Dentistry at University of Cardiff Dental School (A200 BDS)

🎓 Cardiff Dentistry Interview Questions & Topics for 2023 & 2024 entry

Several topics are more likely to come up at the University of Cardiff Dental School MMI Interview, which can be derived from past Cardiff MMI stations and information on their website.

The Cardiff Dental School's interview process considers various factors when selecting candidates. These include:

1. Demonstrated potential for achieving high academic success

2. Awareness of the challenges associated with dental training and practice

3. Compassionate and dedicated attitude towards caring for others

4. Strong communication skills

5. Willingness to take on responsibility

6. Personal accomplishments and non-academic interests

7. Relevant work experience and course background

Additionally, the admissions committee prioritizes candidates who exhibit outstanding behaviour and courtesy towards everyone they encounter, including patients, colleagues, and staff.

💯 Cardiff MMI Interview Details in 2023

• Of around 750 applicants, Cardiff sends around 250 interview invitations, which then result in 180 offers.

❓  Cardiff Interview Questions - Past, Recent & Likely Questions 2023

Motivation to study Dentistry

1. Why Dentistry?

2. Why Cardiff?

3. What did you learn from your dental work experience?

4. What qualities of a dentist did you see from your dental work experience?

5. What is the role of prevention in dentistry?

6. What do you know about the Cardiff Dentistry course? How is it taught?

7. Why do you think you will be well suited to this course?

8. Why Dentistry and not medicine or nursing?

9. Tell us about your volunteering.

10. What learning styles suit you best? Does this fit with how our course at Cardiff is organised?

11. What are your hobbies?

12. What are the negatives of a career in Dentistry?

13. Are there any societies you would like to join in Cardiff?

Personal Insight/Qualities

1. Why should patients trust you?

2. Which advancement in dental technology has interested you the most recently? Tell me more about it.

3. What are your best qualities?

4. How do you manage stress?

5. There are many applicants with good grades, why should we take you?

6. What are the challenges currently faced by dentists?

7. How can you illustrate to us that you are a good leader?

8. Why is delegation important as a leader?

9. Can you provide an example of a time when you demonstrated resilience?

10. Give us an example of a time when you demonstrated teamwork.

11. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

12. How would your friends describe you?

13. How would you handle complaints and criticism?

14. Give us an example of a time when you were resilient. Why is this important in dentistry?

15. What's your favourite medium as an artist?

16. Tell us about an article that you have recently read.

Dental Situations

1. I'm at A&E where a patient comes in with health complications that originate from dental disease. Can you explain how that can happen?

2. What is it called when a dental infection spreads to the jaw and neck?

3. If a patient collapses in the waiting room, how would you assess them?

NHS & Local Area

1. What is the CQC?

2. What are AGPs?

3. What is NICE?

4. What is the GDC?

5. What do you know about how the NHS charges for appointments?

6. What are the NHS values, and why are they important?

7. What is it like to be a dentist?

8. How do you deal with overpopulation?

9. What do you know about the local area here in Cardiff?

10. What are the main challenges facing the future of dentistry in the UK?

11. What are the greatest challenges facing healthcare as a whole, and dentistry in particular?

12. How has COVID changed the way that dental practices operate?

13. How does oral health differ here compared to other areas in the UK?

Ethical Scenarios

1. Understanding of the four ethical principles

2. Should all dentists have good teeth?

3. If you notice that a colleague has turned up to work drunk, what would you do?

4. Who can you escalate concerns to within a practice?

Other Stations including Manual Dexterity

1. Is it necessary to know the chemistry behind the materials you'll use as a dentist?

2. Talk us through this article - what do you know about the authors? What are they arguing here?

3. Photo: the image of decayed teeth - describe what you see here

4. Role play: explain to someone how to tie shoelaces

5. What interests do you have that has allowed you to develop your manual dexterity?

6. Role play: teach this person how to build this origami plane

7. Role play: the nurse leaves the room to attend to an emergency, and speak to the patient (general talk)

👉🏼 Read more: 230+ Dentistry Interview Questions for 2023

🗣️ Cardiff Dentistry Interview Tips for 2023 entry

1. How to answer the “Why Cardiff” question. Make sure that you can differentiate Cardiff from other dental schools in the UK. Model answer - “I am eager to attend Cardiff Dental School because of its unique strengths and values. The school's emphasis on practical, hands-on training and its use of cutting-edge technology aligns with my own desire to be a skilled and innovative practitioner. Furthermore, I am drawn to the school's commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as its strong focus on community engagement and outreach. The school's location in the vibrant city of Cardiff also presents exciting opportunities for personal and professional growth. I am confident that studying at Cardiff Dental School will provide me with a comprehensive and enriching education, preparing me to become a compassionate, competent, and socially conscious dentist.”

