BDS / Dentist CV example

What recruiters expect

Before writing anything, it helps to know what the person reading is checking for. In this field that is usually a short, specific list:

• Registration status, regulator and date, plus indemnity arrangements where relevant.
• Procedures performed, with approximate annual volumes and whether unassisted.
• The practice setting: NHS, private, mixed, hospital or community, and the patient demographic.
• Continuing professional development, including verifiable hours and topics.
• Any special interests being developed, with the training that supports them.

Recommended CV structure

This is the running order the example uses. It is a starting point rather than a rule, but the order reflects what tends to be read first in this profession.

1. Profile — Three or four lines positioning you for the role.
2. Dental Registration — Practising licences and regulator registrations.
3. Dental Education — Degrees, diplomas and school-leaving qualifications.
4. Clinical Experience — Paid roles, in reverse chronological order.
5. Vocational Training & Hospital Attachments — Specialty rotations with dates and supervising unit.
6. Clinical Skills & Procedures — Grouped skills, for example "Languages" and "Tooling".
7. Courses & Certifications — Completed certifications with the issuing body.
8. Audit & Research — Research projects, studies and audits.
9. Conferences & Workshops — Talks given and conferences attended.
10. Professional Memberships — Bodies you belong to, with membership numbers where relevant.
11. Volunteer Experience — Unpaid roles that show relevant skills.
12. Languages — Spoken languages with CEFR levels.
13. References — Referees, or a line saying they are available on request.

Sections worth adding

• Publications — Include case reports and undergraduate research if you have them.
• Teaching — Relevant for anyone supervising dental students, therapists or nurses.

Skills worth including

Grouped rather than listed in one block. Grouping makes a long list readable and shows that you can tell the difference between the things you use daily and the things you have touched.

Beyond the technical list: Managing anxious patients, Explaining treatment options and costs clearly, Working with dental nurses and hygienists, Obtaining valid consent, Time management in a full appointment book. These belong inside your experience bullets, demonstrated, rather than in a list of adjectives.

Example professional summary

Three or four lines, positioned for the role rather than describing your personality. Two versions you can adapt:

BDS-qualified dentist with three years in general practice, holding a mixed NHS and private list of around 1,600 patients. Perform approximately 700 direct restorations, 120 extractions and 60 root canal treatments a year, carry out surgical extractions unassisted, and completed 42 hours of verifiable CPD in the last cycle. Developing a special interest in direct composite restorative work.

Recently qualified dentist completing vocational training in a mixed practice, with hospital attachments in oral and maxillofacial surgery and paediatric dentistry. Confident in restorative and simple oral surgery procedures, and building experience in non-surgical periodontal therapy.

Writing your experience

The difference between a CV that gets a call and one that does not is almost always in the bullet points. Each pair below shows a real rewrite of the kind of line that appears on most CVs in this field.

Taken from the example

The sample CV for this profession is fully written. A few sections from it, so you can see the level of specificity that works:

Experience

General Dental Practitioner, Chiltern Green Dental Practice

• Hold a mixed NHS and private list of approximately 1,600 patients across a broad demographic including a large paediatric cohort.
• Perform around 700 direct restorations, 120 extractions and 60 root canal treatments a year.
• Carry out anterior and premolar endodontics unassisted using rotary instrumentation and rubber dam; refer molar cases with complex canal anatomy to a specialist endodontist.
• Undertake surgical extractions with flap raising and suturing unassisted, including retained roots and partially erupted third molars within my competence.

Rotations

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (attachment) — Eight-week attachment. Assisted in minor oral surgery lists and observed management of dental trauma and facial infections.
• Paediatric Dentistry (attachment) — Six-week attachment. Restorative treatment for children including stainless steel crowns and pulpotomies under supervision.

Audit and research

• Audit: radiograph justification and reporting standards — Reviewed 100 consecutive intraoral radiographs against the practice standard for justification and written report.

Education

• BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery), University of Birmingham — Merit

Certifications and registration

• Registered Dentist — General Dental Council (GDC)
• Direct Composite Anterior Restorations (two-day hands-on course) — Restorative Dentistry Academy
• Dental Radiography and Radiation Protection Update — Faculty of General Dental Practice
• Immediate Life Support (Dental) — Resuscitation Council UK
• Safeguarding Children and Adults – Level 2 — NHS England

Common mistakes

ATS considerations

Applicant tracking systems behave differently by sector, and generic advice is often wrong for a given field. These points are specific to bds / dentist applications:

• Write "BDS" and "Bachelor of Dental Surgery" both, since international recruiters search the expanded form.
• Name the regulator explicitly - "General Dental Council (GDC)", "Pakistan Medical and Dental Council" - along with your registration date.
• List procedures using standard clinical terminology rather than informal shorthand.
• Include the practice type: "NHS", "private", "mixed", "community dental service". These are common shortlisting criteria.

The Minimal ATS layout is built for this, and the ATS guide covers what parsers do to a file in more detail.

Guides that go deeper

This page applies general CV advice to one field. The full treatment of each part is here:

• How to Write a Medical CV — Medical CVs follow their own conventions. Applying commercial CV advice to one is the fastest way to be marked down.
• How to Describe Work Experience — The difference between listing duties and demonstrating impact, and a repeatable way to rewrite any weak bullet point.
• How Long Should a CV Be? — Two pages for most people, and a clear method for getting there when you have more experience than space.

Questions about bds / dentist CVs