Sheffield Dentistry Interview Questions

Career Exploration
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• Why do you want to become a dentist?
• Why do you want to become a dentist rather than a doctor?
• What areas of dentistry particularly interest you?
• Tell us about your work experience so far.
• What did you find most interesting during your work experience?
• What challenges did you notice during your work experience?
• Do you think that the profession has changed recently? Do you think it will change dramatically in the next 20 years?
• Tell us a bit about your understanding of the multidisciplinary team that today’s dentists work in.
• Why do you think that so many dentists in the UK work privately rather than for the NHS? Do you think that this is an issue?
• Are you aware of the General Dental Council? What do you understand its role to be?

 
Values, Personal Qualities & Communication Skills

• What core qualities do you think that a dentist should have?
• What do you understand of the term Empathy?
• Tell us about the differences between empathy and sympathy.
• Are you motivated by the financial rewards obtainable through a career in dentistry?
• Tell us about a time when you had to communicate in a difficult situation.
• Tell us about an ethical problem that you have encountered and had to deal with.
• Are you a strong team player?
• Do you work better independently or as part of a team?
• What experiences have you had that illustrate your ability to lead a team?
• What kind of patients could be harder to communicate with than others? How might you approach these kinds of communication problems?

 
Sheffield state: ‘Healthcare requires people with particular values and behaviours in order to provide optimum care, working in the patient’s best interest. Therefore, you should consider whether your values align with the values of the NHS Constitution. These are: Working together for patients; Respect and dignity; Commitment to quality of care; Compassion; Improving lives; Everyone counts.’

Commitment to Sheffield

• What interests you about the course at Sheffield?
• We offer an intercalated degree, the BMedSci. Have you thought about what you might want to study during this year out from the main degree?
• What can you bring to the University of Sheffield above and beyond academia?
• What attracts you to the university beyond the course?
• What can you tell us about your learning style? Do you think it will be a good fit for our course?

Sheffield state that studying dentistry is demanding, and therefore students must show that they are self-motivated, committed, highly resilient and possessing good time management skills.
 
Manual Dexterity

• How have you developed your manual dexterity?
• Why is manual dexterity so important to being a dentist?
• What activities do you enjoy that illustrate your manual dexterity?
• How can you illustrate to us that you enjoy working under high pressure?

 
Sheffield explain that, as dental students and dentists routinely have to perform intricate, difficult tasks in very demanding situations, they must look for an ability in this domain as part of their assessment process. Applicants should be confident in their ability, and show that they will actively enjoy this kind of work.

Interpersonal Skills/Role Play

• In this station, you will speak with Joan prior to her routine check-up. Joan is known to have a phobia to dental procedures and intervention.
• Please proceed to speak with Toby, a fellow dentistry student who has just found out that his grandmother has passed away unexpectedly.
• Your supervisor has requested your assistance in arranging the Christmas party. You have agreed to meet the head receptionist to discuss arrangements
• As part of a supervised placement, your supervisor allowed you to perform your first unsupervised extraction on Mr Jones. Your supervisor has returned to review the patient and notes that you have extracted a healthy tooth, leaving the decayed tooth in-situ. Speak to Mr Jones to discuss the case further.