The first UK dental undergraduate programme for medical graduates - a student perspective

The nature of the primary dental undergraduate qualification is continually evolving to keep pace with the ever changing climate of medical and dental education and postgraduate speciality training. In the aftermath of 'Modernising Medical Careers', there has been a surge in interest in careers of dental origin by members of the medical profession, particularly in the specialities of oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS), oral medicine and oral surgery. Furthermore, following the suggestion by the recent Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) report into OMFS training(1) that both registrable medical and dental degrees be obtainable by the age of 26 much attention has focussed on the entity of the accelerated undergraduate dental qualification. In this article we report our personal and educational experiences one year after enrolling in the UK's first official dental undergraduate degree for medical graduates, an accelerated three year BDS programme provided by King's College London.