advertises paid and voluntary opportunities in this area.
Speculative applications
Practices and trusts don’t usually advertise work experience. You will need to contact them directly – where possible to a named contact. For more advice about this, see our webpage on speculative applications.
Use the NHS or the Care Quality Commission find a dentist search tool. This can help you find details of local health teams who you could contact about shadowing.
Newcastle University dental experience
The School of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University may be able to help you find work experience. It is possible to arrange a week of work experience at the Dental Hospital in Newcastle.
Online courses
The University of Sheffield have developed a free online course Discover Dentistry. This provides an introduction to the dentistry profession.