We are reviewing the process of working as a certified General Dentist in Australia.
In the previous 2 slides, we have covered all the basic points related to the steps to be aware of before you start working on your dental career as a General Dentist in Australia. (Related to VISA and others)
We also enumerated all 3 steps of the Australian Dental Examination.
We had a detailed look at the first 2 steps in the process – Initial Assessment by the ADC & Written Examination
In this slide, we would have a review of the third and final step of the ADC Certification Process – The Practical Examination
STEP 3: DENTIST PRACTICAL EXAMINATION
The third stage of the assessment process is the Practical Examination.
The Australian Dental Council (ADC) practical examination is the platform for candidates to demonstrate that they are competent to practise safely as a dentist in Australia. The practical examination assesses candidates across the range of the Entry-level competencies of the newly qualified dentist relevant to dental practice in Australia.
For exam related dates, always refer to the official website of ADC.
All the latest exam dates, result notifications, and other ADC related updates are published at the media center section of the website.
What are the competencies that ADC reviews via the Practical Exams? Check the official ADC Document for the complete list of the expected professional competencies of a newly qualified dentist in Australia
The assessment forms undergo minor modifications regularly and you always need to use the latest application form for every stage.
You can get the latest Accredition & Competencies Form at this official link https://www.adc.org.au/Publications-and-forms/Assessment-Forms
Check out some of the important competencies expected for a General Dentist in Australia
The practical examination focusses on the competencies listed in Domain 6 (Patient Care) of the competency statement and its subdomains: clinical information gathering (6.1), diagnosis and management planning (6.2), and clinical treatment and evaluation.
PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible for arranging your own visa, travel, and accommodation for your examination.
Eligibility to apply for the Practical Exam
To be eligible to sit the practical exam, you need to successfully clear or PASS the Written Exam. The PASS result of the written exam is valid for three years. Within the three years, you can apply and sit for the practical exam.
Please note: If you do not sit for the practical exam within three years of passing the Written Exam, the validity will lapse. In that case, you will again need to appear for the Written Exam and PASS it once more to be eligible for sitting in he Practical Exam.
When can you apply for the practical exam?
Examination dates, application periods and the Practical Examination Application – Dentist form are located on the ADC website. You will need to check the official ADC website for the Application Period. Check this demo table below.
In the table above, for the practical exam that is going to be conducted in November 2019, the period to send the Application form is 29th July to 9th August. Which means if the candidate does not apply within the mentioned period, then the application will not be accepted.
ADC will not consider applications received outside the listed periods, or from candidates who do not meet the eligibility criteria for that application period. (By Eligibility means: Candidate must have passed the Written Exam of ADC)
If you are eligible then within the application period you can apply to sit in the practical examination by completing the Practical Examination Application – Dentist form and submitting a hard copy to the ADC during the designated application period.
Read the official Practical Exam Application form below multiple times to understand the requirements and details asked from you. You will also find a CHECKLIST of all the documents required. Read the checklist thoroughly and arrange the documents as necessary and applicable for your application.
How to send the application form after filling it?
Please note: The application form cannot be e-mailed. As mentioned clearly at the end of the application form, after completing filling the form you need to physically post the application along with all the certified copies of your supporting documents.
Post applications and certified documents to: PO Box 13278, Law Courts Vic 8010, Australia.
If you plan on sending your documents via courier, please post to Level 6, 469 Latrobe Street, Melbourne Vic 3000, Australia
Booking a seat for the practical exam
Some Major Points on Practical Examination
The protocols and the details of the practical exams are vast. The official documents by ADC explain all the points in details. Below we are reviewing some of the main points for your better understanding.
1. Where is the Practical Exam Venue
Please note there are NO multiple centers for the practical exam. Unlike the written exam, the practical exam is held only in Australia. All practical examinations are held at the ADC Examination Centre at: Level 6, 469 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000 Tel: 03 9657 1777
Please note that the practical exam goes on for 2 days – at the venue mentioned above. Hence, you will need to be present at the exam venue for the 2 days.
2. On Venue Registration for the Exam
Reach the exam venue well before the stipulated time. You will need to complete the onsite registration area at the ADC exam venue reception center. For the exam venue registration:
- You must present current, government-issued photographic identification, such as a driver’s license or passport, which includes your signature.
- Your photograph will be taken at registration and your identity confirmed.
If you fail to provide the correct identification, comply with registration standards, or arrive after during the scheduled registration time, you may not be permitted into the examination.
- After successful registration, the registering officer will issue you with an identification badge. Once admitted into the examination centre you must wear your identification badge at all times.
