How many years needed to complete a dental course?

The typical dental course will take 5 years to complete.

If you need to redo any parts of your course or carry out exam retakes, it can easily take another six months or even though one year on top.

You also have to bear in mind that after your A-levels, you have to attain a place at dental school and competition for places is so fierce that most students will not get in and even if you wait another year after doing A-Level retakes, there is still no guarantee. If you do decide to retake and re-apply the following year, dental hospitals and schools may look at this even more and unfavourably. Another option is to go abroad to Europe to complete a dental course. The European universities are also 5-years and some are even more than this up to 6 years. And that is if you pass each exam at each stage fully. Once you qualify as a dentist and you have a degree in your hand, you will then be required to carry out a 1 year’s job as a vocational trainee dentist. A Vocational trainee dentist will work under the supervision so that he can become accustomed to working in general practice. Even once you have fully qualified, you are required to carry out an extensive amount of continuous professional development to remain on the register. At present, you need to carry out 250 hours of continuing professional development every 5 years.

In summary, a dental course is 5 years at university and 1 year working under supervision.