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Dentists: Australian Dental Council (ADC)

If you intend to apply for migration to Australia under one of the General Skilled Migration categories, you must have a nominated occupation which is on the Skilled Occupations List at the time you apply. In order to make a valid application, you must have obtained a skills assessment from the relevant assessing authority for your nominated occupation.

 Do You Qualify For Immigration As A Dentist?

ADC is the assessing authority for the following ocupation:

• Dentists

Overseas trained dentists are eligible to undertake the ADC examination procedure if they have completed and passed a dental degree which included at least 4 years full-time academic study at a university recognised by the ADC, and are eligible for registration as a dentist in their country of training.

Qualifications Immediately Acceptable to Registration Boards

Dentists with a Bachelor degree obtained from the United Kingdom or Ireland may have qualifications which may be acceptable to Dental Registration Boards for immediate registration.

Under the Mutual Recognition Act 1992, subject to certain conditions, if a person is registered to practise an occupation in one State or Territory they can carry out an equivalent occupation in any other State or Territory.

Individuals registered or licensed to practise an occupation New Zealand are entitled to practise the equivalent occupation in any Australian State or Territory and visa versa.

Qualifications Not Immediately Acceptable to Registration Boards

If your qualifications do not immediately meet Australian requirements, there are 2 options. The first is to complete an Australian dental degree course at a recognised Australian University. The second option is to undertake the examination procedure conducted by the ADC described below.

Procedures

The ADC examination procedures have been developed specifically to assess the qualifications of overseas trained dentists whose qualifications are not accepted as a basis for registration by Australian Dental Boards.

The examination procedure consists of 3 parts:

• An Occupational English Test (OET);
• A Preliminary Examination (Multiple Choice Questions and Short Answer questions); and
• A Final Examination (clinical).

These must be taken sequentially.

Occupational English Test (OET)

A comprehensive knowledge of English is essential to the practice of dentistry in Australia. The OET is organised by Language Australia. The OET assesses reading, writing, speaking and listening skills and takes about three and a half hours to complete. If your first language is not English or your dental training was not carried out in English, you must achieve a pass in all 4 sections of this test. At present, the OET is held twice each year both within Australia and overseas, in March/April and September/October.

Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Examination is a written examination in multiple choice and short written answer format. It is designed to test your knowledge of the practice of dentistry and of clinical and technical procedures as they are practised in Australia. Previous examination papers are not available, but sample multiple choice questions are made available to enrolled candidates.

Final Examination: Clinical

In order to be eligible to sit for the Final Examination you must pass the Preliminary Examination.

The clinical examination is held over 3 to 6 days and includes the following three blocks:

• Conservative Dentistry - Operative Dentistry and Paedodontics;
• Treatment Planning - Including consideration of Periodontics and Removable Prosthodontics; and
• Oral Surgery, Oral Diagnosis and Radiology.

Aspects of all clinical disciplines such as Orthodontics, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Pharmacology will be included where appropriate (practical and/or theoretical and/or viva voce). You will be examined at the same level as that reached by recent graduates from Australian universities.

Examination Venues and Training

If you live overseas, you may take the OET and the ADC Preliminary Examination at an overseas venue. If you are in Australia, you can sit both these examinations in any of the State capital cities and some larger provincial centres.

ADC Certificate

An ADC Certificate is issued upon successful completion of the ADC examination procedure. The ADC Certificate entitles you to apply for registration to any of the Australian Dental Boards.

 Do You Qualify For Immigration As A Dentist?