School: Dental Institute.
Innovative entry route into dentistry based in the heart of London designed to enable graduates with honours degrees in biomedical-related science subjects and healthcare professionals with a degree, to study for a degree in dentistry on a four-year programme.
KEY BENEFITS
- Largest dental school in the UK offering entry routes to studying dentistry and graduating over 160 dentists a year.
- Offers students state-of-the-art clinical and technical facilities.
- Evidence-based, research-led degree programme with a high level of clinical experience in all areas.
- Partnership with the world famous hospitals Guy’s, King’s College and St Thomas’.
- Opportunity to choose to intercalate a BSc degree.
UCAS code
A202
Programme type
Single honours
Duration
Four years
Location
Guy's, King's Denmark Hill and St Thomas' Campuses, and Portsmouth University
Year of entry 2014
Offered by
Dental Institute
Closing date
Please refer to the
UCAS website for application deadline dates, or contact the relevant Admissions Office for further advice
Fees & funding
For information on fees and funding for undergraduate programmes at King's go to
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ug/funding/ CONTACTS
Address
King's College London
Guy's Campus
London Bridge
London SE1 1UL
Email
Tel
020 7848 6512
Fax
020 7848 6510
PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION
This innovative entry route into dentistry is designed to enable graduates with honours degrees in biomedical-related science subjects and healthcare professionals with a degree, to study for a degree in dentistry on a four-year programme.
Students admitted to this programme will be exempt from the first year of the standard five-year programme A205 on the basis of their previous studies. Students will undertake a three- to four-week preparatory course in September 2014 before joining year two of the five-year programme. Examinations are held at the end of each year, and a percentage of the marks for each examination are derived from in-course assessment, which may take the form of essays, practical tests or project work.
There is additional information about selection for the programme under the 'applying' tab and also a PDF of frequently asked questions available from the 'further information' tab.
ABOUT THE Dental Institute
CAREERS
A variety of career pathways are open to new dental graduates. The final career for many graduates is general practice, although a minority may aim to be a consultant in the hospital dental service, a senior clinical academic in a teaching hospital, or a specialist practitioner.
Invariably newly qualified graduates will enter practice by way of a vocational training scheme. Vocational Dental Practitioners (VDPs) work in a general practice under supervision and have a day release course of lectures and demonstrations building on the undergraduate degree and giving instruction in all aspects of practice management. After this year, successful VDPs can begin work as an associate in a practice, later starting or purchasing their own practice.
A further group of newly qualified graduates may enter the community dental service where the emphasis is on the prevention of dental problems in the community and looking after priority groups such as those with medical problems, the elderly or young children.
TEACHING STYLE
The King’s dental degree programme, in line with General Dental Council recommendations, incorporates the latest thinking in dental education – early clinical exposure, an emphasis on ideas as well as facts, integrated teaching of all subjects with an emphasis on a systems approach, and a dimension of choice of special subjects by the student.
The integrated nature of the programme means that basic science teaching will relate to clinical practice and clinical teaching will be underpinned by scientific understanding. You will have contact with patients from the first few weeks of the first year and will be encouraged to assume an appropriate level of responsibility for patient care at an early stage. The programme emphasises whole patient care, which implies consideration of the patients’ total dental and medical needs, rather than just the provision of items of treatment.
Most of the teaching is carried out in small groups where students and staff get to know each other well. The fact that the Institute is the largest in the country with a total intake (for all programmes) of 164 students brings many advantages, including expertise in all areas of dentistry.
STRUCTURE OF PROGRAMMES & ASSESSMENT
While preparing you for a professional vocation, a degree in Dentistry involves studying healthcare, clinical techniques and the properties and uses of dental materials. Dentists need a detailed knowledge of the structure and function of the body, particularly the head and neck, as well as an understanding of how the rest of the body functions, and the disease processes that may affect it. See each programme entry for further details.
