RGS Careers Routes to Careers in Dentistry

RGS CAREERS

ROUTES TO CAREERS IN DENTISTRY

R E I G AT E G R A M M A R S C H O O L

CONTENTS A Level choices Person specifications Advice from universities Other parts of the application What is RGS doing to help?

Useful websites

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All of the information in this guide is based on our experience over the last 10 years, during which we have had a very successful record of getting students into university to study Dentistry. Individual universities, however, have very different requirements. The best way to be absolutely certain of making the right choices is to research individual universities and refer to their websites.

A LEVEL CHOICES • You must study chemistry. At RGS it is also usual for all students applying for dentistry to take A Level biology • You are drastically reducing your chances of gaining a place for dentistry if you do not study biology.

Three universities will consider chemistry plus another lab based science or maths, while one considers biology plus another lab-based science. The others all insist upon both chemistry and biology.

• Subjects where there is overlap of content may not be acceptable for the three required A Level subjects either. This includes maths and further maths, as well as sports studies and biology because of the perceived overlap. Sport studies and biology may well be fine, but it is worth checking with universities.

• It is important that those who do maths and further maths do not take maths A Level at the end of year 12; some universities will then not count it as a part of their offer • Look closely at GCSE requirements. Some dental schools make specific requirements regarding numbers of 7-9 at GCSE; others specify certain subjects that you must achieve particular grades in.

Most crucially, the majority of dental schools require you to achieve at least 6 in English language and maths at the first sitting.

It is imperative that you check really carefully with universities regarding their entry requirements before you finalise your A Level choices. As almost all of the dental schools require AAA at A Level (Bristol and Plymouth can make slightly lower offers, but these are likely to be contextual) to get in you must take notice of the advice above. Also for your third subject, above all, you must pick a subject in which you are most likely to get these grades.

If you do not want to take chemistry and biology, it is probable that dentistry is not the right career for you. ucas.com/explore has the most up to date information for prospective university applicants for all subjects, so use this to check the latest admissions requirements.

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PERSON SPECIFICATION What characteristics do you need to be a good dentist?

• You need to be hard-working, resilient, and have the capacity to absorb large amounts of technical information • You need excellent communication and listening skills • Manual dexterity, good eyesight and an interest in science are all important • You need empathy. You will be dealing with a wide range of people. You need to be tolerant of their weaknesses, and you need to be able to help them to cope with pain and with fear. You need to be able to help people to relax • You must be able to work well within a team. You are likely to be working with dental nurses, receptionists, hygienists and other dental staff • Others need to be able to trust you • Working in general practice involves some business and marketing skills

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ADVICE FROM UNIVERSITIES You can only make four choices for dentistry; your fifth choice must be for another subject (You should choose a subject that you view as an alternative that you would like to study. Maybe a related degree such as, Dental Therapy and Hygiene, Biomedical Science or Biological Sciences etc).

All universities have different requirements in terms of what they expect academically, whether they use UCAT or BMAT, and how much work experience they require. It is very important to refer to individual university websites. However, some general advice would be that the universities are looking for students to show the following alongside academic excellence: • Evidence of your understanding of the role of the dentist • Examples of a commitment to the career through work experience/shadowing placements. The majority of this should be within an NHS practice. Universities are training you for the NHS, so they usually prefer to see evidence of experience in the NHS. Ideally you should also try to get some experience in private practice, dental labs, and community hospital based units as well. Check with individual university websites how much work experience is required. Some set a specific amount, but they generally like to see a variety of types of experience • Volunteer placements: A commitment to the community through regular, long term volunteering. (i.e. that the student has worked in the same place regularly rather than simply done the odd week here and there). These could include working with the elderly or disabled or helping at the YMCA Yippee Club organising activities for disabled children • The ability to reflect on what you have learnt from your experiences • Initiative • Good communication skills • Team-working skills You demonstrate this through your Personal Statement, which is a part of your university (UCAS) application. This is limited to 4000 characters including spaces, and goes to all your chosen universities.

Tip: It is worth knowing that Newcastle and Plymouth Universities both offer the opportunity to transfer to Dentistry after one year from some of their other courses. It is very difficult to achieve the scores required in your first year of university study to make this switch, but it is an option worth considering for your 5th choice.

