How to apply

Overview

The details

Course: Oral Health Science

UCAS code: B750

Start date: September 2025

Study mode: Full-time

Duration: 2 years

Location: Southend Campus

Based in: Health and Social Care (School of)

Please note that this course is now closed for applications to start in September 2024. Applications for September 2025 are now open.

You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK.

Our FdSc Oral Health Science is a programme which leads to the award of a Foundation Degree, and qualifies you to register with the General Dental Council (GDC)* as a Dental Hygienist. It is based on the General Dental Council's (GDC's) guidance document Developing the Dental Team and is kept under continual review to ensure that you are ‘fit to practise' upon qualification. Following the successful completion of this course, you may consider continuing your training with us to become a Dental Therapist through our BSc (Hons) Oral Health Science programme.

There's never been a better time to train as you can now apply for a £5000 grant that you won't need to pay back! There is also an extra £3000 funding available depending on your personal circumstances. You can find more information about eligibility and how to apply on the HSC Scholarships and Funding page.

At Essex we have one of the largest portfolios of oral health science courses in the East of England, putting us in a strong position to provide you with excellent training on this programme. You learn clinical skills in our state-of-the-art dental laboratories and academic dental clinics, studying oral health issues affecting the health of individuals and communities including:

Pathology and disease
Environment and work-safety issues
Heredity, lifestyle, education, socio-economic factors
Media influences

Through integrating your studies with other healthcare professionals, we ensure that you consider these wider issues in order to adopt a holistic approach to patient care.

Our aim is to create professional learning pathways to bridge the skill gap of the current NHS dental workforce while meeting your learning needs and helping you develop self-awareness, confidence and autonomy.

At the same time, we develop professional hygienists who through continuing professional development (CPD) courses, foster the habit of lifelong learning in order to meet the future needs of individuals and society. Our overarching aim is to widen access to professional education so that you can practise as registered practitioners safely and competently.

The School of Health and Social Care is proud to work closely with our Service User Reference Group (SURG). SURG is made up of service users, carers, and volunteers who generously share their first-hand experiences of health and social care. We work collaboratively with SURG to design our courses to ensure that we truly are putting the needs of patients and clients at the heart of what we do. SURG are involved as part of our course application processes and often form part of our interview panels. This helps us to be confident that we are selecting the right applicants for the course and their future careers. SURG members also support the delivery of our teaching sessions and research activity, which means you'll benefit from an insight into their lived experiences of living with a diagnosis, health condition, or circumstance. You'll find that not only does your clinical knowledge expand, but your empathy, compassion and ability to advocate develops also.

The cost of required uniform will be fully covered by the school.

Location

Whilst this course is offered at both our Southend and Colchester campuses, we recommend that you consider which location would suit you best and apply for that campus. If you apply to multiple campuses, you will only have one interview. If you pass the interview and we are able to offer you a place, you will be offered your first campus choice if available. If that campus is full, you will be offered the other campus. This is the same for applicants who only apply to one campus.

Once your place is confirmed, requests to change campuses are not possible due to the restrictions on numbers.

Placement Opportunities

During your study you will undertake four placements. These are based on educational need and are allocated by the placement lecturer. You will be required to undertake 14 hours of placement per week. Our placements are primarily based in Essex.

As a student of FdSc Oral Health Science you are not eligible for an NHS Bursary but can claim travel expenses if the travel mileage from term time address to placement is greater than term time address to university.

Unfortunately if you need a Student Visa to study in the UK this course is not suitable for you. This is due to the high percentage of work placement which exceeds the amount permitted in the Student Visa regulations.

DBS and Occupational Health Checks

This course requires a satisfactory Occupational Health Check and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) - both of these are organised by the University. Please contact our DBS team or Occupational Health team if you have any questions in relation to these checks.

You will also be required to register for the DBS Update Service. You will need to register for this within 30 days of your DBS certificate being issues. The Update Service costs £13 per year, which the University will reimburse. You will need to keep the subscription to this Service active for the duration of your course. If you do not register for the Update Service within 30 days, or your registration lapses, and you later attend placement where this is a requirement, you will have to pay for a new DBS check, which will enable you to sign up to the Update Service. Please contact our DBS team if you have any questions relating to this.

A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS Check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more. Further information about how to obtain an Overseas Criminal Record check can be found on the Gov.uk website.

We continue to recommend Covid and flu vaccination to all of our students. This is to protect both yourself and the vulnerable people that you may meet throughout your placement.

Professional accreditation

The General Dental Council quality assures and approves qualifications for registration, for the following registrant groups: Dentists; dental hygienists; dental therapists; dental nurses; clinical dental technicians; dental technicians; and orthodontic therapists.

