Course summary

Our Dental Surgery BDS programme is designed for you to get practical, hands-on experience as early as possible. This includes sessions in our state-of-the-art simulation suite, where you can practise dentistry in a virtual reality environment, and use "phantom heads" in our clinical skills learning environment. What you’ll study Our five-year course is divided into nine integrated themes: The Human Body The Oral Cavity in Health and Disease Growth, Development, Ageing and Nutrition Basic Oral and Dental Care Intermediate Oral and Dental Care Integrated Human Disease Integrated Clinical Practice Oral Disease Outreach and Elective In the first two years, you’ll examine the human body as an entire organism and learn about basic oral care at all stages of life. From the third year, you’ll learn how to identify the symptoms of systemic disease and widen your clinical skills. Placements and practice As you become more experienced, you'll spend some time away from the Dental School. You may treat patients in our Dental Practice Unit, visit a district general hospital, or complete an elective period to explore an area of dentistry that interests you. You'll undertake clinical training in NHS hospitals so you must follow local NHS policies, including guidelines on behaviour and dress and the need to be 'bare below the elbow'. Outreach programme You'll complete clinical outreach work placements in your fourth and fifth years. These placements give you the chance to treat an extended range of patients in Sheffield and the surrounding area. Most of the placements are in general dental practice with a few in community dental clinics so they provide you with real work environments to sharpen your skills. Collaborative learning We believe in training the whole dental team together. You’ll work alongside Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy students, giving you an experience of working as part of a dental team in a way that prepares you for the reality of practising dentistry once you’ve graduated The General Dental Council quality assures and approves qualifications for registration, for the following registrant groups: Dentists; dental hygienists; dental therapists; dental nurses; clinical dental technicians; dental technicians; and orthodontic therapists.