How I became a dentist in Australia

I qualified as a dentist in India in 2015, and spent two years practising in a busy teaching hospital there. Patients often arrived with years of untreated disease, and it taught me how to explain a hard diagnosis kindly and without rushing.

Migrating to Australia meant starting again from the beginning. Overseas qualifications aren’t automatically recognised here — you sit the Australian Dental Council exams, which test both written knowledge and clinical skills against the local standard.

While I studied, I worked as a dental assistant and receptionist in local practices. It’s an unusual way back into the profession, but it turned out to be valuable: I’ve now sat on both sides of the chair, as the person doing the treatment and the person handing over the instruments. You notice things about how a practice actually runs — the small moments that put a nervous patient at ease, the details of infection control, how scheduling really works — that you don’t get from clinical training alone.

I was ADC certified in July 2026. It’s been a long way back to the chair, and I’m glad to be here.