Boost your career on a dental elective abroad

Go on a once-in-a-lifetime dental elective abroad with Work the World, and you’ll get career-boosting clinical experience in an overseas hospital. Then, in your free time, you’ll have life-changing travel experiences with new friends.

You are in total control — you tell us what you want to experience and we'll tailor your dentistry elective to your specific interests. You choose everything from the destination right down to the kinds of hospital or clinic you want to get experience in.

You’ll find the experience to be eye-opening. And that’s true whether you’re undertaking an elective for dentistry students or graduates, or for dental nursing students.

Why go on a dental elective abroad?

Unique experience that puts you ahead of your peers
Stand out to employers
Strengthen your academic profile
Build a network to tap into during your career
Gain perspective that reframes your view of the NHS
Build confidence by stepping out of your comfort zone
Get inspiration around where you might specialise

Dental electives in dumaguete philippines

"I was lucky to help with an outreach programme that did dental screenings in schools." - Tess, University of Sheffield
Read more reviews for dentistry placements here

Eye-opening clinical placement

Clinical experience of this kind is about gaining perspective and challenging what you know. Alongside your English-speaking supervisors, you’ll quickly realise that things we take for granted in the UK, like cosmetic dentistry, are often totally unachievable in most of our destinations.

Some things you might observe on your dental elective placement include:

Lack of resources and use of outdated equipment
Poor oral hygiene (many children have severe decay)
Lack of sterilisation procedures
Extremely late presentations and advanced conditions

You will also see major differences in the fundamentals of dentistry. For example, in many of our destinations, there is almost no preventative dentistry. Saving the tooth is a secondary concern, as procedures are simply too expensive for most patients.

Tap into our hospital partnerships

Work the World's long-established international hospital partnerships let us tailor your dentistry elective abroad to a level of detail that would be impossible if you were organising your trip independently.

The partnerships also allow us to guarantee things like your placement hospital and supervision. You'll get detailed information on the above long before you travel.

You also get exceptional flexibility should you want to amend your dental elective choices while you're overseas. All of this means you can create a placement suited perfectly to you without the risk of your elective plans falling through.

Once-in-a-lifetime travel

As a dentistry student or graduate, your clinical placement is the focus of your trip. But your free time in the afternoons and weekends will be packed full of experiences like:

Relaxing on palm-lined, white-sand beaches
Getting close to elephants, lions and giraffes on safari
Swimming with curious sea turtles on warm tropical reefs
Hiking (or paragliding!) through the Himalayas
Spending a weekend hopping between paradise islands

Explore your destination options below to get a real sense of opportunity for adventure.

Browse Destinations

Stay in an exclusive private property

While you’re with us, you’ll stay in one of our private, catered houses, reserved exclusively for healthcare students and graduates on a Work the World programme. You’ll share the experience with like-minded peers, creating a supportive home-from-home throughout your overseas placement.

Fun, social atmosphere
Chill-out areas
Make friends for life
24/7 in-country support team based in the house
Security team for peace of mind

Think BBQ nights, karaoke, swimming pools, and a home-from-home to return to after a day on placement.

Explore Accommodation

What's included?

The service you get with us is end-to-end. That means we will support you before, during and even after your trip.

You'll get:

Pre-departure preparation with our UK team
Structured, supervised dental elective placement
Private, catered accommodation
24/7 in-country team
Airport pick up and drop off
+ more

Arrivals are every Sunday, 52 weeks of the year — travel on your dental placement when it suits you. Durations of placements for dentistry start from one week.

Learn More

destinations

Ghana Takoradi

You’ll have an eye-opening dentistry elective in Takoradi, as there are huge differences in practise and resources between Ghana and the UK. For example, when the lights on dental chairs are broken, dentists have to use their mobile phone torches to see. And in terms of practise, you’ll see that patient-centred care is absent — children are often restrained during procedures, for example. You’ll also see a big difference in how much patients understand about oral health, so you’ll be able to offer some education as well. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with Work the World to Takoradi.

