Medicine and health
Dentistry
Medicine's entry requirements, half its training length, and a job you can do at thirty with your own hours. The trade is that you commit to one part of the body at seventeen and it is very hard to leave.
- How long
- Five to six years, clinical from early on. Independent practice follows almost immediately, unlike medicine.
- Called
- BDS · DDS · DMD · بكالوريوس طب وجراحة الفم والأسنان
What you actually study
As opposed to what the name suggests.
- The same preclinical foundation as medicine for the first years — anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, pathology — with the head and neck in far more depth.
- Manual technique from the first year, practised on models long before patients. This is a craft degree as much as a science one, and the hand skill is examined.
- Restorative dentistry, oral surgery, orthodontics, periodontics and paediatric dentistry across supervised clinics.
- Radiography and diagnosis, which you perform and interpret yourself rather than referring on.
- Practice management, because a large share of dentists end up running a business as well as treating patients.
The hardest part
The manual skill is not optional and not evenly distributed. Some students find working in a small space, upside down, in a mirror, for hours, comes naturally; others never fully do, and no amount of academic ability compensates. There is no way to test this before you enrol, which is the honest weakness of the whole selection process.
What you need to get in
By school system. Requirements are set by individual universities and change — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.
Saudi curriculum track
requiredمسار الصحة والحياة — Health and Life Sciences
Same track and the same composite as medicine, with dentistry usually admitting at a slightly lower threshold at the same universities — which makes it the most common second choice for medicine applicants.
A-Level
requiredChemistry · Biology
helpsMathematics · Physics
Effectively identical to medicine. Chemistry is the hard gate; biology is named almost as often.
IB Diploma
requiredChemistry HL · Biology HL
helpsMathematics SL or above
Typical offers sit slightly below medicine — often 35–37 points — with the same HL science requirement.
Advanced Placement
helpsAP Biology · AP Chemistry · AP Physics 1 · AP Calculus AB
Dentistry in the US is graduate entry, so these feed a pre-dental bachelor's rather than dental school itself.
IGCSE
Separate sciences and strong English and mathematics. UK dental schools screen on IGCSE grades in much the same way medical schools do.
Tests and other gates
- UCATJuly–September of the application year
Required by most UK dental schools, on the same timetable and with the same September booking deadline as medicine.
- Tahsili (science)End of Grade 12
A heavy component of the Saudi health-college composite.
- QuduratFrom Grade 11
Sat by every applicant regardless of track.
- DATDuring a US bachelor's
The US graduate-entry dental admission test.
What closes this door
- Without chemistry at A-Level or HL, dentistry is closed everywhere that names a subject.
- Combined Science at IGCSE frequently blocks A-Level chemistry, and with it this degree.
- A significant tremor or a hand or wrist condition can make the clinical work impossible, and this is worth knowing before rather than after.
Where it leads
Careers written up on this site, and the reason each one follows from this degree.
- Dentist
The degree exists to produce this one job, more directly than almost any other on this site.
- General Surgeon
Oral and maxillofacial surgery, which in most systems requires both a dental and a medical degree.
- Orthotist & Prosthetist
The same craft instinct — making a physical device that fits one specific person — with a much shorter training.
- Regulatory Inspector
Dental regulation, infection control and health facility inspection.
- Secondary School Teacher
A real exit for clinicians who want the science without the clinic.
And, without a page here yet
- Orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics and the other dental specialties
- Oral and maxillofacial surgery, via a second degree in medicine
- Dental public health
- Practice ownership and dental group management
- Dental materials research and industry
What it is not
- That it is a lesser version of medicine. It is a different job with earlier independence, better hours and, in private practice, frequently higher income than most medical specialties.
- That the work is repetitive. The clinical range is narrow and the problem-solving inside it is not — though it is fair to say the variety is smaller than medicine's.
- That the training ends at graduation. Specialising adds three to five years, and practice ownership is a second education in business.
In Saudi Arabia
Dentistry is admitted on the same composite as medicine at Saudi health colleges, usually at a marginally lower threshold, and it is a common and entirely respectable second preference. Private dental practice is expanding quickly in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province with rising demand for cosmetic and orthodontic work. SCFHS classification is required to practise, and foreign degrees need evaluation — confirm recognition before enrolling abroad.
Consider instead
Same interest, different trade-off — the most useful section on this page and the easiest to skip.
- MedicineThe same entry requirements and composite, with twice the training and a far wider range of destinations.
- PharmacyThe same chemistry, a shorter degree, and no clinical hand skill required.
- NursingPatient care in three to four years, with an internationally portable qualification.
- Biology and Biomedical ScienceThe underlying science, if the clinical craft turns out not to be the appeal.
The parts that go out of date
Entry requirements are the fastest-moving information on this site. These are the statements most likely to have changed.
- UCAT thresholds and weightings at dental schools change annually and differ from the medical school at the same university.
- Saudi health-college composites are republished each year and dentistry's threshold moves with demand.
Where this came from
Admission patterns stated by UK dental schools through UCAS and by Saudi health colleges through the national admission composite. Individual courses vary and must be checked directly.
Last checked 2026-09-06. The requirements above describe the pattern across universities, not any one of them — the course page for the year you apply is the only thing that is ever authoritative.