Dentistry work experience

Hello, I am a gap year student and after long discussions and mind maps and etc I have decided to do dentistry instead of medicine which was the original career path I was going to. However, getting work experience is a pain and I’m kind of stressing out because nearly every practice I have emailed have basically said no to work experience. I have a LOT of work experience that I did for medicine during year 12 and year 13 in clinical settings, is there a chance I could use it in my dental application? I am goign to keep on trying with getting work experience and maybe broaden my understanding by reading a few books on dentistry as well. Thanks

You can ask to volunteer at practices. Perhaps your own family practice or such will be much more open if it’s just “volunteering” and not “work experience”. Other than that you can do any sort of simple ‘catering’ volunteering (or work experience if you can get it). Working at charity shops is one example. Also never email, always go in person much higher chances of acceptance. Good luck

You can ask to volunteer at practices. Perhaps your own family practice or such will be much more open if it’s just “volunteering” and not “work experience”. Other than that you can do any sort of simple ‘catering’ volunteering (or work experience if you can get it). Working at charity shops is one example. Also never email, always go in person much higher chances of acceptance. Good luck

Does the work experience need to be dentistry focused? I have 5 years of experience working in healthcare (care homes, community, hospital) and I was planning to apply for medicine too. But from my research it seems, that to progress into maxillofacial surgery it's easier to do dentistry first.

Firstly I wouldn’t suggest applying to both medicine and dentistry at the same time if that is on your mind as it could encumber your application to both; unless you want to risk wording your personal statement well enough that it fits both the courses.
And no your work experience should be anything that shows your commitment to catering to the public/community/people who have problems. 5 years of catering experience is a great amount, but if you do plan on going into dentistry rather than medicine for your own career aspirations then yes - if the experience is more dental related it will ofc be more helpful. But it is quite hard to get the dental experience, so the normal catering experience you’ve done is still great to have. Universities are also aware that getting proper dental experience is hard, so don’t be harsh on yourself if you cannot get it, what you’ve already done is amazing. Refer to my reply to the OP on how to increase your chances of getting Dental experience.
At the end of the day you just have to show off how everything you’ve done in your past befits you to get into dentistry - both in the personal statement and when you get to the interview. Good luck.