Our expert staff

A unique feature of our School is that you will be taught by a team of specialist clinicians with significant experience in dentistry. This enhances our grasp of the contemporary links between academic research, the major issues of the day and real-life practice.

Full details of our staff can be found on the HSC Staff Profiles.

As a School, we specialise in applied, multidisciplinary research that addresses issues of national and international concern to health and social care policy and practice, and related fields. We also host the NIHR Research Design Service for the East of England.

Specialist facilities

The School of Health and Social Care is located at two sites; in the Kimmy Eldridge building at our Colchester Campus and in the Gateway Building at our Southend Campus.

In Southend, the Oral Health Science facilities are located in the Gateway Building. In Colchester, the Oral Health Science facilities are located at our Bromley Road Academic Dental Clinic. We offer clinical laboratories with the very latest equipment and IT facilities - in particular, a state-of-the-art dental skills lab with the latest simulation ‘phantom heads' to practise on. View our image gallery and find out more about our Oral Health Science facilities.

Your future

Foundation degrees are work-related, higher education qualifications designed in conjunction with employers to offer accessible and flexible learning opportunities relevant to a student's career. A foundation degree is shorter than a standard undergraduate degree but is a higher education qualification in its own right and it can be used as a progression route to a full undergraduate degree.

The successful completion of this programme leads to the award of a Foundation Degree Oral Health Science, with 240 academic credits. This qualification is recognised by the General Dental Council (GDC) and gives you eligibility to register as a dental hygienist.

86% of our graduates are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2024).

Entry requirements

UK entry requirements

GCSEs: Mathematics and English Language C/4. Acceptable alternatives are listed further down this page. GCSE Science C/4 is also required if you are applying with a National Dental Nurse Certificate or Diploma in Dental Nursing.Single Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are all accepted.
A-levels: CC to include a core science (Biology, Chemistry, Applied Science or Physics).
BTEC: MPP in a science-related subject.
IB: Two Higher Level certificates with 44 to include Biology, Chemistry or Physics.
IB Career-related Programme: We consider combinations of IB Diploma Programme courses with BTECs or other qualifications.
QAA-approved Access to HE Diploma: 45 level 3 credits at Pass.
T-levels: Pass of a Science-related subject with E in the Core.
Dental Nursing qualifications: We accept the National Dental Nurse Certificate or Diploma in Dental Nursing along with a minimum of two years' experience from either pre-or post-qualification employment.

GCSE/level 2 requirements

All applicants must have, or be working towards, acceptable level 2 Mathematics, Science, and English qualifications such as GCSE grade C/4 or equivalent.

We accept OFQUAL regulated level 2 maths qualifications, including Functional Skills level 2, Key Skills level 2 or numeracy units taken as part of an Access to HE Diploma.
If you don't need a Student visa and are either a first language English speaker or have a lived in the UK for over three years, we can accept OFQUAL regulated level 2 English qualifications, including Functional Skills level 2, Key Skills level 2 or literacy units taken as part of an Access to HE Diploma.

We receive a high number of applications for this course and offers are made based on a combination of information from the application including the personal statement, grades, and interview performance. This means that not all applicants who meet the entry requirements will be offered a place.

For those invited to interview, decisions are communicated and offers are made after all interviews have been held. This will be no later than the end of May each year.

Additional requirements

This course has additional requirements including pass of an interview, a satisfactory reference and Occupational Health Check and Disclosure and Barring (DBS) check. For more information see:the school of Health and Social Care Undergraduate page

International & EU entry requirements

We accept a wide range of qualifications from applicants studying in the EU and other countries. Get in touch with any questions you may have about the qualifications we accept. Remember to tell us about the qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.

Sorry, the entry requirements for the country that you have selected are not available here. Please contact our Undergraduate Admissions team at ugquery@essex.ac.uk to request the entry requirements for this country.

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each component, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.

Details of English language requirements, including component scores, can be found here

If we accept the English component of an international qualification it will be included in the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.

English language shelf-life

Most English language qualifications have a validity period of 5 years. The validity period of Pearson Test of English, TOEFL and CBSE or CISCE English is 2 years.

If you require a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

Pre-sessional English courses

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Pending English language qualifications

You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.

If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please email ugquery@essex.ac.uk .

Additional Notes

If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College

Structure

Course structure

This programme is full-time and you are expected to complete the minimum number of weeks required by the GDC, which is 90 weeks. Term dates do not coincide with our normal University term dates due to this requirement and you are in placement throughout the summer. Any time missed by non-attendance, through sickness or other personal reason, will need to be made up in order to register.

