Oral Medicine is a dental specialty described by the General Dental Council (GDC) as "care for oral health of patients with chronic recurrent and medically related disorders of the mouth and with their diagnosis and non-surgical management".
Important: Eligibility for Specialty Training
Most dentists will have completed at least 1 year of Dental Core Training (DCT) before applying to Specialty Training. By the time you're appointed to a Specialty Training post, you must have completed DCT2 or equivalent (as demonstrated by National Certificate of Dental Core Equivalence (NCDCE)).
Applicants must be registered with the GDC before training begins.
About Dental Specialty Training
Dental Specialty Training usually follows on from Dental Core Training (DCT), though some dentists who have been working in practice for a while also apply.
It runs for between 3 and 5 years depending on the specialty.
Non-urgent advice: Oral Medicine curriculum
The content of the curriculum was developed by Specialty Advisory Committees who report to the relevant Dental Faculties of the Royal Colleges.
View the Oral Medicine curriculum on the GDC’s website.
Why undertake Specialty Training?
While most dental graduates look forward to a career providing a full range of oral health care to patients in general dental practice, many have an interest in a specific aspect of dentistry.
Dentists can achieve specialist status by gaining entry to one of the Speciality Training programmes.
Salaries for specialty trainees
Salaries for specialty trainees vary across the 4 nations of the UK.
For information about pay and conditions in England, go to NHS Employers.
For Northern Ireland, go to the Northern Ireland Department of Health.
For Scotland, go to the Management Steering Group website.
For Wales, go to Health in Wales.
Page last reviewed: 21 December 2021