Dental Therapy interviews

Responding to your interview invitation

You must respond to your interview invitation within two weeks of receiving your invitation by email. We will know you have responded if you:

• register to attend an event;
• add your details to the ‘I cannot attend’ option;
• or contact us at ug-interviews@bristol.ac.uk to discuss options if neither of the above is appropriate.

If you have not responded to your invitation within two weeks, we will assume you no longer wish to pursue your application at Bristol, and your application will be made unsuccessful.

If you can't attend

If you can't attend an interview on any of the dates available, please select 'I cannot attend these dates' on the registration form so we can contact you. We only have certain dates available for interviews. We will do our best to offer you another slot, but cannot guarantee this.

If you cannot attend any of the interview dates given, be aware that this will mean your application will then be made unsuccessful. You must attend an interview as part of the selection process.

Preparing for your interview

What to wear

Wear something smart and comfortable. You may wish to bring a water bottle which can be replenished at the School.

Bringing ID

You must present photo ID at the start of your interview. We will just need to see it when you join the interview to verify that you are the candidate we have invited. If you do not have photo ID, you will not be allowed to take part in the interview.

Examples of suitable photo ID include (but are not limited to):

• Passport
• Driving licence or provisional driving licence
• College photo card
• NUS photo card.

On the day

Please make your way to Bristol Dental School, which is situated at 1 Trinity Quay, Avon Street, BS2 0PT. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the venue in case of traffic and transport issues.

There are excellent rail and transport connections to the School. Train connections come into Bristol Temple Meads, and the Dental School is a 5-10 minute walk from the station. There is limited parking around the area so make sure you have looked into this if you are planning to drive.

Please make your way to the main entrance of the Dental School where a member of staff will be waiting for you, and will take you to the interview area. Please do not bring any family or friends into the School as we are not able to accommodate them in the waiting area. There are many cafes and shops located near the School.

You will receive questions on communication and professionalism knowledge. There will also be stations on hand-eye coordination and written communication.

Confidentiality and professional conduct

Your interview will be subject to similar expectations regarding confidentiality as an online interview. You should not:

• discuss questions you were asked or scenarios in your interview with others, either online or in person, following your interview
• record your interview in any way.

Honesty, integrity and professional conduct are fundamental values for all dental professionals. Candidates are expected to uphold these standards throughout the interview process. Any behaviour that falls short of these values may be taken into consideration when assessing the candidate’s suitability for a career in dentistry.

The use of any smartphone, electronic device, AI program such as ChatGPT or books and preprepared notes are not permitted during the interview. The University of Bristol academic integrity standards considers the use of any of the above as academic misconduct, more specifically contract cheating. This would call into question your suitability for a career in dentistry.

We do not give permission for any part of your interview to be electronically recorded and undertake to make no such recording ourselves. We will hold no record of your interview performance other than assessors' score sheets.

Remember that integrity is an important aspect of good dental practice: we would view any failure to respond to the guidance in this section as an issue of fitness to practice which could jeopardise any offer you are made.

After the interview

We aim to contact you with the outcome of your interview within three weeks. In some cases, this decision may take a little longer, but we will email you to let you know if we cannot make a decision straight away. We will endeavour to update you as soon as we can via email.

Please note that while you will likely hear from us within this time period, it is unlikely we will offer you a place on the course until after all of our interviews are completed, therefore you may be placed on hold for several months before you hear our final decision. Please be reassured that we will get in touch with you with a decision as soon as we can; this process simply makes sure all applicants are considered fairly.

Extra time for interviews

Sufficient time is built into our interview design so that extra time is not required.

Support for a disability

This course is academically and physically demanding. If you have a disability, we trust you to have taken it into consideration before you applied and that you firmly believe you will be able to perform all the tasks and responsibilities the course requires.

For advice on studying with a disability contact our Disability Services team on +44 (0)117 331 0444 or disability-services@bristol.ac.uk.

If you have a disability that will prevent you from undertaking on online interview, or any difficulties engaging with an interview in this format, please contact us at ug-interviews@bristol.ac.uk to let us know. We will review your circumstances with appropriate colleagues at the University to advise whether any reasonable adjustments may be available to you.