OET for Dentists: Requirements in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and the UK

Sources: the Dental Council of Ireland, DCNZ, Ahpra and GDC. Requirements change — confirm with your regulator before you book.

Several websites state that the UK’s General Dental Council accepts OET at Grade B. The GDC’s own English language page does not say that. It lists the kinds of evidence it accepts — among them a pass in IELTS that meets its guidance, and “a recent pass in a language test for registration with a regulatory authority in a country where the first language is English” — but OET is not named as a test you can submit directly.

In practice, that means:

• If the UK is your only target, plan for IELTS unless the GDC tells you otherwise for your application.
• An OET pass may help indirectly — for example, if you used it to register with a dental regulator in Ireland, Australia or New Zealand, that registration-test pass is the kind of evidence the GDC describes.
• The GDC says it is reviewing its English language guidance, so check its page again before you book any test.

Doctors face a different picture: the GMC does accept OET Medicine directly — see our OET guide for the GMC and PLAB.

The Dental Council of Ireland accepts OET Dentistry with a Grade B in Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. All four grades must come from one test — results from different sittings can’t be combined — and the result should be no more than two years old when you apply. There is no lower Writing concession like the one the NMC offers nurses: Writing needs a B too.

The Dental Council of New Zealand accepts OET with a Grade A or B in each of the four sub-tests, and treats results as valid for two years. DCNZ updated its English language policy in 2026 (the same update dropped the separate overall-band requirement for IELTS), so if you read older advice, check it against the current DCNZ page.

Dentists register with the Dental Board of Australia through Ahpra, which uses a common English language standard across the professions it regulates. For tests taken on or after 23 April 2026 the minimums are 350 Listening, 360 Reading, 350 Writing and 360 Speaking. You can combine two sittings within 12 months, subject to floor scores in both, and OET@Home is not accepted. The details are in our Ahpra OET guide and guide to combining sittings.

Only two of the four sub-tests change by profession:

• Listening and Reading are the same for every profession. A dentist sits the same Listening and Reading papers as a nurse or doctor, set in general healthcare contexts. Any OET Listening and Reading practice — including our 25 practice tests — is valid preparation. Start with the free Practice Test 1 to see where you stand.
• Writing is a dental letter. Usually a referral — to an oral surgeon, a paediatric dentist or a specialist clinic — or a letter to a patient’s GP. You select the case notes the reader needs and write 180–200 words.
• Speaking role plays are set in a dental practice. You play the dentist; the interlocutor plays a patient or a relative. Typical tasks include explaining post-extraction care, reassuring an anxious patient, or discussing preventive treatment with a parent.

• Writing: our Writing practice includes three Dentistry cases — an impacted wisdom tooth referral, childhood caries for a paediatric dentist, and an urgent referral for suspected oral cancer — graded against the six OET Writing criteria.
• Speaking: the Speaking practice library has three dental role plays (dry socket after an extraction, a patient with dental anxiety, and fluoride varnish for a child with a hesitant parent), with live AI role play and OET-style feedback.
• Plain language: examiners reward explaining terms like demineralisation or alveolar osteitis in words a patient understands. Practise saying each procedure you perform often in one or two plain sentences.
• Aim above the line: Ireland and New Zealand need a B in every sub-test, including Writing, and Ahpra’s Reading and Speaking minimum is 360. Use the OET score calculator to compare practice scores with the requirement.