Welcome to all the Docs , your friendly Dr.Deb is back with a new article . In this article we will be discussing about the steps to settle in UK as a dentist after completing BDS in India .
This article is written by Dr.Abhishek Khanna . He is currently based in UK after completing BDS in India . He is currently Pursuing Masters in Public Health Dentistry in UK & Preparing to appear for UK qualifying exams to practice as Dentist . In this article he is explaining all the steps he knows on how to migrate to UK after BDS and settle as a dentist . A great deal of thanks to Dr.Abhishek for sharing his experiences .
To settle in UK as a dentist has a good scope as dentistry is among highly paid profession. The only way to practice dentistry for Indian dentist is to pass ORE, a licencing exam conducted by British Dental Council. This exam is held twice a year (i.e. in April and September) in UK. The exam is based on UK dental curriculum and has 2 parts (Part 1- Theory n Part 2- Practical).
As I said, the exam is conducted in UK, so there are 2 possible ways of appearing in this exam
First is by getting a tourist visa and give ORE part-1 and for Part-2, there is another visa which UKBA issue for students appearing in ORE or PLAB (for medical students).
You can also migrate to UK by joining a full time masters programme, either clinical or non-clinical.
Most of the students follow the second step as you can get master’s degree along with preparation and also in UK there are few groups started for overseas dentist to prepare for ORE.
Under graduate dental students can join any full time masters course by applying online to universities or by meeting their country representatives personally, as most of the universities send their counsellors to take interviews and give admission offer. You can get information about interview from British council, New Delhi or from consultants dealing with abroad studies. Best source is British council as most of the consultants are not trustworthy.
The primary requirements for taking admission in universities of UK are-
* Minimum 55% in BDS,
* 1 year of clinical experience after internship or even more which depends upon university
* Score of minimum 6.5 bands in IELTS or equivalent English language exam.
Representatives from universities ask some general questions about the course like reason of joining the course and why only in their university. Before interview, you should have some documents which are required for admission. They are-
* 10th n 12th mark sheets and certificate.
* Marksheets of BDS (all 4 years)
* Internship completion certificate
* Provisional degree
* Letter of recommendation from college and work place
* Statement of purpose
After interview, if they select then you will get a conditional offer letter first which have some conditions like score of 6.5 bands in IELTS and payment of 50% fees or depends if university demands for some other things too. After fulfilling their conditions, you have to contact them back and then they will give an unconditional offer letter or CAS letter by which you can apply for tier 4 student visa.
Most of the universities start the course from September and few from January. So you should start applying atleast 2-3 months before the course starts.
ORE exam
Before applying, you need to make sure you meet the clinical experience and English language requirement.
Clinical experience requirement
You must have at least 1600 hours of clinical experience where you have personally treated patients. The number of hours of this clinical experience includes working:
* during your dental degree
* during post-qualification experience
* Or combination of both
English Language Test
Minimum overall 7 bands in IELTS and not less than 6.5 in each section is required to apply for exam. IELTS is compulsory for all non-English country students. No other English language test is approved by General dental council, UK.
Also you need to check the list of approved universities from website of General Dental Practitioners. Most of the Indian universities are in this list.
ORE Part-1
Cost for ORE part 1 is £600 and exam is held twice in a year (usually in September and April).
It consists of two computer-based exam papers:
* Paper A covers clinically applied dental science and clinically applied human disease
* Paper B covers aspects of clinical dentistry, including law and ethics and health and safety
Each paper is made up of Multiple Short Answer questions (Extended Matching Questions and Single Best Answer Questions). You must pass both papers in order to progress to Part 2. You will be allowed four attempts for Part 1.
ORE Part-2
Cost for ORE part 2 is £2250 and is held in every 2-3 months.
Prior booking is required to give exam and sometimes due to numerous students applying for this exam, you may miss chances of appearing.
In that case, you can apply when next date is announced. You can apply within next 2 years of completing part 1 exam. You will be allowed four attempts for part 2.
This exam is based on your practical knowledge and you need to perform some patient based procedures. It consists of 4 components .