LOCATION
For the standard five-year programme, the majority of your first three years will be spent at the Guy’s Campus where biomedical sciences are taught alongside applied dental science. In the last two years students divide their time more evenly between the Guy’s and King’s Denmark Hill campuses. Final-year students will also visit the St Thomas’ Campus and the new Outreach Centre at Portsmouth University.
SPECIAL NOTES
Health clearance
Any offer of a place at King's is subject to satisfactory health clearance coordinated by our Occupational Health Service. This is:
- to ensure that you are medically fit to practise for the proposed course of study;
- to advise, where necessary, on any reasonable adjustments, so that any underlying health problem is not made worse by work;
- to ensure that you do not have a medical condition which could pose a risk to your safety or to that of your colleagues, patients or members of the public;
- to help us identify if there is a risk of developing a work related illness from any hazards in the proposed workplace.
It is recommended that all students are appropriately protected against chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella (German measles), meningitis C and tuberculosis prior to enrolment. Also, the Department of Health has recently published new guidelines for healthcare workers. These guidelines recommend that all new healthcare workers involved in exposure prone procedures (EPPs) should be routinely tested for HIV antibody, in addition to hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C antibody prior to receiving health clearance. Consequently, as well as needing to have blood tests for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C antibody, as a prospective dental student, King's now require you to have a blood test to determine your HIV antibody status.
The final health clearance decision on your admission to (or continued enrolment on) the programme will be decided by the Dental Institute based upon recommendations from the Occupational Health Service.
Applicants with disabilities/ special needs
King’s is keen to encourage applicants from all sections of the community, including those with disabilities/special needs. If you are thinking of applying and you have a disability or health condition, you are welcome to visit King’s for an information visit before you apply.
As the dental programmes lead to professional registration, in accordance with General Dental Council guidance, students with disabilities can be admitted provided their disability would not prevent them from completing all parts of the dental programme and thus restrict their dental practice to certain activities. When you tell us about a disability/special need, it will not be considered in the main selection procedure.
If you are offered a place and accept it as your firm choice you will be referred to Occupational Health who will make a formal assessment, as part of the normal Occupational Health appointment and clearance. The Dental Institute will make a final decision based on their recommendations. Any details on your disability/special needs will assist the College in providing support during your programme.
Criminal Records Bureau Clearance
All offers of a place, and continued enrolment, are made subject to a satisfactory Criminal Records Bureau Enhanced Disclosure, and registration with, and clearance by the Independent Safeguarding Authority. All applicants are required to declare on their UCAS form if they have any spent or unspent convictions, cautions or reprimands.
Currently, students study the following programme structure. King's reviews its programmes on a regular basis in order to continue to offer innovative and exciting learning opportunities and this information is therefore subject to change. Please check here for updates, or contact the School/department for further advice.
YEAR 1
The first year begins early for the graduate entry students as they undertake a three-week course in applied dental science to give them the dental knowledge and skills to enable them to study with the students who have completed year one of the five-year BDS programme. The fourth year students are incorporated into the BDS2 year groups and take the same assessments and tests. The graduate students are given an opportunity throughout their first year to review topics studied in BDS1 such that by the end of the first year, their skills and knowledge are exactly the same as any other dental student entering year three of the standard programme.
The theme of the BDS2 is the dentate patient with applied basic dental science and preparation for prevention of oral disease and treatment of patients. You will also study integrated courses covering the development, structure and function of the nervous system, which provide a basis for understanding all aspects of the nervous system involved in dentistry, such as pain and anxiety; oral biology, which deals with the oral and dental aspects of the biological sciences, including the influence of nutrition and endocrine factors; and pathology, which covers the study of the cellular and molecular basis of human disease.
You will begin the acquisition of clinical skills in the clinical skills centre of the restorative dentistry group. During this year you will be treating your own adult patients, providing preventive advice and undertaking straightforward procedures in periodontology and conservative dentistry. You will also learn dental materials science and behavioural science.
