Aberdeen (Graduate Dentistry) Dentistry InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

Why dentistry now — via a second degree — rather than straight from school?

Aberdeen's cohort is entirely graduates, so "career-change maturity" is the baseline, not a bonus. Show how your first degree or working life tested and confirmed the decision: shadowing, conversations with dentists, a considered comparison with the career you are leaving.

Why Aberdeen's graduate-entry BDS specifically?

Reference the 20-place cohort, direct entry into year 2, the co-located Foresterhill campus shared with NHS Grampian, and the Elgin and Stornoway outreach placements. Generic "small cohort" answers are weaker than ones grounded in the actual programme structure.

What did your work experience teach you about the realities of a dental career?

Aberdeen's own guidance says it is "more revealing" to explain what you learned about a dental career and its implications than to list placements. Pick one or two moments and reflect: NHS time pressure, anxious patients, the business side, the physical toll.

How has your first degree prepared you for a compressed, clinically front-loaded BDS?

You enter at what is effectively year 2, with patient contact in the second term. Map your degree content — anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pharmacology — onto that head start, and evidence self-directed learning under load.

Explain a complex concept from your degree to a patient with no science background.

Plain language, an analogy, and a check of understanding. Communication and interpersonal skills are scored at every Aberdeen station, so treat this as the skill the whole MMI is watching.

What evidence can you give us of your manual dexterity?

Manual dexterity is one of Aberdeen's published assessment domains. Concrete, sustained examples — an instrument, fine art, model-making, suturing practice, laboratory bench work — with reflection on how you improved through deliberate practice.

A patient with capacity refuses the restorative treatment you believe they need. What do you do?

Autonomy governs once capacity is established. Explain risks clearly, document, keep the door open, and reference GDC Standards. Selectors want structured reasoning, not a lecture.

An anxious patient asks you to extract a restorable tooth because it is cheaper and quicker. How do you respond?

Balance autonomy against your duty to advise in the patient's best interests. Explore the anxiety driving the request, explain the long-term consequences honestly, and involve them in a real shared decision.

(Possible station) A patient has been waiting 45 minutes and is angry when you call them through. Speak to them.

Acknowledge and apologise without blaming colleagues, listen for the real concern — pain, a school run, fear — and offer something concrete. Composure under pressure is what the selector is scoring.

(Possible station) A chart shows NHS dental participation falling sharply with distance from Scotland's cities. What does it show, and what could be done?

Describe the pattern before interpreting it. Discuss workforce distribution, travel and access barriers, and prevention — then connect to Aberdeen's own answer: outreach training in Elgin and Stornoway.

The Dental Student Support Grant ties £4,000 a year of funding to matched years of NHS Scotland service. Is it right to tie student funding to workforce commitments?

Argue both sides: an evidenced NHS dentist shortage and public investment on one hand; graduate autonomy and life circumstances on the other. Land on a reasoned position — selectors score the weighing, not the conclusion.

Tell us about a time you resolved a conflict in a team.

STAR structure with genuine reflection. Graduates are expected to bring workplace-grade examples — group projects, jobs, sports teams — and to show listening, not just resolution.

What concerns you most about starting dentistry as a graduate?

Honest, informed self-awareness scores: four intense years, finances, restarting at the bottom of a profession, the physical demands. Pair each concern with how you have prepared for it.

Describe a piece of difficult feedback you received during your degree or work, and what you did with it.

Pick real feedback that changed your behaviour. Reflection and sensitivity are explicitly in Aberdeen's scoring language; a polished non-answer wastes the station.

Should NHS dentistry prioritise prevention over restorative activity, given current access pressures?

Engage with the prevention argument — most dental disease is preventable — against the reality of patients who need treatment now. Show awareness of NHS access pressures without reciting statistics you cannot defend.

Which oral-health issue facing Scotland concerns you most, and why?

Pick one you can genuinely defend — access and inequality, remote and rural provision, alcohol- and tobacco-related oral cancer — and link it to prevention and workforce. Depth on one issue beats a tour of five.