THE PERSONAL STATEMENT You need to provide evidence that you possess the characteristics to be a successful trainee dentist. It is no good to simply tell the university what you believe yourself to be good at, or what characteristics you believe that you have; everything MUST be backed up with evidence. Space is limited, so it is advisable to focus on the following:

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Motivation and commitment to a career in dentistry In your opening paragraph you should clearly state what you have done to help you to understand the role of a dentist and what motivates you to do it; e.g. what have you learnt from shadowing or talking to dentists, as well as from your own or relatives’ experiences as patients? Use these experiences to explain why you want to be a dentist. You ought to express a really positive motivation for becoming a dentist (better for this to relate to the impact that you can have on society rather than earning potential!). You also need to demonstrate in your personal statement that you have a realistic appreciation of the mental and physical demands of the career.

The rest of the personal statement should provide evidence that you possess the attributes to be a successful dentist, and should cover: Work and Voluntary experience It is important to state how much work experience you have done, why you chose to undertake it, what your responsibilities were and, crucially, what you have learned from it. It is very important to reflect upon your experiences. It is important to be positive, but at the same time to show that you recognise that the role of a dentist is a challenging one. If you can demonstrate that your contribution to the organisation or individual was positive, that is excellent.

Tip: If you regularly attend Medical Discussion Group, you should be able to chat to students in the 7th form and find out how they went about finding enough work experience.

Interests and Extra-curricular activities Check individual websites, but, on the whole, dental schools are interested to see that you have a healthy work-life balance. They want to see that students can cope with multiple and often conflicting demands on their time. It is helpful if you can demonstrate that you have gained/shown skills from your activities, such as communication skills, leadership, teamwork, responsibility and initiative.It is particularly useful if you can talk about a club that you have set up or fund-raising that you have organised or any community activities that you have had a role in. Evidence of success is important; e.g. have you won prizes or can you say that the club that you set up is now thriving?

Don’t simply list activities. Tell the universities how much time and effort you spend on them and what skills you have gained.

Communication and team-work Evidence of communicating with a range of groups of people is useful; it is particularly useful to show ability to communicate with those with significant communication barriers, e.g. English not being their first language or those with significant learning difficulties. It is crucial to give examples. Try to provide evidence that your communication was effective, such as feedback received or an outcome that resulted from your communication.

Evidence of teamwork is also very important. Examples must be given and it is a good idea to stress what effect your contribution to the team had.

Bimanual Dexterity You need to be able to show that you have the necessary fine motor skills to perform intricate tasks.

There are various ways that you can show this; e.g. playing musical instruments, making models, arts and crafts.

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OTHER PARTS OF THE APPLICATION 1. UCAT: If you apply for Dentistry at any of the following universities, you currently have to do the UKCAT Test: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee, Glasgow, King’s College London (KCL), Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Plymouth, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Queen’s University Belfast, Sheffield, Everywhere except Leeds which uses BMAT. The test is in five sections and takes 2 hours: Verbal Reasoning – to assess the candidate’s ability to critically evaluate information that is presented in a written form Decision Making - assesses the ability to make sound decisions using complex information.

Quantitative Reasoning- to assess ability to critically evaluate numerical information Abstract Reasoning- assesses the use of convergent and divergent thinking to infer relationships from information Situational Judgement Tests- measures the candidate’s capacity to understand real world situations and to behave appropriately in dealing with them.

UCAT is a computer-based test, and it is up to the candidate to book themselves onto it via the UCAT website (ukcat.ac.uk). This year registration for UCAT opened at the start of May and the registration deadline is 21 September. Due to Covid-19 these dates are likely to be revised, so please keep a close eye on the website. It usually costs around £65 to take UCAT. There is no requirement to book yourself onto UCAT at the earliest date available; the only issue is that the test centres can get booked up, so if you leave it too late, you may need to travel a long way to take the test.

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Can you practise for UCAT? YES! In fact, the test is designed so that you cannot revise for it; however, you can familiarise yourself with the style of questions. In addition, the test is very time pressured, so you need to get used to dealing with this.

