Specializing in the UK... Qs & As

[eran76]

Have you ever thought about getting your speciality in Britain, or perhaps even doing dental school there???

I'm in London right now but I'll be in Scotland over the next few weeks during which time I thought I would go and have a chat with the dental school people in Glasgow.

If you've got questions you'd like to ask them about the process or anything in general I'd be happy to ask for you while I'm here. Personally, I'm looking into info about oral surgery after graduating dental school in 4 years.

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[Dr.BadVibes]

Have you ever thought about getting your speciality in Britain, or perhaps even doing dental school there???

I'm in London right now but I'll be in Scotland over the next few weeks during which time I thought I would go and have a chat with the dental school people in Glasgow.

If you've got questions you'd like to ask them about the process or anything in general I'd be happy to ask for you while I'm here. Personally, I'm looking into info about oral surgery after graduating dental school in 4 years.

I thought about doing dental school in the UK....I talked with the University of Birmingham and the University of Liverpool dean of admissions while I did my year abroad over there. Basically they told me that they love international students cause we pay a higher tuition fee. After telling them my stats and a little bit about myself, both deans told me that I would have no problem getting accepted.

However, coming back to North America is very hard and not worth all the trouble....dental school there is longer (5-6 years)...and dentists there dont make as much money as they do in North America.

Also, the standard of living in the UK is piss poor....so as you can tell, I saw no clear positive which would make me seriously consider the UK.

 

[markyman]

eran, much like you I have been looking to specialize abroad also. Getting to live abroad while obtaining your specialty degree seems pretty intriguing to me. So far though, i've only looked at some foreign dental school websites and that's it. I've put off doing the real research until I'm done with the NBDE 1 in july.

If you can get me any info while you're there it would be great. Personally i'm interested in endo. it seems like some of the programs are longer over there and they require a year of internship before specialty training. Other schools seem to have all residents together for the first year or two and then they branch out to their specific programs based on how they do there. I also don't know how you can then transition back to the US with a specialty degree from another country? These are all questions to ask i guess when you're over there. keep in touch and let us know how your trip goes and what you find out.

ps to bad vibes: dental school is generally 5-6 years outside of us/canada b/c they dont have to go to college elsewhere. Generally, 3 years of basic science and 3 years of clinics. that's it....so its actually shorter. on the other hand it is correct that dentists dont get paid as much over there. many countries its not even a doctorate degree.

 

[jiggapigga]

Why is the standard of living there worse??

I thought about doing dental school in the UK....I talked with the University of Birmingham and the University of Liverpool dean of admissions while I did my year abroad over there. Basically they told me that they love international students cause we pay a higher tuition fee. After telling them my stats and a little bit about myself, both deans told me that I would have no problem getting accepted.

However, coming back to North America is very hard and not worth all the trouble....dental school there is longer (5-6 years)...and dentists there dont make as much money as they do in North America.

Also, the standard of living in the UK is piss poor....so as you can tell, I saw no clear positive which would make me seriously consider the UK.

 

[OzDDS]

many countries its not even a doctorate degree.

Technically it's not a doctorate in the US/Canada either, It is an undergraduate professional degree. If you graduate from medical school in the UK (London, Oxford, Cambridge, etc) you recieve a "bachelor of Medicine" degree. But it is the same thing as the US-MD degree and upon taking your licensure exams here, you can even put "MD" on your coat so the US layperson understands.

(Similarly the UK-BDS/BDent is the exact same thing as the US-DDS/DMD)

The first medical degrees to be given out in the US were actually also "Bachelor of Med" at Penn (America's first medical school) "that was founded by UK trained docs". fyi


many of the UK dental students have previous degrees before starting dental school. Similarly there are actually quite a few students in the US who get accepted to dental school here who do Not have a previous degree. It's actually not a requirement.

 

[eran76]

Why is the standard of living there worse??

I can't answer for DR. BV but what I can say is that the cost of living here is exceedingly high. To give you an idea, for $220 you only get about £100, and all the prices are about the same as in the states, so an extra value meal is still £5. Then there are the taxes. After the basics, most money people earn goes into high taxes which do cover a lot, but leave you with little money to spend. When my buddy was working in high school at the video store he was barely making £3/hr.

On the positive side they get mandatory 5 weeks paid vacation and most people get more. Healthcare is free as is child care (I believe). There is guaranteed maternity leave and the schools are some of the best in the world.

UK Dental:

I'll find out what I can over the next few days and get back to you guys. Take it easy.

e

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

Just like eran said, everything there is the same price but in pounds, and they dont get paid as much, so everything there is super expensive for them. Also, another thing I mean is that the houses there are total crap.....like a million dollar house would probably cost $20K here....its so bad....for being the 3rd richest country in the world, the UK is really still living in ancient times.

All my UK friends I made there acknowledged that living in the UK was crap. Plus, it rains there 4 times a week. A great place to visit, but thats where it ends for me.