Qatar dental licensing exam: the national paper

Facts last verified 5 October 2026.

Clinical skills have 100 of the 150 questions in Qatar’s general dental paper. Scientific knowledge has 35; affective skills have 15 (national blueprint).

Is this the right paper for you?

The Department of Healthcare Professions (DHP) sets the National General Dental Qualifying Examination for General Dentist and General Dentist under supervision. Blueprint from 17 June 2025 (DHP/2025/06).

  • You need at least 5 years of dental study and 2 years of work after the degree. Check internship in Qatar licence steps.
  • Under supervision, send a valid pass for evaluation. No repeat submission for full scope.

Pass 60%

Format at a glance

150 questions. Time: 3 hours on the DHP overview page; 3½ hours in the profession blueprint. Pass mark: 60%.

Delivered by Prometric.

DHP's overview page and Prometric give 3 hours; the profession blueprint gives 3½ hours. Ask Prometric to confirm the testing time for your booked exam.

What the paper covers

ProMCQ sets these topic targets for its mock papers, using the published Qatar DHP blueprint as a guide. They can differ from the official weights, so check the blueprint for those. Each mock includes national-topic content, so its final question shares can differ slightly from these targets.

  • Biomedical Sciences (20%): Use science to choose care.
  • Evidence-based Practice (3.3%): Use evidence to choose care.
  • Patient Assessment and Diagnosis (6.7%): Choose tests for diagnosis.
  • Comprehensive Treatment Planning (4%): Plan the care order.
  • Health and Safety (4%): Prevent infection and sharps injuries.
  • Management of Emergencies (4%): Know chairside emergency drugs.
  • Prevention / Oral Health / Population Health (4%): Explain fluoride and diet.
  • Control of Pain and Anxiety (3.3%): Manage pain and anxiety.
  • Periodontics (6.7%): Assess and treat gum disease.
  • Pediatric Dentistry (6.7%): Plan child pulp and trauma care.
  • Orthodontics (3.3%): Know when to refer.
  • Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics (10.7%): Treat caries and root canals.
  • Prosthodontics (6.7%): Check dentures, crowns and bridges.
  • Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine (6.7%): Plan extractions and aftercare.
  • Communication Skills (4%): Explain care choices.
  • Professionalism (2.7%): Keep records.
  • Ethical and legal (2%): Study Qatar law and consent.
  • Team-working, Management, Leadership (1.3%): Work as a team.

Sample questions

Eight original practice questions from the QCHP dentists bank. They are written to the paper's style, not taken from the live exam. Pick an answer to see the key and explanation.

  1. A polymer-based restorative material is tested against reference specimens of the same thickness. Under ISO 4049, its radiopacity must be at least as high as which equal-thickness reference?

    1. A same-thickness dentine specimen
    2. A same-thickness aluminium specimen
    3. A same-thickness enamel specimen
    4. A same-thickness gutta-percha specimen
    Answer

    B. ISO 4049 sets the minimum radiopacity for a polymer-based restorative material at that of an equivalent thickness of aluminium. Aluminium is approximately as radiopaque as dentine, but the ISO 4049 comparator is aluminium.

  2. A posterior composite is intended to cure adequately in a deeper single increment than conventional composite. Which material features principally permit this bulk-fill behavior?

    1. Reduced filler loading with increased resin content
    2. Greater translucency with modified initiator and stress-relief chemistry
    3. Nanoscale filler combined with larger hybrid particles
    4. Water uptake followed by delayed acid-base activity
    Answer

    B. Bulk-fill composite combines greater translucency with modified initiator and shrinkage-stress-relieving chemistry, allowing a roughly 4–5 mm increment to cure adequately rather than the roughly 2 mm increment used for conventional composite.

  3. A curved Nabers probe detects only an incipient groove or catch and cannot enter the furcation. What is the usual radiographic expectation for this Class I furcation involvement?

    1. Little or no visible furcation change on imaging
    2. A furcation radiolucency with preserved interradicular bone
    3. Reduced interradicular bone without a furcation radiolucency
    4. Both a furcation radiolucency and reduced interradicular bone
    Answer

    A. Class I involvement is incipient and usually shows little or no change on panoramic or periapical imaging.

  4. A 42-year-old man has a crack running through the central fissure of his mandibular left first molar (36). The opposing maxillary molar has a prominent cusp. Which opposing cusp is proposed to wedge this fissure apart?

