The BDS and how the five years run
Cork University Dental School and Hospital has run since 1913 and sits within UCC's College of Medicine and Health, at Wilton, on the same site as Cork University Hospital. UCC says its small class size means every student gets individual attention, with a highly favourable ratio of dental staff to students.
The first eighteen months are basic medical sciences on UCC's main campus. The final three and a half years are in the Dental School and Hospital and Cork University Hospital, and treating patients starts in Year 3, later than at most UK schools.
The five years, from UCC's course outline
- Year 01
Foundations
Anatomy, physiology, biomolecules and the fundamentals of dentistry.
Main campus - Year 02
Medical sciences
Neuroanatomy, dental morphology, pharmacology and a pre-clinical start in dentistry.
Main campus, then Wilton - Year 03 · Patients
Treating patients
Restorative dentistry, oral disease and the Clinical Skills course.
Dental Hospital - Year 04
Clinical practice
An introduction to dental surgery, oral health and development, and adult oral health.
Dental Hospital - Year 05
Final year
Dental surgery, clinical restorative dentistry and theoretical dentistry.
BDS (Hons)
Entry requirements and how to apply
A-level route
UCC's minimum is two A levels at grade C, with Chemistry and either Physics or Biology. The CAO scores your best three at A* 192, A 165, B 142 and C 120, with a fourth subject or an AS adding up to 24, plus 25 for A-level Maths.
Leaving Certificate route
H4 in Chemistry and H4 in Physics or Biology, plus at least O6/H7 in English, Irish, Maths and another language.
Mature entry
UCC runs a mature entry route. You must be 23 on or before 1 January of the year you start.
HEAR and DARE
HEAR, for socio-economic disadvantage, is closed to UK applicants: it requires residence in the Republic. DARE, for applicants whose disability has affected their education, sets no residence test we could find, so a disabled UK applicant should ask UCC directly.
Clinical training and the hospital
Rotations and outreach
Students rotate through oral medicine, outpatient theatre and radiology, and are rostered to local HSE clinics on an outreach basis, which UCC says gives some experience of clinical care in a primary care setting.
Vetting before you start
Everyone on the course comes into contact with the public, so UCC vets every student. If you have lived outside Ireland for six months or more, you will need police clearance certificates.
Student life in Cork
A small, social year group
About 26 EU places a year. UCC says dental students are very active socially, especially through the Dental Society, and the highlight of the year is the Dental Ball each autumn. Every student is given a personal mentor for the course.
UCC: current studentsTwo sites
The first eighteen months are on UCC's main campus. After that, teaching moves to the Dental School and Hospital at Wilton, on the Cork University Hospital site.
UCC: Dentistry, CK702Finding somewhere to live
UCC advises applying for campus accommodation in its window and, at the same time, booking a room in a private student complex: many are first come, first served and can fill in minutes. Never pay a deposit or rent without seeing the property.
UCC: accommodation adviceFees, the equipment charge and deadlines
Which rate you pay rests on having lived in the EU, EEA, UK or Switzerland for three of the last five years, so a UK national living outside that area can fall to the higher rate.
Source: UCC: EU undergraduate fees 2026/27; UCC: international undergraduate fees 2026/27; UCC: Dentistry, CK702
CAO dates (2026 applications)
Funding and support
No funding specific to this school is listed here. What you can get depends on where you live and where you study.
Strengths and things to plan for
- A small class. UCC says its small class size means every student gets individual attention.
- On the hospital site. The Dental School and Hospital is at Wilton, on the same site as Cork University Hospital.
- No admissions test. Dentistry at UCC needs neither the UCAT nor the HPAT.
- Points. 613 for 2025. An A-level applicant typically needs three A*s, a fourth subject and the Maths bonus.
- A separate system. The CAO has its own deadline, 1 February, and certified copies of your certificates are posted to it.
- Equipment. €4,000 across Years 3 to 5, on top of fees.
- Registering in the UK. Through the GDC's route for EEA qualifications; check the GDC for the current arrangement.
Who to believe, and in what order
DentiSpark is not the authority on any of this, and does not want to be. University College Cork's own pages are the authority on what it will ask of you; where anything here disagrees with them, the school is right and we are not. Entry requirements, deadlines and course codes change from one cycle to the next.
The regulator
The General Dental Council's approved-provider list covers UK providers only, so neither Irish school is on it. A graduate registers with the GDC through its route for EEA qualifications.
GDC approved providers