How to become a dental practitioner
Official title: Dental practitioners
Also called: Dental officer, Dental surgeon, Dental consultant, Dental practitioner, General dental practitioner
Dental practitioners diagnose dental and oral diseases, injuries and disorders, prescribe and administer treatment, recommend preventative action and, where necessary, refer the patient to a specialist.
Main tasks
- Examines patient’s teeth, gums and jaw, using dental and x-ray equipment, diagnoses dental conditions
- Assesses and recommends treatment options to patients
- Administers local anaesthetics
- Carries out clinical treatments, restores teeth affected by decay etc., treats gum disease and other disorders
- Constructs and fits braces, inlays, dentures and other appliances
- Supervises patient’s progress and advises on preventative action
- Educates patients on oral health care
- Refers patient to specialist, where necessary
How to become one
Entrants require an approved university degree and must have completed a period of postgraduate vocational training. Graduate entry to dental school is sometimes possible. Registration with the General Dental Council is a pre-requisite to practise. Specialist fields require further study and training.
Ways in
- University: Allied Health degrees, Offered by 17 universities in the UK
- University: Medicine & Dentistry degrees, Offered by 21 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- About 37,900 people work in this job now, and about 41,600 are projected by 2035. (+9.6%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become a dental practitioner?
Entrants require an approved university degree and must have completed a period of postgraduate vocational training. Graduate entry to dental school is sometimes possible. Registration with the General Dental Council is a pre-requisite to practise. Specialist fields require further study and training.
Is a dental practitioner a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 10% by 2035, from about 37,900 to about 41,600 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become a dental practitioner?
Usually. 97% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.