The BDS and how the five years run
Glasgow Dental Hospital and School is at 378 Sauchiehall Street. The hospital, run by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, hosts the school, which was established in 1879.
Year 1 introduces clinical dentistry alongside clinical medicine, patient management, health promotion and biomedical sciences. In the final year you spend half your time in the Dental School and half in outreach centres in the Public Dental Service.
The five years, from Glasgow's course page
- Year 1
Clinical introduction
Clinical dentistry with clinical medicine, patient management, health promotion and biomedical sciences.
Simulated scenarios - Year 2 · Patients
The clinical basics
Operative dentistry, prosthodontics and periodontics, in theory and practice.
Patient contact - Year 3
Firsts
Your first extraction and first radiographs, and a required elective.
Elective - Year 4
School and community
Work in the Dental School and the community, with oral medicine, sedation and orthodontics.
Community - Year 5
Outreach
Half in the Dental School, half in Public Dental Service outreach centres.
BDS
Entry requirements and how to apply
Highers route
Highers AAAAB plus BB, applying from S6. First sitting only, with no retakes and no deferred entry.
A-level route
AAA with Chemistry and Biology at A, for applicants from the rest of the UK.
Online MMI
The UCAT decides who is interviewed. Around 200 applicants are selected for online mini-interviews.
Contextual offers
Glasgow's contextual offer runs with the Reach programme. See how it compares with the other dental schools.
Clinical training and outreach
Public Dental Service outreach
Paediatric outreach from year 3, and half the final year in outreach centres in the Public Dental Service.
Foodbank clinics
Students in GOHISS, the oral health improvement society, have set up five oral health clinics in foodbanks around Glasgow.
A Disclosure Scotland PVG check, which you pay for, and Hepatitis B immunisation, which can take up to nine months, with blood screening for Hepatitis B, C and HIV.
Student life in Glasgow
GDSS
The Glasgow Dental Students' Society runs the Dental Ball, with over 300 guests at its 50th anniversary.
Glasgow: GDSS at 50City centre
The school is in Glasgow Dental Hospital, on Sauchiehall Street in the city centre.
Glasgow: DentistrySupport grant
The Dental Student Support Grant pays £4,000 a year from the second year, in two instalments.
Glasgow: support grantFees and key dates
Rest-of-UK fees rise each year in line with the UK Government's fee cap.
Source: Glasgow: Scottish fees; Glasgow: rest of UK fees; Glasgow: international fees
Key dates
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 support grant. £4,000 a year from the second year.
- Community work. Student-run oral health clinics in foodbanks.
- Long outreach. Half the final year in the Public Dental Service.
- Rest-of-UK places. A target of 13 for 2025 entry.
- First sitting. Glasgow takes first sittings, without deferred entry.
- Online interview. Mini-interviews held online.
- International fee. £58,500 a year in 2026/27.
Who to believe, and in what order
DentiSpark is not the authority on any of this, and does not want to be. University of Glasgow'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 decides which degrees lead to registration as a dentist in the UK. Its list of approved providers is the only place to confirm where a programme stands.
GDC approved providers