The BDS and how the five years run
The School of Dentistry is at Pembroke Place, next to Liverpool University Dental Hospital and a few minutes' walk from the city centre. The hospital has around 150 dental units across six teaching clinics.
Since 2019, BDS and BSc Dental Therapy students have shared learning and assessment across the first three years, in the Collaborative Learning Core. You train in simulation and then see patients in your first year.
The five years, from Liverpool's course page
- Year 1 · Patients
Foundations
Core knowledge and skills, then simulation before you care for patients in clinic.
Early patient contact - Year 2
Restorative care
A wider range of restorative treatment for your patients.
Dental Hospital - Year 3
New skills
Dental trauma, pain management and health promotion.
Dental practice - Year 4
The full remit
Restorative and surgical skills for the complete remit of a dentist.
Community and Aintree - Year 5
Consolidation
Further clinical experience before you go into practice.
Practice and Alder Hey
Entry requirements and how to apply
A-level route
AAA including Chemistry and Biology, at the first sitting after two years of study. The third subject can be an arts or a science.
Contextual offer
Two grades lower for applicants who meet Liverpool's contextual criteria, with extra consideration at each stage.
Multiple mini-interviews
Held from mid-January to the end of February. Bring the original certificates for your completed qualifications.
Contextual offers
Liverpool's contextual offer is ABB. See how it compares with the other dental schools.
Clinical training and placements
Named placements
General dental practice in years 3 and 5, community dental services and oral surgery at Aintree in year 4, and children's dentistry at Alder Hey in year 5.
Collaborative Learning Core
BDS and dental therapy students share learning and assessment across the first three years.
An enhanced DBS check and an occupational health assessment, including obligatory immunisations and blood tests.
Student life in Liverpool
LUDSS
The Liverpool University Dental Students' Society runs social events for dental students.
Liverpool: welcomeNear the centre
The school is on the main campus, a few minutes' walk from the city centre and next to the dental hospital.
Liverpool: Dental SurgeryPlacement travel
Liverpool estimates £5 to £15 a return trip to placements in years 3 and 4. Two sets of scrubs are free.
Liverpool: study costsFees and key dates
Liverpool notes that the government plans to require newly qualified dentists to work in the NHS for a minimum period, expected to apply to students starting from 2027/28.
Source: Liverpool: Dental Surgery BDS; Liverpool: A200 admissions, 2027 entry
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
- Patients in year 1. After simulation training.
- Named placements. Aintree for oral surgery and Alder Hey for children.
- Team training. Three years shared with dental therapy students.
- First sitting. AAA after two years of study.
- GCSEs. Eight, five at 7/A and three at 6/B, already achieved.
- Reapplying. Applicants already interviewed aren't reconsidered.
- International fee. £51,000 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 Liverpool'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.
Check these before you apply:
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