Dental School in Singapore: 3 things you might not know
If you're considering applying to a local dentistry programme, here are 3 things you might not know about the dental school experience in Singapore:
1. The timetable is nothing like a typical university experience
Most university students get a long summer break and a winter break to look forward to. Dentistry doesn't really work that way. You get one holiday in June, one in December, and a single week off in between — that's it.
The daily schedule is also different from year one. You're in school Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, in formal wear, with attendance taken regularly. There's no such thing as an "off day" the way other students might experience it.
By third and fourth year, the hours stretch even longer because of lab requirements. In year three, the lab typically closes around 7pm. By year four, as graduation approaches, it can stay open until 8pm — because lab work has to be finished, and it doesn't finish itself.
2. You have to find your own patients
To graduate, dental students need to meet a set number of completed procedures — these are called graduation requirements. The school does provide patients, but it's often not enough to cover everything you're required to complete.
This means a lot of the patient-finding falls on you. Friends, relatives, anyone willing — they often end up becoming your patients so you can hit your requirements in time. It's a part of dental school that rarely comes up in open house talks, but it's very real.
3. Your degree may not be recognised everywhere
Dental licensing is country-specific — every country sets its own requirements for practising there, and a degree earned in Singapore doesn't automatically transfer.
Some countries require a dental degree with a minimum five-year course duration taught in English. NUS Dentistry is a four-year programme, so this alone can disqualify graduates from certain licensing pathways elsewhere, regardless of how well you did in the course.
The upside: if your plan is to stay and practise in Singapore, a local dentistry degree gives you immediate full registration — no additional licensing exams required. It's a trade-off worth understanding clearly before you decide where your career should take you.
disclaimer: opinions are my own, things may have changed since i went through it, and i have no financial affiliation to any school or programme mentioned.
Signing off,
Dr Watt Sook May
BDS (Singapore), MDS (Orthodontics) (Singapore)
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