Oral and maxillofacial surgery accelerated dental programme for medical graduates: a review of fourteen graduating years (2010–2023)

Abstract

The accelerated dental degree, pioneered by King’s College London (KCL) to facilitate dual qualification training pathways for primary medical degree trainees, has graduated its fourteenth class. The authors present data to demonstrate and analyse the success of the course, which was accumulated through an online questionnaire, direct communication with the alumni, a freedom of information request from KCL, and review of the General Dental and Medical Council registers. To date 133 students have graduated with updated information collated for 132 (99.2%). Thirty seven percent of the students are female, which is comparable to the wider NHS consultant workforce. Over 70% (n = 95) of graduates work within a dual qualification specialty, with women more likely to take this up than men. Dentistry was the second most common career path at 16.8% (n = 23) and this is most likely to be due to the draws of primary dental care over the NHS secondary care. Attrition rates of the KCL students at each stage of the career pathway were equal to or fewer than other university undergraduate medical and dental degrees, the dentistry-first pathway, and other higher surgical training schemes. KCL alumni attest to 29% of the OMFS higher surgical trainees, with the average time between GMC provisional registration and specialist registration being 14.7 years (range 12-19). The authors strongly advocate the success of the accelerated dental degree in KCL and would encourage other institutions around the United Kingdom to accept the model to increase accessibility and build on the success of the primary medical degree OMFS surgical trainee programme.