The UCAT website has over 600 practice questions on it including two fully timed tests. There is also a Practice App for IPhone and Android, as well as an official guide, all available from the UCAT website. There are also practice materials available in the Careers Library. Previous students have also had good experiences using some of the online UCAT practice tests with companies such as Medify. If you want to know more please talk to those students. There are also a range of courses that you can attend if you wish; however some of the students who obtain the best marks have achieved them by simply working hard and practising as much as possible.

You can only take the UCAT test once in each application cycle so take the preparation very seriously!

Tip Pay no attention to UCAT until after your summer examinations are completed (except, perhaps, booking it). Book your test to be taken in the summer holiday, so that you have plenty of time to practise for it. Book a date when you have two or three weeks beforehand free to dedicate to practice papers. Some time in Medical Discussion Group will be dedicated to practising UCAT questions.

Make sure that you are referring at least once per week to the Medical/Dentistry/Vet Science Team on Microsoft Teams while the school is closed.

2. Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) You are only required to take BMAT if you intend to study Dentistry at Leeds. BMAT is a two-hour pen and paper, science-based test. The test is in three sections: Section 1: Thinking Skills: This tests your skills in problem-solving, understanding arguments and data analysis.

• 60 minutes • 32 questions, multiple choice or short answer Section 2: Scientific Knowledge and Applications: This tests your ability to apply your scientific knowledge and mathematical skills.

30 minutes 27 questions, multiple choice or short answer Section 3: Written task.

30 minutes One essay from a choice of four questions The school will enter you for BMAT. In 2020 it takes place on 4 November and the results are released three weeks later. It costs £49.

Can you practise for BMAT? YES! There are practice papers on the website: admissionstestingservice.org There are also practice materials in the Careers Library.

The school will run a practice day, but you will need to do most practice on your own.

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You will need to know all of your GCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths really well, as although the material is meant to only be of around GCSE standard the manipulation of that material is advanced and there are a lot of questions to answer in the time allowed. Those students, who are not taking Physics or Maths at A Level, will need to make sure that they have done a lot of revision in those subjects. It is especially important that you do plenty of practice papers.

In our experience, BMAT does require extra work, and it is hard, so it is not for the faint-hearted.

However, it does put a lot of people off applying to BMAT universities, so it could greatly increase your odds of getting into Leeds for Dentistry if you can do well in BMAT. Members of the science department are available to answer any specific science questions that you are unsure about.

3. The Interview If you get to interview you are doing well. A great proportion of the candidates will have already been rejected by this point, so feel proud of yourself and go in with confidence!

Interviews take various different formats; e.g. one-to-one or group interviews. The most common type of interview for Dentistry, though, seems to be the “MMI” or Multiple Mini Interview, where you move quickly from one post to another undertaking short tasks or answering questions. Make sure that you are aware of what kind of interview to expect; there should be details on the university website.

Tip: If you regularly attend Medical Discussion Group, you should be able to liaise with candidates from the 7th form and get feedback on their interviews.

Tip: Whatever the type of interview, you are sure to need to have excellent answers to: • • • • •

‘Why do you want to study Dentistry?’

‘Why do you want to study at ‘x’ university?

You are also sure to be asked to reflect in some way upon your work experience You are sure to be asked to show that you have excellent bimanual dexterity You are sure to be asked about current issues in dentistry, e.g. the nation’s oral health, mouth cancer, whitening regulations, the current state of NHS dentistry, fluoridation. Make sure that you are up to date on current issues

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ADVICE FROM RGS • Only around a quarter of dental applications are successful, although the number of applicants for Dentistry has fallen in recent years, which is in your favour. Remember also that you only get four choices so your main consideration should be ‘Which universities am I most likely to get into?’

• It is also important to consider how the course is taught, and whether it is likely to suit you. For example, do you want to study at a university that uses Problem Based Learning in all/some/none of its course (PBL is where students learn about a subject through the experience of problemsolving) • Attend Medical Discussion Group as often as you can, and make sure that you learn from the 7th form about their experiences and tips. It will be useful for dentists as well as medics • Liaise with Dr Gompels, Dr Lawson and Mr Buzzacott. We have years of experience at considering what universities you are most likely to get into based upon e.g. your UCAT score, your GCSE results, your predicted A Level grades and the amount of work experience that you have done.