    1. Maxillary mesiopalatal cusp
    2. Maxillary distopalatal cusp
    3. Maxillary mesiobuccal cusp
    4. Maxillary distobuccal cusp
    Answer

    A. A proposed mechanism for the frequency of mandibular molar cracks is the prominent maxillary mesiopalatal cusp wedging into the central fissure of the mandibular molar.

  5. A 30-year-old woman requesting maxillary veneers has wide dark spaces at the mouth corners on a natural full-smile photograph. She asks whether her posterior teeth should be built out to fill them. What is the most appropriate approach to this finding?

    1. Assess smile, display and arch form
    2. Expand the maxillary arch
    3. Overcontour premolars buccally
    4. Refer for skeletal widening surgery
    Answer

    A. The buccal corridor is the dark space between the buccal surfaces of the posterior teeth and the corners of the mouth on a full smile. It is a diagnostic observation: observer studies disagree on how much corridor width affects esthetics, and judgments vary with patient, image and observer. Corridor width alone neither diagnoses skeletal narrowing nor justifies expansion, and it is not a reason to widen every arch or overbuild posterior teeth. The smile, tooth display and arch form are therefore assessed together.

  6. Histopathology after excision confirms oral condyloma acuminatum in a child. What is the most appropriate additional response?

    1. Record the finding as definitive evidence of sexual abuse
    2. Provide routine postoperative follow-up after lesion excision
    3. Reassure the family because the HPV types are low-risk
    4. Arrange multidisciplinary safeguarding assessment under local procedures
    Answer

    D. Oral condyloma acuminatum in a child is a safeguarding prompt. Appropriate multidisciplinary evaluation should follow local procedures, while avoiding an unsupported accusation because transmission can be complex.

  7. A 6-year-old child needs an inferior alveolar nerve block. The vertical height has already been chosen, and the operator is now selecting the anteroposterior target relative to an adult. Which anteroposterior modification is appropriate?

    1. Aim slightly anterior to the adult landmark
    2. Use the identical anteroposterior adult landmark
    3. Aim slightly posterior to the adult landmark
    4. Aim markedly anterior to the adult landmark
    Answer

    B. Do not use a fixed front-back rule for the mandibular foramen; use the adult anteroposterior baseline and assess position in relation to the child's occlusal plane and ramus anatomy.

  8. A 71-year-old woman with severe hand and shoulder arthritis cannot clean her own teeth. Her daughter will brush them for her. How should the daughter use her free hand while brushing?

    1. Hold the forehead
    2. Place fingers between teeth
    3. Steady the brush head
    4. Cup the chin
    Answer

    D. When patients with arthritis cannot clean their own mouths adequately, caregivers must assist. The caregiver cups the chin with one hand and brushes with the other.

Full papers in the real format

10 timed mock papers of 150 questions each, built to the weights above. No question repeats across papers.

How to prepare

  • We suggest spending most of your study time on clinical cases.
  • Practise communication, professionalism, ethics and teamwork. DHP groups these as affective skills, with 15 questions.
  • Practise anaesthetic sums and emergency doses.
  • Use Odell, Oxford Handbook of Clinical Dentistry and Master Dentistry. DHP’s list is guidance; use current editions.

Licensing steps

  1. Licence steps: Check eligibility. Read the guide
  2. Fees and booking: Book your seat. Read the guide
  3. Results and retakes: Get your result. Read the guide

Frequently asked questions

What is the Qatar dental pass mark?

60%, with 150 multiple-choice questions.

How long is the Qatar dental exam?

DHP’s exam page and Prometric give 3 hours. Blueprints and Circular 18/2020 give 3½ hours. Ask Prometric for your testing and total appointment times.

Where can you check ORE and NDEB exemptions?

Check conditions for both in Qatar licence steps.

Where are dental retake rules?

Check Qatar results and retakes.

Sources

Facts last verified 2026-10-05.

  1. Qualifying Examination, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  2. National General Dental Qualifying Examination Blueprint, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  3. Circular DHP/2025/06: Update of NGDQE content and references, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  4. Guidelines for Dentists, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  5. Circular DHP/2025/19: Equivalent examinations, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  6. Circular DHP/2023/08: Examination evidence for supervised categories, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  7. Circular 18/2020: Qualifying examination updates, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  8. Qualifying Examination Policy, DHP, Ministry of Public Health Qatar
  9. SCHQ2 scheduling notice, Prometric