How to practice dentistry in the UK!

- Sarah Zubair

Those going for ORE/LDS and want to eventually end up doing VTE( which is now called PLVE) should remember that it's an expensive, long and a very demanding process. 

ORE 1 costs around 900 pounds; if you include travel and accommodation it comes out to be around 300£ given you are living in the UK. Obviously it will cost a lot more if you are travelling from overseas. Consider 1200 £ for ORE 1.

ORE 2 costs 3000£ ( this is just the exam fees), if you pass the first time.
Manikin course which costs around 900£ ( without the cost of travel, accommodation and revision courses and mock exam fees).

Revision course I took it because I didn't want to take any second chances with my preparation and I felt I had forgotten bits from what I learnt in the first go. So 350 pounds for this.

Mock exam, again I took it because for me I couldn't take any second chances I had to be perfect for the first time, no room for mistakes. So it cost me 150£.

Equipment to practice at home, cost me 900 pounds but it was about 1200 pounds extra just to buy teeth. They are 2.2 £ for one and 17£ for an endo tooth. I bought a lot of  because I used to practice on at least 10 teeth daily. I practiced a lot. If I got a tooth wrong, i would practice it 4 more times the same day, which is kind of mad yes, but everyday I spent around 6 to 7 hours on manikin because I was so scared of the stories I had heard about manikin, a lot of people do fail on the manikin exam. So be very well prepared. And there are no second chances, so get it right the first time. 

It was a little crazy for me because I only had 3 and a half months or even less to prepare for the exam.

DTP OSCE COURSES AND REVISION COST ME AROUND 1200£ ( It's cheaper if you do them online , but find a good source). 

So the exam easily cost me around  10000 £ or more including the cost of travel and accommodation. Thankfully I got it right the first time, that saved some money at least. 

After the exam you get registered with the GDC, And start finding a job, it was a little quick in my case because I literally applied every single where like crazy for a VTE position. I got a job 4 months after getting registered but the vte process is a very long and complex one. 

The initial application,  to be considered by the NHS England costs 450 pounds, it's a 28 page application ,because two applications ( the NPL1 which you send the NHS ENGLAND ) alongside which you also fill up the PLVE application ( this is 28 pages long), this application is meant to check your experience in dentistry, how confident you feel with extractions,endos, ortho treatments, literally every single aspect of dentistry and you have to write and explain how would treat a dry socket, what do you use to extract molars, what are the post op instructions after an implant appointment etc etc. 

So it took me a week to fill this application, referring back to my books, what I mean to say was it was quite TAXING, anyway that was sent off to my area team, and NHS England and area team they assessed both the applications side by side and finally agreed to enter me in the performers list in England. Without the performer number you can't work under the NHS, AND alot of people say you can work privately, but honestly no one let's you do a private job unless you have a performer number. In my go, everywhere I phoned the first question used to be do you have a performer number. The moment I would say no, they would be like, ok we don't want to proceed any further. (In a polite way ) but ya! 

So performer number is something that you get after completing one year of training under a mentor in the NHS UNDER CONDITIONS.
These conditions are, you have to do a lot of hands-on courses, audits, reflective writings. Basically whatever they feel is lacking from your skills after they have assessed the initial application, will be put down as conditions, which you have to complete within 12 months.
Almost all VTE jobs (or atleast 90 percent) offer you a contract with 1000 pounds mentor fee payable to your supervisor. So basically from what you earn every month, you pay 1000 pounds to your mentor because they are teaching you, supervising you, giving you advice for difficult patients.

So just consider all of these things before you plan on moving to the U.K. obviously everything is doable, but I don't want anyone to get a lot of surprises and be prepared for everything.