- The identification badge must be returned before leaving the examination center. (after the 1st day of the exam)
- When you arrive at the venue for the second day of the exam, you will need to re-register again similar to the 1st day. (presenting the same current, government-issued photographic identification as on day one).
After the registration, each candidate will be allotted a secure locker for the duration of the day’s examination. Candidates are supposed to place all their belonging’s, teaching materials and mobile phones, in the locker. The candidates will be asked to demonstrate so.
Once the registration process is over, the candidate is directed to dedicated candidate lounge with seating areas, refreshments, and bathrooms.
Before the start of the examination, candidates will get an orientation outlining the entire schedule of the day’s exam. If you have any doubts, you can clarify with ADC appointed persons at the venue after the orientation.
3. Do I need to carry my own equipment & supplies?
The ADC will supply all the materials and equipment required for the practical examination. To assist you with your preparations, details of the materials and equipment available to you at the examination center are available in the Practical examination information package.
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- Gloves, masks, and gowns will be available for your use.
- You must provide your own protective eyewear. You may also bring and use clinically suitable magnification aids.
Materials and Instruments that will be given by ADC at the Exam Center (from the offical ADC infobook)
4. What I cannot Bring To The Exam?
You cannot bring the following items to either day of your examination:
× Any dental materials, burs, instruments or equipment other than your safety eye-wear.
× Reference material including ADC handbooks, textbooks, stationery or measuring tools.
× Any telecommunications or transmitting devices. This includes but is not limited to smartwatches, smart glasses, and mobile phones.
5. Can I Bring Food Items to the Exam?
- You must bring your lunch on your technical skills day. Fruit, biscuits, tea and coffee will be available in the candidate lounge. You will not be permitted to leave the Examination Centre during any break period on either examination day.
- Your lunch must be presented in clear packaging such as a clear container or clear snap-lock bag. The packaging must be such that ADC staff can clearly see its contents.
- After placing your items in your locker, we will ask you to present your lunch, in its clear packaging to the ADC staff member, who will label it with your ADC reference number and provide you with further instructions for storing your lunch in the candidate lounge fridge.
6. Can I take a Break During the Exam?
You are not permitted to leave the examination centre during the technical skills day or clinical skills day session.
However, within the exam hall you are allowed to take break from time to time
- Breaks can be taken as desired throughout the technical skills day.
- The technical skills day includes a mandated 45 minute lunch break.
- Each clinical skills day session will include scheduled breaks. All breaks are taken in the candidate lounge area which includes a kitchen, lounge area, male and female bathrooms, and a quiet room.
6. Can You take a any medications to the exam?
You can but prior authorisation is required for any medication to be brought with you on examination day. Appropriate storage of your medication(s) will be arranged for.
Health-related items can be presented in a non-transparent bag at the time of registration. An ADC staff member may inspect the contents of this bag and will provide you with further instructions on where your items will be located in the Examination Centre.
What is the pattern and the details of the Pratical Exam?
Official Assessment Tasks in the Technical and Clinical Skiils Day (overview)
Summary of Technical Tasks and Clinical Skills you are expected to perform
Clinical Skills Day
- During the clinical skills day you are required to complete a ten-station OSCE.
- This is a station-based examination, where you are allocated a defined amount of time at each station.
- Each station is set up in a designated room with a different task relating to a clinical scenario or clinical skill demonstration.
- Tasks may include the use of standardised simulated patients, video-based scenarios, procedures on manikins and/or other related resources.
- Upon entry, you will be provided with the detailed instructions and information for that station. You will have a designated period of reading time upon entering a station. You will be notified when the examination period starts and finishes.
Your clinical skills day examination is a half-day examination and you will be scheduled to either a morning or afternoon session. For example:
- As a guide, a clinical skills day examination may consist of tasks such as:
- taking a history from a simulated patient
- explaining a diagnosis and management plan to a simulated patient
- establishing a risk profile for a simulated patient
- communicating a health promotion strategy to a simulated patient
- managing a medical emergency in a simulated environment
Practical Exam – 2 Days Overview
How the Reults of the Pratical Exams are reviewed?
There is a defined state of criteria that are reviewed by trained and calibrated examiners in order to rate or grade the performance of the candidates.
Detailed information about the format, content and marking of the practical examination is provided in ADC Assessment Process – An overview of the ADC assessment and examinations process for overseas qualified dental practitioners.
Individual performance in each clinical skills day OSCE station task and technical skills day task is assessed using both global rating scales and checklists.
Examiners will also assess performance in a task using a checklist. Individual assessment criteria (or items) are presented to the examiner in the form of a checklist and are used by examiners to assess performance in a standardised and reliable manner.