Explore Takoradi

Sri Lanka Kandy

On your dental elective abroad, you’ll see that dentistry in Sri Lanka hasn’t advanced at the same rate as it has in the UK, so in spite of offering similar treatments, there are big differences in the way they’re carried out. You may also see tooth staining that results from patients chewing betel leaves (a mild stimulant). Chewing these leaves can lead to cavities and, in extreme cases, oral cancer. Sri Lanka has high oral cancer rates, and many healthcare professionals believe that betel leaves are the main reason for this. The learning experience goes both ways, so expect local dentists to be interested in hearing about the latest techniques in the UK too! Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with Work the World to Kandy for their dentistry elective.

Explore Kandy

Tanzania Dar es Salaam

If you do your dental elective placement in Dar es Salaam, you’ll see that many Tanzanians suffer from oral health issues. Similar to some of our other destinations, this is because of a lack of education around oral health. You’ll see a lot of patients suffering from dental fluorosis, too, and this is due to water contamination and diet in the local community. A placement here is eye-opening, and things will be different from what you’re used to in the UK. For example, patient-centred care isn’t high on the list of priorities, and there are no options for sedation, or really any resources to do anything other than help patients with their immediate pain. Read stories from those who’ve already travelled with Work the World to Dar es Salaam.

Explore Dar es Salaam

Nepal Kathmandu

On a dentistry placement in Nepal, you’ll see conditions that you might only see in clinical journals in the UK. Odontogenic cysts, for example. Previous students have even reported sitting in on advanced surgeries like mandibular resections. On the other hand, the lack of resources in the hospital will help you to appreciate just how advanced dental care is for patients in the UK, even on the NHS. Early diagnosis is rare in Kathmandu, so basic preventative treatment options are limited. You’ll also note that contact time with patients is shorter than in the UK — there are so many patients to see that local dentists just don’t have the time. Read stories from those who’ve already completed their dentistry elective with Work the World in Kathmandu.

Explore Kathmandu

"It was an incredible experience! The healthcare system I observed differed significantly from my experiences in the UK. I am really thankful to the Work the World team and the staff at the hospital".

Saarah Nomani, Cardiff University, 2026

"I saw a patient who had developed a brain abscess from a long-standing tooth infection. This was very memorable, as cases are often not presented this late in the UK".

Melissa Critchley, University of Sheffield, 2025

"I was able to see some oral cancers at the OMF clinic which was useful as I had been taught what they might look like but I had never seen any cases in real life."

Hannah Atkinson, University of Birmingham, 2024

"We visited ancient squares and temples, like Durbar Square, and went to see the view from the top of Chandragiri Hills. It was incredible."

Tom Phillips, University of Sheffield, 2023

"A lot of the time we were working with no x-rays. This meant a lot of procedures, such as extractions for example were kind of performed blind."

Stefan Gabora, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine, 2022

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What do our dental electives offer?

A Work the World dental elective abroad gives you the chance to undertake a clinical placement in the developing world. You will spend time in a low-resource hospital and see unfamiliar dental practices and advanced conditions. You can even choose the departments you want to rotate through. Learn more here.

What are the benefits of a Work the World dental elective?

The benefits of our dental electives include:

Expanding your clinical knowledge and skill set
Becoming more confident, independent and resourceful
Making yourself more attractive to employers
Doing some proper travelling
Building your personal and professional network
Sharpening your language and communication skills
Renewing your perspective on the NHS

What kinds of cases will I see on a Work the World dental elective?

You will see cases like:

Severe pulpitis, gingivitis, and periodontitis among young people
Various oral cancers
Oral abscesses
Maxillofacial trauma
Cleft palate/cleft lip

How long is a Work the World dental elective?

A dental elective is as long as you want it to be. Our minimum placement duration is one week, but students typically travel on their dental electives for four to six weeks. There is no upper limit to how long you can travel for.