YEAR 2
The themes of the second year of the four-year programme are the treatment of the partially dentate adult and the relevance of human disease. You will be taught human disease to enable you to understand the manifestations of disease so far as they are relevant to the practice of dentistry. This will include maintenance of the well-being of patients, dealing with emergencies and communicating effectively with patients, their relatives and medical practitioners about their health. You will attend a peripheral hospital for two weeks to increase your experience of human disease. The study of dental materials science is continued to underpin the expanding care of adult patients with the development of skills to manage the partially dentate patient. The major input from clinical dental science comes from prosthodontics, conservative dentistry and periodontology. You will develop an understanding of the theoretical concepts associated with the preservation of teeth and the rehabilitation of mouths with missing teeth. The principles of surgery are taught as they relate to the extraction of teeth.
YEAR 3
In the third year you spend most of the week providing dental care for patients. You will continue to learn about and carry out more advanced precedures in restorative dentistry. During this year a major course in periodontology is provided to give you a strong foundation in the subject. You will be introduced to the operative procedures in the provision of implant dentistry.
Time is also spent in the clinic on the Denmark Hill Campus providing comprehensive care to adult patients. This will continue in year four. This is an opportunity to treat patients from a different demographic area than that of the main campus.
As you become more proficient at extracting teeth, patients will be treated under conscious sedation.
Learning continues in the human disease strand of the curriculum and you are introduced to an ongoing course in oral disease that will incoporate pathology and medicine directly relevant to disease in and around the mouth. You will be able to treat many patients with more complex medical problems during this year, with specialist teachers on hand to guide you.
As you are now more proficient in dealing with and treating patients, in this year you will begin the provision of dental care for children. This will include learning about orthodontics.
YEAR 4
The final year of the programme is very much a consolidation year of all you have learned up to this time. You will continue to provide comprehensive dental care for adult and child patients. A unique feature of this programme is the opportunity to work on a regular basis at purpose-built clinics distant from the main campus. At these you will work directly with a dental nurse and other professionals complementary to dentistry, in particular hygienists, learning to work as a team leader in provision of dental care for your patients.
There is an opportunity each week to spend some time learning about a chosen topic to allow you to develop knowledge of an area in even greater detail than covered in the normal programme. This could include any area in dentistry and there is also the opportunity to learn a new language through the Modern Language Centre at King's.
The final year is designed to allow you to develop as a dentist and to ease the transition, upon qualification, into vocational training and general dental pratice. It also offers the opportunity to flavour the specialist areas of dentistry that may encourage you to specialise after a period of general professional training.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Australia
No information found.
Austria
No information found.
Belgium
No information found.
Brazil
No information found.
Bulgaria
No information found.
Canada
No information found.
Chile
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China
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Cyprus
No information found.
Czech Republic
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Denmark
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Estonia
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Finland
No information found.
France
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Germany
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Ghana
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Greece
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Hong Kong
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Hungary
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India
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Iran
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Ireland
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Italy
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Japan
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Latvia
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Lithuania
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Luxembourg
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Malta
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Mexico
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Moldova
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Netherlands
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New Zealand
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Nigeria
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Norway
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Pakistan
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Poland
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Portugal
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Romania
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Russia
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Saudi Arabia
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Singapore
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Slovakia
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Slovenia
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South Africa
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Spain
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Sweden
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Switzerland
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Turkey
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United Kingdom
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USA
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OTHER REQUIREMENTS
Aptitude testing
UKCAT
General statement
An upper second class (2:1)honours degree (or international equivalent) in a biomedically related or health professional subject. Applicants with a lower second (2:2) in a biomedical-related or health professional subject will only be considered if also holding a postgraduate degree (with at least a merit). UKCAT required
If you are interested in coming to King’s, you should apply through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and apply online via the UCAS website (click on 'apply'). If you are applying through a school or college, you will need to obtain a 'buzzword' from the centre you are applying through. Alternatively, you can apply as an individual, independent of a school or college. Please see the UCAS website for instructions. The UCAS institution code name for King’s is KCL, and the institution code is K60.
There are a few programmes which require direct application to King's, this will be stated above
Further advice is given within each programme entry; however, the notes below apply to all programmes within the Dental Institute.