Dental Core Training (DCT1–DCT3)
Walk into your DCT interview already knowing how you will answer
Rehearse for your DCT interview against an AI interviewer who challenges your answers. Get feedback on any session you finish, in seconds.
What is the DCT interview, and how do you practise for it?
NHS England / COPDEND National Selection interview for Dental Core Training (DCT1, DCT2 and DCT3), held online: two 10-minute stations, each preceded by 3 minutes of reading time when the scenario brief is shared on screen, scored by two assessors. Station 1 is a Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies viva assessing acute dental, oral surgical and maxillofacial assessment, management and escalation; Station 2 is a Clinical Governance, Management & Communication viva assessing GDC Standards, statutory Duty of Candour, audit/QIP, safeguarding, consent and teamworking. Here one examiner voice speaks for the panel. MedMock lets you practise it out loud against an AI interview panel, with examiner-style feedback on any station you finish.
Last updated 24 October 2026
DCT interview practice, on demand
MedMock gives you an AI interviewer who challenges your answers, available 24/7. Pick a station, have a spoken conversation, and ask for examiner-style feedback when you finish, scored against what genuinely matters in the DCT.
How it works
Choose a station
Choose the kind of question or scenario you want to rehearse — ethics, motivation, a role-play, and more.
Have the conversation
Speak naturally, out loud. The AI interviewer listens and asks the demanding follow-ups, just as a real interviewer would.
Get instant feedback
The moment you finish, you get specific, examiner-style feedback and a score — what you did well, what cost you marks, and precisely what to fix before the next attempt.
Practise every scenario
MedMock practises both 10-minute stations of the NHS England / COPDEND Dental Core Training (DCT1–DCT3) National Selection interview (each after 3 minutes of reading time): Station 1 — Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies, and Station 2 — Clinical Governance, Management & Communication.
Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies
10-minute examiner-led clinical station (after 3 minutes of reading time). Assess, investigate, manage and escalate an acute dental, oral surgical, maxillofacial or medical emergency scenario — odontogenic fascial space sepsis, post-extraction haemorrhage in anticoagulated patients, dentoalveolar trauma, anaphylaxis, adrenal crisis, MRONJ/ORN, or suspected oral malignancy.
Clinical Governance, Management & Communication
10-minute examiner-led governance, ethics and management station (after 3 minutes of reading time). Work through a professional or clinical governance scenario anchored in GDC Standards for the Dental Team — wrong-tooth extraction Never Event and Duty of Candour, clinical audit/QIP, impaired colleague, Montgomery consent and MCA 2005 capacity, child/adult safeguarding, IR(ME)R 2017, HTM 01-05, complaints, and on-call SBAR prioritisation.
Sample DCT interview questions
Two questions from the topics that come up most in MedMock's DCT bank.
“You are the Dental Core Trainee on call in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. A 28-year-old man attends with rapidly worsening lower molar pain, bilateral submandibular swelling, a raised floor of the mouth, a muffled voice, and difficulty swallowing saliva. How would you assess and manage this patient?”
“During a busy outpatient extraction list, an orthodontist's referral letter is misread and an adjacent sound premolar is extracted instead of the planned tooth. Walk the panel through your immediate actions in the surgery, Duty of Candour, Never Event reporting, and how you would prevent recurrence.”
Example scenarios
A sample of the DCT scenarios you can practise, each as a spoken conversation.
“You are the DCT1 on call for OMFS. A 38-year-old man attends ED with bilateral submandibular and sublingual swelling following a lower molar infection, trismus of 12 mm, a raised floor of mouth, drooling and stridor. Walk us through your immediate ABCDE assessment, escalation and management.”
“In an outpatient oral surgery clinic you extract an adjacent sound premolar instead of the planned orthodontic premolar. Walk the panel through your immediate actions, statutory and professional Duty of Candour, Never Event reporting, and reflection.”
DCT recruitment dates 2026–27
NHS England and COPDEND run Dental Core Training (DCT1–DCT3) National Selection in a main annual recruitment round (with online interviews typically held in spring for September starts) and a smaller autumn round where posts remain available. Checked against NHS England / COPDEND on 23 October 2026.
Recruitment dates change. MedMock is not affiliated with NHS England / COPDEND; confirm every date, application window and venue on the official site before you apply. NHS England / COPDEND
DCT practice — your questions answered
How does the feedback work?
When you finish a station you can have it marked, and the scorecard comes back in seconds — what you did well, what cost you marks, and exactly what to work on next. Scorecards, mark schemes and model answers are included at no extra credit cost.
Can I practise specific DCT stations?
Yes. You can pick either station to drill a weak area, or run a Full Mock that takes you through the stations MedMock practises, back to back.
How much does it cost?
You can start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits, which is 30 minutes of speaking practice, with no subscription. After that, or at any time, you can choose a monthly plan, which includes a monthly credit allowance. Current prices are on the pricing page.
Formats change from year to year: check the official candidate guidance or applicant handbook from the body that runs your exam or interview (the Royal Colleges, NHS England, the GMC and others) for your sitting.
Ready for your DCT interview?
Rehearse real DCT scenarios out loud and get instant, examiner-style feedback.
- Instant, personalised feedback
- Real voice-to-voice conversation
- Repeatable attempts, a different run every time
Be ready for your DCT interview before you walk in
Start with the £5 taster, a one-off payment for 30 credits: practise DCT interview scenarios out loud and get any of them marked when you are ready.
Practise your DCT interview