Who can sit the Dental Council of Ireland examination

Eligibility for the Dental Council of Ireland’s examination is not a formality, and it is not the same as eligibility for the ORE or the LDS. Check it before you plan anything else, because one of the requirements takes years to satisfy and cannot be hurried.

The requirement that catches people out

You need at least three consecutive years of lawful practice of dentistry within the preceding five years. Read both halves of that. The practice must be consecutive, and it must fall inside the five years before you apply.

Two consequences follow, and both surprise people:

• Graduated less than three years ago? Ask the Council first. The Council also says that candidates who graduated within the three years before applying must have practised continuously since graduation. It does not spell out how that sits with the three-year rule, so confirm your eligibility with the Council before you apply. The ORE and the LDS have no equivalent requirement.
• A career break can put you outside the window. If your three consecutive years ended more than five years ago, that experience no longer counts and you would need to practise again.

A recent graduate who has practised continuously since graduating satisfies it once three years have passed. The requirement is about continuity and recency, not seniority.

The degree

A dental degree from a course the Council accepts as equivalent to a minimum five-year full-time university dental programme. The Council assesses this, and it is the Council’s view of equivalence that matters — not another regulator’s assessment of the same degree.

English

One of two tests, taken within the previous two years:

Note that the requirement is all four modules, not an average. A 7.5 average with a 6.5 in writing does not satisfy IELTS Academic 7.0 in all four.

A test may not be required if your dental degree was taught entirely in English and you can provide evidence of this.

Documents

• A Certificate of Good Standing.
• Documents certified, and translated where they are not in English.
• Evidence of residence or establishment in Ireland — a PPS number or immigration permission — if you are applying within the eighty per cent of places reserved for candidates already here.

If you are not eligible yet

The UK routes have no practice requirement, so a dentist who cannot yet sit the Irish examination may be able to sit the ORE or the LDS now. That is a decision about where you want to practise rather than a workaround, and the comparison is set out separately.

Ireland or the UK: how the three routes differ

Questions candidates ask