Dentistry at Dundee Dental School (A200 BDS)

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

Several topics are more likely to come up at the University of Dundee Dental School Panel Interview, which are derived from past Dundee Panel stations, including:

• The interview includes questions, situations, and dilemmas that do not necessarily require prior knowledge of dentistry

• Critical thinking and flexibility are assessed, as well as the ability to think on your feet

• Work experience, communication skills, and teamwork abilities are also evaluated

• The interview aims to assess thinking skills, personal values, and communication abilities

• These traits are considered crucial in shaping the type of dentist a candidate will become

• In Dundee, these qualities are highly valued during the interview process.

💯 Dundee Interview Questions Scoring & Information in 2023

• Dundee's BDS course typically receives approximately 370 applications each year, and from these, about 250 applicants are invited to participate in interviews for 130 available seats.

• As a result, the acceptance rate for this program is relatively competitive, with approximately one in 2.8 applicants and one in 1.9 interviewed candidates receiving an offer of admission.

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

Motivation to study Dentistry

1. Why Dentistry?

2. Why Dundee?

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 do you know about the Dundee Dentistry course? How is it taught?

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

7. Why Dentistry and not medicine or nursing?

8. Tell us about your volunteering.

9. What does professionalism mean to you?

10. What are your hobbies?

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

12. Are there any societies you would like to join at Dundee?

Personal Insight/Qualities

1. Why should patients trust you?

2. What are your best qualities?

3. How do you manage stress?

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

5. What are the challenges currently faced by dentists?

6. Why is delegation important as a leader?

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

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

9. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

10. How would your friends describe you?

11. How would you handle complaints and criticism?

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

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

14. 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 Dundee?

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

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

12. 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. Imagine that you are a dental student on a placement, and a patient approaches you with questions about their eligibility for a specific dental treatment. The patient has been waiting for over an hour and the dentist has not yet informed them of their suitability. You have access to the patient's records and know that they are not eligible for the treatment. How would you handle this situation, and communicate the information to the patient in a clear and compassionate manner while maintaining their trust and confidence in the dental practice?

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

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

6. 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

🗣️ Dundee Dentistry Interview Tips for 2023 entry

1. How to answer the “Why Dundee” question. Make sure that you can differentiate Dundee from other dental schools in the UK. Model answer: “I am particularly drawn to Dundee Dental School for its strong focus on clinical training and patient-centred care. The school's state-of-the-art facilities and innovative teaching methods, such as virtual reality simulations and community outreach programs, demonstrate a commitment to providing students with a well-rounded and comprehensive education. Additionally, the school's supportive and collaborative learning environment, combined with its location in the beautiful and vibrant city of Dundee, make it an ideal place to pursue my passion for dentistry. I am confident that studying at Dundee Dental School will prepare me to become a compassionate, skilled, and socially conscious dental practitioner.”

2. Dress well - What to wear for your Dundee Dental Interview - Dundee 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 Dundee 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. Practice video scenarios - This is fundamental as it comes up year after year at Dundee, they love using video scenarios in their interviews. Practice watching consultations on Youtube, or some medicine consultations (like in the BSMS work experience and the RCGP Observe GP work experience) and comment on them, rehearse writing down your thoughts on the way the consultation was conducted, what was good, and what could be improved.

5. Have examples ready to use: many of the questions asked at Dundee 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.

6. Personal Attributes - Dundee has mentioned that they will ask you about personal attributes during the Panel interview. As such it is paramount that you go through and learn these. Dundee 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. 

7. 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.

8. Know the Dundee 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 Dundee 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 Dundee - this can be an advantage!

9. Know the local area - Dundee is a diverse region of Scotland, with several local factors and diseases that differentiate the Dundee 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?

10. Reflect Well - the Dundee 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.

11. 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.

12. Learning about the non-academic societies at Dundee 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 Dundee. Spend time on their website, or looking at their Instagram for ideas about societies that you could think about joining.

13. Learn dental ethics & NHS Hot Topics - you will likely be asked about dental ethics at a Dentistry interview at Dundee, 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.

14. 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.

15. Good dental Practice - Dundee 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 Panel stations. This is universal to many universities, and something that we always recommend students cover during their Dentistry interview preparation.