2. Dress well - What to wear for your Cardiff Dental Interview - Cardiff asks you to dress smartly as if you were going to a job interview. Make sure you dress appropriately so you then feel as comfortable as possible at the interview. Also, check your email from Cardiff as there are various documents they ask you to bring on the day.

3. Know your personal statement - reread any books or papers mentioned in your dental personal statement and try to follow up on any research that has been done on the topic since. This makes it easier to discuss should this be raised in the interview. These frequently come up at interviews - so make sure you can talk about everything written on your Dentistry personal statement and your UCAS reference.

4. Have examples ready to use: many of the questions asked at Cardiff are example-based, ie, they require you to draw on examples from your personal life, dental work experience and dental volunteering to help make key points that the selectors are looking at. As such, it is paramount that you spend time learning about these examples and thinking about different scenarios that you can use at the interview. It is helpful if these scenarios are malleable and apply to questions e.g. being a football captain, deputy head girl or playing in the school orchestra.

5. Personal Attributes - Cardiff has mentioned that they will ask you about personal attributes during the MMI interview. As such it is paramount that you go through and learn these. Cardiff has asked questions concentrating on your strengths and weaknesses, so ensure you have suitable examples. Check out our 200+ interview question and answer guide for dealing with similar interview questions. 

6. Know the dentist training pathway: this is useful to mention in answers to show awareness about the career in Dentistry - and demonstrates that you have a considered approach. Fortunately, we have created a guide for you to learn about the dentistry training pathway here.

7. Read the MMI instructions carefully - you get enough time to read the instructions provided before the MMI station. Make sure that you don’t miss anything from this. Plan how you will structure your answer in the reading time provided. You must practice MMI questions and ensure you think about your structure for as many questions as possible before your interview.

8. MMI Stations - remember that each MMI station at Cardiff is independent of the other. Therefore it is paramount that you try to treat them as such, if you have a bad station, try to forget about it and reset for the next station, this gives you the best chance of scoring well overall. Read our ultimate guide to preparing for Dentistry MMIs here.

9. Know the Cardiff Course - we would always recommend doing this for every university that you plan to apply to. It is paramount that you know about the different topics covered each year. How does this differ from other universities? What is their policy on intercalation? Have you any idea about what you would plan to intercalate in at Cardiff if you could or need to? If relevant, what do you know about graduate entry dentistry there? Remember there is very early clinical exposure at Cardiff - this can be an advantage!

10. Know the local area - Cardiff is a diverse region of Wales, with a number of local factors and diseases that differentiate the Cardiff region from the rest of the UK. Ensure that you research factors that can influence the oral health of residents of the area. How might this impact dentistry provision in the area?

11. Reflect Well - the Cardiff Dentistry selectors love reflection, make sure that you are good at not just stating what you have learnt, but also how this helped and what you benefitted from, and what you will carry forward about this at dental school and in clinical Dentistry. This is especially true when reflecting on your dental work experience during the dentistry interview, or if you are applying with low grades to study dentistry or have taken a gap year before applying to study dentistry or via dentistry clearing.

12. Practice Role Plays: Role plays are unique to Dentistry MMI interviews as they do not tend to occur in panel interviews. The only way to ace these stations is to practice! There are so many different Dentistry role-play scenarios that can come up, it is paramount that you read about tips for answering role-play scenarios. You might want to also consider practising this with a Dentistry interview tutor, or booking a 1-1 online mock interview.

13. Don’t over-rehearse - this is a common theme amongst interview students and is very obvious to a trained examiner. As such, we would recommend focusing on the structure of your answer, and then naturally letting it flow when speaking to the answers, concentrating on the delivery of your interview answers. Read about our top tips for Dentistry interviews here. If you are struggling with this, consider booking sessions with an expert Dentistry interview tutor or via one of our Dentistry Application Packages.

14. Learning about the non-academic societies at Cardiff is important and might augment your Why Dentistry question as well as help you formulate an answer to how you will contribute to life at Cardiff University. Spend time on their website, or looking at their Instagram for ideas about societies that you could think about joining.

15. Learn dental ethics & NHS Hot Topics - you will likely be asked about dental ethics at a Dentistry interview at Cardiff, so there is no excuse not to brush up on your knowledge on these topics. Learn how to provide a balanced argument. Check out some of our free articles on NHS Hot Topics and our ultimate guide to applying to dentistry here. It is good if you have an opinion on them, as long as you present a balanced and well-reasoned argument, which side you choose does not matter but is helpful to have. Check out our bank of 200+ Dentistry interview questions.

16. Learn the NHS Core Values - This can be drawn into different answers about personal qualities or qualities of a dentist, which has formed a feature of stations in the past, and a good understanding of these core values will help you stand out against others. It is important to know about the NHS in general for your dental interviews - read our article here on this.

17. Good dental Practice - Cardiff also emphasises knowing the values and qualities of a good dentist, which can be found in this document and are likely to come up at the interview in the MMI stations. This is universal to many universities, and something that we always recommend students cover during their Dentistry interview preparation.