The dates for holiday breaks are timetabled throughout the programme and these cannot be changed for individual students. The planned holiday periods include time at Easter, summer, Christmas and New Year.

These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they'll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you.

We're reactive, we're pioneering, we never stand still, so modules might change from year to year in response to new developments and innovation. Those listed below show how a typical course might look, but more detail on course structure, including details of all optional modules, is available on our Programme Specification.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Components and modules explained

Components

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose.

Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

Status	What this means
Core	You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Core with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Compulsory	You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Compulsory with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Optional	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

Modules

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits.

In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available.

Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code. For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

100

The department or school the module will be taught by.

In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History.

The module number.

The UK academic level of the module.

A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course.

A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules.

A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification.

The term the module will be taught in.

AU: Autumn term
SP: Spring term
SU: Summer term
FY: Full year
AP: Autumn and Spring terms
PS: Spring and Summer terms
AS: Autumn and Summer terms

COMPONENT 01: CORE

Personal Effectiveness

(15 CREDITS)

Personal effectiveness is about taking responsibility for developing your learning and communication skills, in order to improve your personal performance and to positively influence the performance of others. You will look at the key skills and techniques that can help you with this and learn how to apply them when building trust with patients and when dealing with other people.

View Personal Effectiveness on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 01: CORE

Personal Effectiveness

(15 CREDITS)

View Personal Effectiveness on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: CORE

Clinical Governance and Patient Safety

(15 CREDITS)

Clinical Governance is all about ensuring patients are safe and managing risk. People who work in health and social care are expected to meet a certain standard of knowledge and skills and this module introduces you to the notion of professional accountability and responsibility and the measures introduced by the NHS to protect public safety and improve patient care.

View Clinical Governance and Patient Safety on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: CORE

Clinical Governance and Patient Safety

(15 CREDITS)

View Clinical Governance and Patient Safety on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 03: CORE

Biomedical and Psychosocial Science for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

Understanding the bio-psychosocial dynamic is paramount to health care delivery as it determines the appropriateness of intervention and care. This double module develops your understanding of the interplay between physiological functioning and the social and emotional wellbeing of the individual.

View Biomedical and Psychosocial Science for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 03: CORE

Biomedical and Psychosocial Science for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

View Biomedical and Psychosocial Science for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 04: CORE

Health Policy, Law and Ethics 1

(15 CREDITS)

What are the ethical and legal issues that health care and dental care workers frequently encounter? Concerns about issues such as funding, changing role boundaries, treatment options and patient confidentiality, has led to an increase in the number of policies that define their practice. This module enables you to explore the impact of some of these changes on professional practice.

View Health Policy, Law and Ethics 1 on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 04: CORE

Health Policy, Law and Ethics 1

(15 CREDITS)

View Health Policy, Law and Ethics 1 on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 05: CORE

Introduction to Oral Health and Disease

(30 CREDITS)

An understanding of oral health and diseases is fundamental to the role of DCPs. This module provides the structure for learning about the oral cavity and its associated structure, the dentition, and the development and maintenance of healthy teeth. You explore the factors that lead to pain, discomfort and diseases.

View Introduction to Oral Health and Disease on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 05: CORE

Introduction to Oral Health and Disease

(30 CREDITS)

View Introduction to Oral Health and Disease on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 06: CORE

Promotion of Oral Health and Prevention of Oral Disease

(15 CREDITS)

Promoting the dental health and wellbeing of the individual requires an understanding of the wider issues, including environment and work safety issues, heredity, lifestyle, education, social economic factors and media influence. This module expands on some of the themes introduced previously in Health and Illness.

View Promotion of Oral Health and Prevention of Oral Disease on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 06: CORE

Promotion of Oral Health and Prevention of Oral Disease

(15 CREDITS)

View Promotion of Oral Health and Prevention of Oral Disease on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 07: CORE

Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 1

(0 CREDITS)

This practical skills module will be assessed by a work based assessment to examine the learners performance in clinical practice. A skills book which evidences students’ skills and reflections of workplace activities will also need to be completed.

View Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 1 on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 07: CORE

Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 1

(0 CREDITS)

View Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 1 on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 01: CORE

Health, Illness and Disease for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

This module introduces the health and illness continuum. You are given the opportunity to learn from patients about their experience of illness and the factors that influence their sense of well-being. You also explore the disease processes that threaten the patient's oral health.

View Health, Illness and Disease for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 01: CORE

Health, Illness and Disease for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

View Health, Illness and Disease for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: CORE

Critical Appraisal and Research Skills for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

Dental care professionals (DCPs) are essential members of dental care teams providing care to all age groups. The ability to self-evaluate practice and to use evidence as a basis for professional judgement is critical to effective delivery of care in an ever changing environment. The practice of evidence based dental care requires DCPs to possess critical appraisal skills. This module focuses on the research process and methods as a basis for developing critical appraisal skills and research understanding.