Take note of what we say • Make sure that you are well aware of what the individual university websites say in terms of what qualifications you need to get in, and take note of any advice that they offer to prospective candidates. Get prospectuses and alternative prospectuses (written by the students) and attend open days. Ask questions and contact previous students from RGS who are currently training at Dental Schools • It is a good idea to go on at least one course. Many are very cheap or even free, so don’t feel that you need to spend a lot of money on them. Make sure that Mr Buzzacott and Dr Gompels know that you are interested in Dentistry, so that they can add you to email groups that will receive information on taster courses and other experiences.

• Do consider other options. There are a great many careers in health professions. For example, you could train as a radiographer, a dietician, a nurse, in speech therapy, as an audiologist or in optometry; these are just a few of many. Look at the NHS website for some of the options (www. healthcareers.nhs.uk)

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RGS RESOURCES • Dr Gompels is our contact for Dentistry. Please talk to her or the Head of Careers regarding your dental application. Dr Gompels will provide one-to-one help and advice for you • Mr Buzzacott scans every dental school website every year for all information that could help you with your applications. This enables him to know where you have the best chance of getting in and how to construct your application • Medical Discussion Group offers students the chance to find out more about current topics of interest within the fields of Medicine and Dentistry.

• We were very grateful to Dr Mark Byrne and Mrs Lucy Harris for coming in to talk to students about their careers in Dentistry, as well as to help prospective dentists with interview skills.

• There was a Careers Convention in February, in which students had the opportunity to speak one to one with a dentist about the career.

• The Higher Education Evening next February will provide the opportunity to talk to representatives from a wide range of universities • RGS will also provide help and guidance in preparing students for UCAT and BMAT examinations.

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CAREERS LINKED TO DENTISTRY Dental Technologist: Brief Overview A dental technologist is involved in the design and construction of appliances prescribed by dental surgeons for their patients, e.g. dentures, crowns, bridges and braces. You would probably work in a dental laboratory. It requires great manual dexterity, precision and technical skill, but it rarely involves meeting the patient. There is currently a skills shortage in this area.

In order to become a dental technologist, you must be registered with the General Dental Council.

You would need to qualify in one of the following ways: 1. Study for a BTEC Level 3 diploma, foundation degree or BSc degree in dental technology and apply for a technician post after completing the course 2. Work as a trainee in a commercial laboratory or dental practice and study part-time for an approved qualification. This can take 4-5 years 3. Complete a science based degree with at least a 2:1 and then apply for a place on the graduateentry NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP). This will get you a salaried training post and you will study towards a Masters’ degree in Clinical Science (Maxillofacial Technology) Dental Hygienist: Brief overview Works closely with dentists, carrying out procedures such as scaling and polishing teeth, applying fissure sealants and topical fluoride. They are sometimes known as an oral health practitioner. You would need to be registered with the General Dental Council. The normal route in is to take a degree in Oral Health Sciences or Dental Therapy and Dental Hygiene.

Dental Nurse: Brief overview A dental nurse supports the dentist in all aspects of patient care including preparing instruments, mixing materials and keeping patients comfortable and calm. A dental nurse would also be involved with maintaining dental records and sterilising the instruments. You would need to register with the General Dental Council and study for an approved course in Dental Nursing.

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USEFUL WEBSITES • ucas.com/explore for details on all dental school courses and links to individual university web-sites • unifrog.org tohelp you to compare courses based on data such as student satisfaction, cost of living, contact time and employability prospects • theguardian.com/education/universityguide for league tables and comparisons between courses • bva..co.uk for the British Veterinary Association web-site • bda.org for the British Dental Association web-site • gdc-uk.org for the General Dental Council web-site • dta-uk.org for the Dental Technologists Association • impt.co.uk for the Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists • bsdht.org.uk for the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy • badn.org.uk for the British Association of Dental nurses • healthcareers.nhs.uk for information about Careers that are allied to Medicine/Dentistry, which you may wish to consider • admissionstestingservice.org for information about BMAT including past paper questions • ucat.ac.uk for information about UCAT including practice papers

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