A candidate can receive one of four possible grades for each checklist criterion: very good, satisfactory, borderline or unsatisfactory. Each grade relates to a numerical score of 3, 2, 1 or 0 respectively. The grade description for each criterion may vary by task however, in broad terms, the grade descriptors are outlined below.
The final result of the practical exam is declared as a PASS or FAIL.
To obtain an overall “pass” in the practical examination candidates
must pass both days of the examination at a single attempt.
The clinical skills day and technical skills day are assessing fundamentally different competencies and a strong performance on one examination day cannot compensate or replace for a substandard performance on the other examination day.
Check the section from the official ADC Overview ADC Assessment Process – An overview of ADC assessment and examinations for overseas qualified dental practitioners that explains the assessment process of practical exam in detail
The practical exams in the process of ADC are the most crucial and consists of multiple points that you should be mindful about. The pointers you read above were part of the snippets broken down in to easy to understand segments. By now you should be having a basic initial understanding of all the points. Hence, it is now the correct time to check the detailed official documents on the practical exams of ADC. You will need to read the documents more than two times, to get a clear cut understanding of all the points.
ADC Practical Exam Information Package
ADC Practical Exam Hand Book
You can check for all the latest official handbooks for various stages of ADC Exams at the below official link
Assessment publications
Practical examination handbook for dentists Practical examination information package for dentists Practical examination information package for dental hygiene and dental therapy Practical examination handbook for dental hygiene and dental therapy Five tips for your upcoming practical examination fact sheet
We just covered the entire sequence of the ADC Practical exams. Now you can again check the official ADC Page for reference
What to do after you PASS the practical exam?
Applying for the dentist license registration
Once you pass the practical exam, then your journey of ADC Assessment is completed. As an overseas dentist, you have cleared the ADC hurdle in front of you. The Dental Board of Australia (DBA) has assigned (Australian Dental Council) ADC to carry out the assessment tests. Once you clear the ADC Exams, then the next step is to apply for the Dentist Registration.
For that, please visit the official DBA page below and check the application forms
| Application for general registration as a dental practitioner – AGEN-20 | PDF (1.23 MB) | 1 October 2019 |
Check the apploication form below for your reference. Always DOWNLOAD the latest application form by visiting the forms section mentioned above
The application will require you to furnish all the necessary details. Fill all the details as asked and provide the supporting documents as mentioned and required. The application form in the above-mentioned link (PDF) explains every point required in the form in detail. Hence, please download the form and read it multiple times to get an idea regarding all the points asked in the form. In case of any doubts regarding filling the registration form, the best option is to directly contact the DBA helpline. Check below the dedicated “Contact” page for DBA. It has a hotline number where you can call and clarify your doubts regarding form filling.
What is the cost of registration?
For dentist/specialist is the cost of registration as a dentist with DBA is (Application Fees + Registration Fees)
When you go through the registration application form in detail you will come across many documents and information being asked for. We are discussing some of those. But as mentioned before, read the application in detail to understand all the documents that are applicable for you and you need to attach for your registration to be successful.
Certificate of Good Standing
If you have been previously registered outside of Australia as a dentist, the Board requires a Certificate of Registration Status or Certificate of Good Standing from every jurisdiction outside of Australia in which you are currently, or have previously been registered as a health practitioner during the past five years. For example, if you were registered in India as a Dentist, then you would need a letter of good standing from DCI.
Please note: The applicants cannot provide this document on their own. In such a case DBA will not accept it.
Candidate MUST arrange for original Certificates of Registration Status or Certificates of Good Standing to be forwarded directly from the registration authority to your AHPRA state office.
If you want to know more about your state office where you shall send the GSC, refer to www.ahpra.gov.au/About-AHPRA/Contact-Us for your AHPRA state office address.
Full Practice History (curriculum vitae)
Candidate must attach to your application a curriculum vitae that describes your full practice history and any clinical or procedural skills training undertaken. To know more details on how to fill your CV and also to download a demo CV, visit the official link below
ICHC (International Criminal History Check)
We have already discussed this in stage 1 of ADC – Initial Assessment. During dentist license registration too, you are supposed to submit ICHC Certificate issued to you by an independent vendor approved by the DBA. Please check the official DBA link below to know the details.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Practitioners must meet the minimum requirements set out in the Board’s continuing professional development (CPD) registration standard.
The Board encourages practitioners to engage in CPD activities each year, gradually accumulating a minimum of 60 hours over the three-year CPD cycle.