View Critical Appraisal and Research Skills for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: CORE

Critical Appraisal and Research Skills for Dental Practice

(30 CREDITS)

View Critical Appraisal and Research Skills for Dental Practice on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 03: CORE

Management of Oral Diseases

(30 CREDITS)

Gain knowledge of both common and uncommon oral diseases. Recognition of the common, minor conditions requires a broad knowledge base in order to be able to recognise and diagnose the more serious, complex and relatively uncommon conditions. This module builds upon the Oral Health and Diseases module, enabling you to acquire knowledge and skills consistent with the roles and expectations of a hygienist.

View Management of Oral Diseases on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 03: CORE

Management of Oral Diseases

(30 CREDITS)

View Management of Oral Diseases on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 04: CORE

Special Needs

(30 CREDITS)

This module introduces you to groups in society who have special dental needs. Promoting access to effective and timely dental care of these groups of individuals is critical in addressing inequality in oral health. The role of the hygienist is explored in both prevention and treatment of these client groups.

View Special Needs on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 04: CORE

Special Needs

(30 CREDITS)

View Special Needs on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 05: CORE

Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 2

(0 CREDITS)

View Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 2 on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 05: CORE

Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 2

(0 CREDITS)

View Development of Practical Skills, Practice Supervisor Report 2 on our Module Directory

Teaching

The theory part of this programme is taught at our campus at Southend on Sea
Practical skills are gained through a variety of clinical environments, including community and general dental practices across the county of Essex
You attend six separate placements during this programme, with close supervision from a named Clinical Educator in the workplace to support and guide you – these may be dentists, dental hygienists or dental therapists
Clinical Educators will also provide tutorials to link academic learning with your clinical experience
Teaching methods including problem-based learning, tutorials, e-learning and seminar-based teaching
Teaching takes place with other health students to promote multidisciplinary learning and working
Communication and clinical skills are taught in our state-of-the-art laboratory
You undertake placements in six different clinical settings

Assessment

Continuous assessment, module by module, means that there is no end of year examination

Fees and funding

Home/UK fee

£9,250 per year

International fee

£30,275 per year

Fees will increase for each academic year of study.

Home/UK fees and funding information

International fees and funding information

What's next

Our events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex. We run a number of Open Days throughout the year which enable you to discover what our campus has to offer. You have the chance to:

tour our campus and accommodation
find out answers to your questions about our courses, student finance, graduate employability, student support and more
meet our students and staff

Check out our Visit Us pages to find out more information about booking onto one of our events. And if the dates aren’t suitable for you, feel free to book a campus tour here.

Applications for our full-time undergraduate courses should be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Full details on how to apply can be found on the filling in your UCAS undergraduate application web page.

Our UK students, and some of our EU and international students, who are still at school or college, can apply through their school. Your school will be able to check and then submit your completed application to UCAS. Our other international applicants (EU or worldwide) or independent applicants in the UK can also apply online through UCAS Apply.

The UCAS code for our University of Essex is ESSEX E70. The individual campus codes for our Loughton and Southend Campuses are ‘L' and ‘S' respectively.

Interview

Undergraduate students who apply for our health-related courses are required to pass a compulsory interview before an offer can be made. If you are shortlisted for interview based on your application, you will be invited to interview with us via Microsoft Teams. We use the interview as an opportunity to get to know you, to find out about your ambitions, and assess how prepared you are for the course. It's important for us to be sure that you know what you're signing up for, so we'd expect you've done some research about the course and the associated careers it may lead to. We have some more information about how to demonstrate you have what it takes at the bottom of our undergraduate page

Please be aware that we are not able to offer personalised feedback to applicants who have attended an interview for Oral Health Science, although applicants will receive generic information on how to self-evaluate their performance in the interview and tests. Further information is available in the Undergraduate Admissions feedback policy.

Students giving each other a piggy back on the beach

Want to live in a central city location, with state-of-the-art facilities at your finger tips? Southend is the perfect environment for living and learning in a close-knit international community.

If you're joining our School of Health and Social Care, East 15 Acting School, or Essex Business School, you may well be studying at our Southend Campus.

Find out more

View from Square 2 outside the Rab Butler Building looking towards Square 3

If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360 degree virtual tours allows you to explore our University from the comfort of your home. Check out our Colchester virtual tour and Southend virtual tour to see accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.

At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.

Find out more

The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications. The University would inform and engage with you if your course was to be discontinued, and would provide you with options, where appropriate, in line with our Compensation and Refund Policy.

The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.