Dental electives

Our dental student elective placements offer unique opportunities for clinical experience and community outreach work. They also meet the requirements of most British dentistry schools, and give you:

• A guaranteed clinical placement, organised by our professional staff in your chosen country
• The security, freedom and social atmosphere of living in a Work the World house
• All your food and other living costs overseas
• Expert advice and support from our experienced UK team before you go
• Support from our well-trained overseas staff throughout your placement

The focus of all our dental elective placements, whether outreach or hospital based, is to provide an intensive experience. With most electives lasting only 2-3 weeks, it's important to get as much insight and clinical experience as possible in a short period of time – so having our staff teams prepare the placement before your arrival allows you to get straight into it from day one.

Because we guarantee all our placements, you also have the peace of mind that your elective is confirmed from the time of booking.

Hospital & clinic based placements

Our partner hospitals and clinics in each destination are carefully chosen to offer good opportunities for clinical experience. We have partnerships in all destinations; both with large hospitals and small private or charity-run clinics, allowing us to tailor placements based on individual requirements. Most students come to us wanting a general experience of dentistry in a particular country, but we also have some specialist placements available, such as in oral cancer centres or maxillofacial surgery.

Dental outreach projects

As well as individual elective placements, we run our own dental outreach projects in Ghana, India, Nepal and Zanzibar. Each project provides a free dental screening and referrals programme to rural village communities that otherwise have no access to dental healthcare. Although supervised by in-country specialists, placement students are encouraged to do as much of the clinical work as possible and for enthusiastic students there tremendous opportunities for hands-on clinical experience.

Total flexibility

Because every dental student wants something slightly different from their elective, we think it's important to organise the placement around you, not try to fit you into a standard package. Tell us when you want to start, finish and what you want out of the experience and we'll do the rest. Our knowledgeable UK staff are happy to speak to you any time on the phone or via email, so please get in touch if you have any questions.