- a minimum of 48 of the 60 hours (80 percent) must be spent on clinically or scientifically-based activities.
- a maximum of 12 of the 60 hours (20 percent) can be spent on nonscientific activities.
- Each three-year CPD cycle covers three registration periods from 1 December to 30 November. The Board encourages practitioners to engage in CPD activities each year, gradually accumulating a minimum of 60 hours over the three-year CPD cycle.
- For more information, view the full registration standard online at www.dentalboard.gov.au/Registration-Standards
What are the requirements if you are applying for registration for the first time?
If you are registered for the first time as a dental practitioner during the three-year CPD cycle, the minimum required CPD hours will be calculated pro-rata. The formula used to calculate the pro-rata hours is provided in Attachment A. (Document is attached below)
Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)
When practicing dentistry in Australia, dental practitioners must be covered by professional indemnity insurance that meets the requirements for PII
arrangements outlined in the PII arrangements registration standard.
- A registered health practitioner must not practice the health profession in which the practitioner is registered unless appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements are in force in relation to the practitioner’s practice of the profession.
- A National Board may, at any time by written notice, require a registered health practitioner registered by the Board to give the Board evidence of the appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements that are in force in relation to the practitioner’s practice of the profession.
- A registered health practitioner must not, without reasonable excuse, fail to comply with a written notice given to the practitioner under point above
Recency of Practice
To ensure that you are able to practice competently and safely, you must have recent practice in dentistry and in any field of practice (including specialist, endorsement or division of the register), in which you intend to work during the period of registration for which you are applying.
What if you have not been actively practicing in dentistry?
If in the previous five years you have not practiced in dentistry or the field of practice in which you intend to work during the period of registration, you will need to satisfy the Board’s recency of practice requirements.
The above are some of the points asked in the License Registration application form. As mentioned before, read the application form in detail and check for all the details that are applicable to you and for which you need to provide documents. Also, please note that all the documents are supposed to be in English. If not you will need to get your documents translated as mentioned in the first slide of the article. You can find more details on document translation at the below official link:
English Proficiency Certificate for Dentist License Registration
After completing ADC Exams successfully, candidates must demonstrate a valid English language proficiency in order to successfully apply for Dentist registration license to DBA.
Q. Do you need to have an English Language certificate after successfully clearing ADC Exams?
On completion of the ADC process, evidence of English language skills is required for Dentist License registration purposes by AHPRA (ahpra.gov.au) or for migration purposes by the Department of Home Affairs (homeaffairs.gov.au).
It is also clearly highlighted in the license registration application form that the candidates must demonstrate authentic English language proficiency while applying for dentist license registration.
You will find the official document mentioning the English language standards below taken from the official registration requirement page for Dentists.
English language skills registration standard FAQ
| Dental English Language Skills Registration Standard | PDF (225KB) | Word version (72.8KB,DOCX) |
1 July 2015 |
Check the official AHPRA English Language Regulation for Dental Practitioners
How to give the English Language Proficiency Test?
The most common option is to apply for English Language tests conducted by DBA Authorized English language test systems. Please check the official document shared above which mentions the various English language proficiency tests you can undertake. You will need to score at least a minimum overall score to qualify the English test.
Please check the license registration application form (Point number 20). You are required to mention which English test you have completed and mention your English test form number for verification by AHPRA. You are also asked to attach the test scores.
For example, if you are undertaking the IELTS English test (academic module) then you need to pass with a minimum overall score of 7 and a minimum score of 7 in each of the four components (listening, reading, writing and speaking). Only then you will be considered proficient in the English language as per DBA. Check below the various Engish language tests available to you:
IELTS Australia: Computer-Based English Language Test
OET – The English Language Test for Healthcare Professionals
Pearson English Language Test | PTE Academic
How long the English language test results are valid?
The test results are valid within two years before the date you submit your license registration application. As stated in the official registration application:
If your English language test(s) were completed within the past two years, you must provide a copy of your test results, including the reference number(s), so that AHPRA can verify your results. If your English language test(s) were not completed within the past two years, you must provide a certified copy of your results.
Please read the document on the English language requirement (PDF) (shared above) to get a complete idea of the validity duration points of your English language test.
We have now completed slide 3 of the article and till now have covered all the relevant details on ADC Exams (all the 3 stages), Preliminary VISA & ICHC Points & steps in registering as a licensed dentist after clearing ADC Exams.
In the upcoming slides, we will have a detailed review of the financial aspects of ADC, Dental Career Prospects in Australia, Job options & scenario, Expenses, Work VISA Related official links and How to get Licensed & work as a Dental Specialist.