The BDS and how the five years run
Dentistry at Manchester is a division of the School of Medical Sciences. Teaching is in the Coupland 3 building on Oxford Road, and clinical work is at the University Dental Hospital of Manchester on Higher Cambridge Street.
Clinical exercises start in the first semester of year 1, and you move on to treating patients at the Dental Hospital and outreach clinics early in the course. From year 4 you work in community clinics across Greater Manchester.
The five years, from Manchester's course page
- Year 1 · Clinic
Foundations
Biomedical science and the fundamentals of dentistry, with clinical exercises from the first semester.
Skills facilities - Year 2
Building knowledge
Intermediate biomedical sciences, with restorative dentistry added.
Restorative dentistry - Year 3
The specialties
Oral surgery, oral medicine, children's dentistry, orthodontics, root treatment and gum disease.
Theory into practice - Year 4
Safe practitioner
Reaching clinical competence, with medicine and surgery and dental public health.
Community clinics - Year 5
Towards practice
Comprehensive care, dental trauma and preparation for foundation training.
BDS
Entry requirements and how to apply
A-level route
AAA including Chemistry and Biology or Human Biology, but not two very similar subjects together, such as Maths and Further Maths.
Contextual offer
For applicants under 21 from areas of disadvantage who attended a UK school performing below the national average.
Multiple mini-interviews
In person on campus, normally between January and March. Decisions are not given on the day.
Contextual offers
Manchester's contextual offer is AAB, or ABB for some groups. See how it compares with the other dental schools.
Clinical training and outreach
Community clinics
From year 4 you treat patients in custom-built community clinics across Greater Manchester, and pay your own travel.
Learning by enquiry
Tutors set the task and you pursue your own lines of enquiry in small teams, rather than learning mainly from lectures.
An enhanced DBS check, and evidence that you are not infectious for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis. Scrubs are provided.
The school and its intake
Published odds
For 2026 entry, 981 home applications led to 319 interviews and 139 offers.
Manchester: admissions figuresTwo sites
Teaching in Coupland 3 on Oxford Road, and clinics at the Dental Hospital on Higher Cambridge Street.
Manchester: DentistryOverseas places
For 2026 entry, 135 overseas applications led to 37 interviews and 9 offers.
Manchester: admissions figuresFees and key dates
Manchester will set its 2027 entry fees later; these are its 2026 entry figures.
Source: Manchester: BDS Dentistry, 2027 entry; Manchester: dentistry admissions figures
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
- Early clinical work. Clinical exercises from the first semester.
- Published figures. Seven years of applications, interviews and offers.
- Community clinics. Across Greater Manchester from year 4.
- Learning style. Enquiry-based and team-based, rather than lectures.
- UCAT SJT. Bands 1 and 2 are considered.
- Community clinics. Budget for travel from year 4.
- International fee. £60,900 a year in the clinical years.
Who to believe, and in what order
DentiSpark is not the authority on any of this, and does not want to be. University of Manchester'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