Dental Schools cover a variety of topics when interviewing candidates. Most of the themes do overlap with medical school interviews, for example questions related to your motivation, ethical dilemmas and NHS policy. However, there can be specific questions relating to your knowledge of the practice of dentistry and its regulation in the UK. Questions relating to private practice rarely come up on medical school interviews, but are much more common on dental interviews.

Here are a further 21 questions for you to try in pairs, again taken from our bank of questions from our dental school interview course. You should aim to respond in a total of 7 minutes. Some of these are role play and would require one person to act as the patient. In the real examination the ‘simulated patient’ will be trained to set to follow a strict script and not give too much away unless specifically prompted. Think about how you would structure your answer. Remember this is an oral exercise, so you must communicate your answers to the examiner in a clear, logical and concise manner. Good luck!

1. You are a dentist starting work in a new NHS dental practice in an inner-city area. You notice that most of your patients have not seen a dentist in their lifetime and present with multiple dental problems. Why do you think this might be the case?

2. [Role Play] You are removing a diseased tooth from one of your dental patients. However, during the procedure you inadvertently dislodge a healthy tooth. Explain this to the patient.

3. One of your dental colleagues in the practice in known to try and overcharge patients. What issues does this raise?

4. You are treating a patient who has come to you to treat his dental injuries following an assault. The police arrive at the dental practice asking for his records. What do you do?

5. Why are you applying for dentistry and not to medical school?

6. As you are aware manual dexterity is a critical skill that dentists need to master. How do we know that you will be able to do this?

7. One of your dental colleagues is seeing patients who need dental appliances. A child has come in who has deliberately stood on his appliance breaking it. You heard loud voices from the consulting room. What do you do?

8. You notice that one of your dental colleagues from the practice has posted a photo from what appears to be a social gathering in which the colleague appears intoxicated. He posts it on the practice social media page. It appears to be very popular with the public. How do you respond?

9. What do you know about the dental curriculum and how we teach at this dental school?

10. Dentistry has a scientific and practical element but also a caring element. Can you give me an example where you have seen the caring side of dentistry?

11. A patient comes to you in your NHS clinic indicating that they are not happy with the appearance of their teeth. They have no problems with eating or chewing. Should the patient pay for treatment for this problem?

12. We have a shortage of NHS dentists in the UK. The government proposes that all students who qualify in the UK should work for the NHS for a period of 10 years as a way of giving back to society for funding university studies. Do you agree with this proposal?

13. There has been a shortage of NHS dentists in the United Kingdom for some time now. Your local NHS is travelling to Poland in an attempt to recruit dentists from abroad. Do you think this is an effective method of improving recruitment into NHS dentistry?

14. Dentistry offers a multitude of specialities in which to practice. What is the difference between a dentist and an orthodontist?

15. Every career has negative as well as positive aspects. What negative aspects about a career in dentistry concern you the most?

16. Should dental practitioners be able to offer treatment which the NHS refuses to fund by charging patients?

17. Some treatments in dentistry do not affect the function of chewing food, but more the physical appearance of a patient. Should such treatments be offered to every patient funded by the NHS?

18. Dental school places are very competitive and we have to refuse candidates places very year. If we refused you a place at this dental school how would you respond?

19. Why have you chosen to pursue a career in dentistry and not medicine?

20. I assume you have looked at our prospectus and our website. What do you know about how we teach dentistry in the first year of this dental school?

21. The dental health of the children in your local area is not as good as the national average. How would go about improving local awareness of dental health in this age group?

We teach current Dentistry School Interview topics on our interview courses.

• Taught by Dr Mannan and Dr Khan in person. Experienced fully qualified doctors who teach students from local medical schools in their own NHS practices. Designed with experienced dentists.

• We are open and transparent. Look at our testimonials from parents and former students our website.

• Extensive online vides, question banks and support to help you with your revision. Unlimited follow up.

• Communication skills training and practice using role play and video.

• Mock MMI station practice for every student with detailed feedback from university tutors.

• Dental candidates have extra stations specific to dental interviews, for example logical thinking and manual dexterity.

• Learn in small classrooms in a friendly and supportive environment.

Do you have a dentistry interview coming up? Come to our Dental School Interview Course. Designed with dentists and delivered by university tutors. We cover manual dexterity, critical thinking, motivation, dental standards and much more. Click here to learn more and book your place.

The photos below are from previous interview courses (pre COVID).