The universities you applied to

Initially I applied to Plymouth, Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham, second time around I applied to Plymouth and Sheffield. This was because some universities don’t accept people who retake, or only consider retake students who applied to them first time around. I highly suggest doing your research before applying (even if you think you’re going to get the grades) just in case, because I hadn’t thought of this and was left with very few options! 

The Offers you gained

Plymouth (both times), Liverpool, Bristol and Sheffield. 

Why I chose this university?

Quite simply … THE COURSE! I was lucky enough to get into my first choice – Plymouth. Although it’s far from home and previously wasn’t very well-known (which has greatly changed now!), I don’t regret my decision one bit. We are one of the very few, if not the only, dental school who treat patients in year 1, making this course very patient-centred; and we’re lucky to have amazing facilities. Getting this exposure early is great for your confidence and breaks up the academic side of dentistry. Also at my interview everyone was so welcoming and friendly which made me feel really comfortable. As a bonus, there are many scenic places to explore, and being close to beaches means we can go surfing and enjoy BBQ’s there.

What my year of training entails

We can essentially perform all forms of treatment from root canals to extractions. We treatment plan all our patients from start to finish and shadow specialist clinics such as maxfax and orthodontics. We also build-up our confidence and speed on clinic as well as consolidate the academic teaching in a more applied manner, which is all part of our spiral learning approach (start with the basics and build on it each year). 

What the course is like?

There are several things that make our course different. Firstly, we’re quite a small university with roughly 60 students in our year, which is great because you can really interact with everyone and get to know the staff on a personal basis. Secondly, we treat patients from 1st year which really makes you feel like a dentist from the outset. Another difference is that not all our clinics are in Plymouth – 3rd years have clinics in Exeter and 4th years move to Truro. This gives you a variety of patients, and allows you to explore new places, rather than being stuck in one place for 5 years. Our course utilises the problem based learning approach, where we work in mini groups to carry out our own research and answer different dental scenarios. This helps develop our evidence based practice. Finally, every year we have a community engagement module where we work with the public or other healthcare professionals to improve dental knowledge and care, whether this be through holding a fayre for parents and children at schools, working with charities who help the homeless to try and provide free care, or even holding dental lectures for other courses such as nurses. 

Challenges of being a dental student

Time management can be quite challenging, as in 2nd year I had to balance the responsibilities of being Vice President of Dentsoc, playing university netball and general socialising, alongside my studies. 

Another thing I struggled with was comparing myself to my peers. All dental students work at a high standard and to be thrown into that situation can be daunting. I quickly learnt that I could use this healthy competition to my advantage, to drive me to do better.

What you have gained being a student

I’ve gained so much confidence both socially and academically! I’ve learnt that you’re going to come across challenges but it’s about having the ability to put them into perspective and use them to spur you on to do better. Also through socialising and joining different societies (for me it was netball) you get good at time and stress management, because dentistry can be very demanding and these outlets really helped me get a balanced university experience – work hard, play hard!