Crossing Continents: Dr. Christo Thomas’s Quest to Practice Dentistry in the UK

Dr. Christo Thomas: Hi, everyone! I completed my BDS degree in Chennai, 2019. Later, came to the United Kingdom to do a Master's in Public Health, 2021. Now I'm currently working as a Dental Therapist in the UK and trying to complete my equivalency test in the UK to become a dentist.

Dr. Christo Thomas: Definitely the pay scale, the gap between the salary of a fresh graduate in India and the UK was too high.

Dr. Christo Thomas: If I remember, from my early years of university, I have decided to go abroad to continue my career. At first, my plan was to go to any of the English-speaking countries.

Dr. Christo Thomas: My BDS career in India was the base that helped me to work in a clinical environment in the UK. This country had a pathway where an overseas registered dentist could become a Dental Care Professional, DCP (which includes Dental Therapist, Dental Hygienist, and Orthodontic Therapist). With some additional online and offline training along with certificates from India helped to join the General Dental Council, GDC UK.

Dr. Christo Thomas: During that period, the world was still in the fight against COVID-19. So that was the reason which influenced the decision to study Public Health.

Dr. Christo Thomas: It was one of my friends who bought up this kind of route of registration in the UK. So there was a application form in the website of GDC which needs to filled and submitted to a panel of members along with the supporting documents. After having a review of our application the panel will decide whether we are eligible to get registered as a DCP. Unfortunately, the GDC have stopped the route of registration last year, closing it to new applicants. However, those already registered can continue working. To the best of my knowledge, another option available now to international dentists in the UK is the Trainee Dental Nurse role, involving assisting dentists and dental therapists like myself.

Dr. Christo Thomas: The scope of practice of Dental Therapist is limited than a Dentist. The scope of practice includes clinical examinations, non-surgical periodontal treatments, direct restorations, primary tooth extraction and with further training we could do teeth whitening, inhalation sedation and suture removals.

Dr. Christo Thomas: The Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) consists of two parts, each serving distinct purposes in assessing candidates' readiness to practice dentistry in the UK. Part 1 of the Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) is conducted in person but is computer-based, while Part 2 is also conducted in person over multiple days.

Part 1 evaluates candidates' ability to apply their knowledge of clinical practice through two computer-based exam papers: Paper A covers clinically applied dental science and clinically applied human disease, while Paper B addresses aspects of clinical dentistry, including law, ethics, and health and safety.

On the other hand, Part 2 focuses on assessing candidates' practical clinical skills through four components conducted in person over several days. These components include

i) An operative test on a dental manikin (DM) completing three dental procedures within three hours.

ii) An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) testing clinical skills, including history-taking, communication, ethics, and clinical examination across different areas of dentistry such as restorative dentistry, pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, oral surgery, etc.

iii) A diagnostic and treatment planning exercise (DTP) based on the given medical history and additional materials like photographs, radiographs or study models.

iv) A practical examination in medical emergencies (ME) assessing candidates' response to emergency situations.

Candidates are granted up to four attempts for both Part 1 and Part 2 of the examination. It is crucial for demonstrating their competence in providing dental care in the UK.

The major challenge in clearing the equivalency tests is to get a chance to write the exam as the number of candidates to sit in test is limited and we have to rely on bit of luck. In addition that the part 2 exam is expensive and we have to go for some training courses before we appear for the exam which is also expensive.

Dr. Christo Thomas: We have to keep a balance in life to find out time to prepare for our exams. As we all know that UK is a country with high living expenses, so we cannot entirely stop working and concentrate in our studies. So what I would recommend is to start the preparations early.

Dr. Christo Thomas: Once I become a dentist my next plan is to own a dental practice in UK, I would like to work for my business and grow rather than working for someone else.

Dr. Christo Thomas: The education and one year of internship later in India gave me a big exposure to patient care, which I don't think a graduate from this country would have experienced. I was a bit nervous when I saw my first patient in this country due to the language barrier, however the clinical experience in India helped me to deliver the best care possible and majority of my patients were happy with my treatment regimes.

Dr. Christo Thomas: The key difference between the dental health care system is that is government in the UK have created a system where patients should make sure that they have a regular check up done in every minimum 2 years in order to get treatments under National Health. Whereas, in India the public only visits the dental practice when they are in pain.

Dr. Christo Thomas: Surely, there was lot of practical difficulties in the process of moving to another country. In addition to that, the UK is a country where you have a severe housing crisis. I was lucky that when I came to the country I got few friends who were also joining in my same university and we shared the accommodation in order to save some money. To have this property, we searched a lot in the online platforms. It was not easy but we had to try our best.

Dr. Christo Thomas: Honestly, looking back I would not do anything differently. I think I have done everything I could, to be in a position where I'm right now , however there few things in our life which is out of our control, like in my case Covid 19 delayed my plans to move in to UK, but there isn't much that I can do about it.

My advice to other dentists in India who are interested in pursing an international career is that we have to embrace the reality that it is not easy and there will be a lot of obstacles ahead of us but your desire should be always above of it. The other one is that if you have made up your mind that you want to pursue international career, it is never early to start looking for different opportunities in various countries. The best place where I relied on to was the You Tube. There are lot of informative videos in You Tube for our career, unfortunately many people never look into it.