Prepare

The Build Pathway

See the GCSE grades dental schools ask for, sourced from the Dental Schools Council, and find out what admissions tutors look for besides grades.

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A trainee working alongside an experienced dentist

Who is this for?

Students building towards a dental school application.

This pathway is designed specifically for students in Years 10–11 who are thinking about dentistry and want their GCSEs and experience to count.

Target yearsYears 10–11

What Build covers.

A student's hand writing on an exam paper at a desk

GCSE grade check

See the GCSE grades dental schools ask for, subject by subject.

Check your grades
Illustration: a dental team posed together in a practice

The rest of the dental team

Dentist is one of seven registered titles. Two of them can start straight after GCSEs, without university.

Read the guide

Where are you starting?

Get your GCSE subjects and grades on track.

Check your results — or predicted grades — against real dental school requirements, subject by subject.

Check your grades
GCSE Grade Check

Where do your grades stand?

See the grades dental schools ask for in each subject, then compare your own results or predictions.

Requirements vary by school — always check with your target universities

Source: Dental Schools Council, entry requirements for 2027 entry, the 15 UK schools’ standard five-year courses.

13 things dental schools look for

What have you actually done?

Tick what is true, and you get back the ones you have not done yet — with the thing to write down about each when you do. No pass mark, nothing saved.

Two teenagers sitting on a step, one looking down as if owning up to something

Honesty, and doing things properly

0 of 3 ticked

Five young friends sitting close together by the sea, smiling

How you are with other people

0 of 4 ticked

A young volunteer with a clipboard at a woodland clean-up, others collecting litter behind her

Taking responsibility

0 of 4 ticked

A young dental professional in a mask and scrub cap in a dental surgery

Knowing why you want this

0 of 2 ticked

0 of 13 ticked

And what you would be signing up to

The nine principles every registered dental professional works to.

The thirteen above are what dental schools look for in an applicant. These nine are what the General Dental Council requires of everyone on its register, from the first day of practice to the last. The GDC says they are equally important and are not ranked. In summer 2026 the GDC consulted on replacing them with a new framework; these nine apply until it decides, and this page will be updated when it does.

  1. Put patients' interests first
  2. Communicate effectively with patients
  3. Obtain valid consent
  4. Maintain and protect patients' information
  5. Have a clear and effective complaints procedure
  6. Work with colleagues in a way that is in patients' best interests
  7. Maintain, develop and work within your professional knowledge and skills
  8. Raise concerns if patients are at risk
  9. Make sure your personal behaviour maintains patients' confidence in you and the dental profession

Source: General Dental Council, Standards for the Dental Team, read 5 September 2026

How dentistry is governed

Free guides to read next.

Written by us, checked against the source named on each one, and free to read without an account.

What A-levels do you need for dentistry?

Of the fifteen UK dental schools offering standard entry, ten require both Chemistry and Biology and five do not. Two more are in Ireland, on a different system. Every school's published subject rule for 2027 entry.

Source: Each school's own pages, checked against the Dental Schools Council guide

Read the guide

Work Experience — What Dental Schools Actually Want

From 2024 dental schools eased their work experience requirements. What matters is what you reflect on, not the hours, and caring work, paid or voluntary, can count as much as shadowing a dentist. Some schools still recommend time in a dental practice.

Source: Dental Schools Council

Read the guide

Widening Participation & Contextual Offers

Every UK and Ireland dental school's widening access scheme, school by school. Thirteen of the seventeen standard-entry schools lower their grades for dentistry; Cardiff, King's and the two Irish schools do not.

Source: Each school's own published criteria

Read the guide

Worth watching for

Free summer schools, and Year 11 is old enough.

The Dental Schools Council and Medical Schools Council run summer schools with over 500 free places across England, funded by NHS England and the two Councils. They are for students in England in Years 11 and 12 from underrepresented backgrounds, and you can choose residential, commuter or online.

Dates for 2027 are not out yet. Last time, applications for the dentistry summer schools ran from late January to early March, so put a reminder in for January.

Individual dental schools run their own widening participation programmes alongside these, among them Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow, Cardiff, Plymouth and Queen Mary.

Source: Dental Schools Council, read 5 September 2026

Before you pay anyone

You do not need to buy help with a dental application.

That is the Dental Schools Council’s own position, not ours. In its words:

“Paid-for services allow for those with the disposable income available to access extra support which is unfair and inappropriate.”

“[S]uch private assistance is not run by admissions professionals or academic staff and thus advice issued must be regarded with caution.”

“Dental schools will not consider certificates from such providers when reviewing applications from prospective students.”

Source: Dental Schools Council, read 5 September 2026

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