# Practising for Dental Core Training (DCT1–DCT3) with MedMock

Canonical page: https://medmock.com/exams/dental-core-training-dct1-dct3

## 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.

An illustrative example station, written by MedMock with example feedback, is at https://medmock.com/exams/dental-core-training-dct1-dct3/example

## What happens in the real DCT (checked against the official source on 2026-10-24)

The UK Dental Core Training (DCT1, DCT2 and DCT3) National Selection interview is a single online multi-station interview coordinated by NHS England and COPDEND. Candidates complete two 10-minute stations — one assessing clinical scenarios and medical emergencies, and one assessing clinical governance, management, professionalism and communication — each preceded by 3 minutes of scenario reading time before the two-assessor panel begins questioning.

- **Station 1: Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies** (10 minutes): Ten-minute panel station after three minutes of reading time. Assesses acute dental trauma, odontogenic infection and spreading facial swelling, post-extraction haemorrhage, medically compromised dental patients and recognition and management of medical emergencies.
- **Station 2: Clinical Governance, Management & Communication** (10 minutes): Ten-minute panel station after three minutes of reading time. Assesses GDC Standards for the Dental Team, statutory and professional Duty of Candour, wrong-site surgery prevention (NatSSIPs2), IR(ME)R 2017, HTM 01-05, safeguarding, clinical audit/QIP and team working.

Marking: Each station is scored independently by two trained dental panellists across structured domain criteria, assessing clinical knowledge and judgement, patient safety and prioritisation, clinical governance and ethical reasoning, and structured communication.

Passing: Appointability requires meeting the national minimum threshold score across the interview stations; for DCT1 recruitment, candidates who pass the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) benchmark are ranked using their combined interview and SJT scores.

Sources: https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/dental-training-recruitment/dental-core-training-dct https://www.copdend.org/postgraduate-training/dental-core-training-curriculum/
Full format page: https://medmock.com/exams/dental-core-training-dct1-dct3/format

## How to prepare for the DCT interview (facts checked against official sources on 2026-10-24)

Read the NHS England Dental Core Training applicant guide and COPDEND curriculum first so you know what the two 10-minute online selection stations test. Then rehearse acute clinical and medical-emergency scenarios alongside clinical governance, Duty of Candour and communication scenarios out loud with a 3-minute reading window.

1. **Learn the two-station online interview structure** — The national DCT selection interview comprises two 10-minute panel stations, each preceded by 3 minutes of reading time: Station 1 covers a clinical scenario and medical emergencies, and Station 2 covers clinical governance, management and communication.
2. **Use the 3-minute reading time to structure your opening response** — During the 3-minute reading window before each station, note the clinical red flags or governance issues in the stem, plan an ordered framework (such as ABCDE and surgical sieve for Station 1, or SPIKES, Duty of Candour and clinical governance escalation for Station 2) and anticipate follow-up probes.
3. **Drill OMFS and hospital dental emergencies for Station 1** — Practise speaking through spreading odontogenic infections and Ludwig's angina airway threats, retrobulbar haemorrhage, post-extraction haemorrhage on anticoagulants or antiplatelets, avulsed permanent teeth, and dental surgery medical emergencies using Resuscitation Council UK and SDCEP guidance.
4. **Ground Station 2 answers in GDC Standards and NHS patient safety** — Rehearse scenarios on wrong-tooth extraction and NatSSIPs2 Local Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures, statutory and GDC Duty of Candour, IR(ME)R 2017 radiation incidents, HTM 01-05 decontamination breaches, safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, and supporting an impaired or struggling colleague.
5. **Practise concise, structured spoken answers with two assessors** — Ten minutes passes quickly across multiple panel prompts. Lead with your immediate patient-safety actions, explain your reasoning clearly, and state when you would escalate to the OMFS or dental registrar or consultant on call.

Official resources:

- NHS England: Dental Core Training (DCT) Recruitment (https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/dental-training-recruitment/dental-core-training-dct): National recruitment timeline, applicant handbook and selection structure for DCT1, DCT2 and DCT3 posts.
- COPDEND: Dental Core Training Curriculum (https://www.copdend.org/postgraduate-training/dental-core-training-curriculum/): The UK curriculum defining the clinical, communication and governance capabilities expected across Dental Core Training.

Sources: https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/dental-training-recruitment/dental-core-training-dct https://www.copdend.org/postgraduate-training/dental-core-training-curriculum/
Full guide: https://medmock.com/exams/dental-core-training-dct1-dct3/prepare

Dates: 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. (source: NHS England / COPDEND).
All DCT dates: https://medmock.com/exams/dental-core-training-dct1-dct3#dates

## Stations you can practise

- **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 questions

- *Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies:* 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?
- *Clinical Governance, Management & Communication:* 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

- *Clinical Scenario & Medical Emergencies:* 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.
- *Clinical Governance, Management & Communication:* 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.

## How a practice session works

1. **Choose a station** — Choose the kind of question or scenario you want to rehearse — ethics, motivation, a role-play, and more.
2. **Have the conversation** — Speak naturally, out loud. The AI interviewer listens and asks the demanding follow-ups, just as a real interviewer would.
3. **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.

## Price

Start with a one-off £5 taster: 30 credits (30 minutes of speaking practice), not a subscription. After that, or instead, £45 per month for 300 credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Cancel at any time. Full details: https://medmock.com/pricing

## Frequently asked questions

### 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.

## About MedMock

MedMock is a web app for practising the spoken parts of UK medical and dental exams and interviews out loud. The candidate talks; an AI patient, examiner or interview panel answers in real time by voice; and when the station ends MedMock marks the performance against that exam's assessment domains and shows the model answer.

It covers 104 spoken exams and interviews — OSCEs, vivas, structured oral exams, simulated consultations, and specialty-training and consultant interviews. It does not cover written or multiple-choice papers, and it is not a question bank.

It was founded by Mr Sam Nahas, MBBS BSc MEd FRCS (Tr & Orth), a practising consultant orthopaedic surgeon in the UK, with co-founder and CTO Arjan Jandu. It is operated by VirtualPatients Ltd (company no. 16303492).

Pricing: a one-off £5 taster of 30 credits to try it (not a subscription, one per account), and a monthly subscription from £20 to £129 depending on the exam (student exams cost least, fellowship exit exams and consultant interviews most), or £199 to £275 for the Intensive plans, which carry more credits. One credit is one minute of spoken practice, or two typed exchanges, and where the examiner or patient speaks first, that opening line is free. Examiner scorecards, mark schemes and model answers for finished sessions are included at no extra credit cost. Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.

It runs in a web browser on a laptop or phone; spoken practice needs a microphone. There is no public demo: practice needs an account with credits, usually from the taster or a monthly plan.

MedMock is for adults aged 18 or over. Sign-up asks every new account to confirm it.

MedMock is a revision tool. The patients, examiners and cases are fictional and AI-generated; it is not clinical guidance and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any Royal College, the GMC, the GDC or any examining body.

Start with the £5 taster: https://medmock.com/auth/signup