Claire has written this article to share her experience of surgical extractions during her dental foundation training. She hopes that this will provide advice for newly qualified dentists when undertaking surgical extractions.

Mary Connolly studied at the University of Sheffield and graduated in 2012. She has undertaken a two year foundation training scheme in Newcastle upon Tyne and is now over half way through a year as an SHO in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Sunderland.

Katy Martin studied at University of Sheffield and qualified in 2014. She is currently a foundation trainee in London on the UCL Eastman training scheme. Katie is starting a dental core training post in Thames Valley in September 2015.

Radhika Kotecha studied at the University of Manchester and graduated in 2013. She is currently working in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department in Derby. Radhika has written this article to share her experience and inspire other young dentists to embark on a journey of a lifetime.

Veronica Pletiak completed her Bachelor of Oral Health at the University of Adelaide, Australia graduating in 2014. She has written this article to share her time volunteering overseas during her degree; she highlights the positive impact this opportunity can have on clinical skills.

Reshma Ratansi is a Final Year dental student at King's College London, starting foundation training in London from September. This article provides a guide to applying students regarding what to expect and when, as a timeline. It breaks down the key components of the process and how to prepare, to make the entire application process less stressful.

Basmal Ria and Emma Wates both studied dentistry at Kings College London and qualified July 2014. They wrote this article in the hope that their experiences so far in DFT could help future DFTs understand what to expect in their year to come.

Toyin studied at The University of Manchester and qualified in July 2014. She has written this article for both dental students and qualified dentists; to encourage them in difficult situations. She has used her own experience as an example of how to overcome challenges. It is a non-clinical article, but she feels it covers important issues which are often overlooked in this profession.

Sana Sadiq is a BDS3 student at King's College London, with a previous Masters in Chemistry, from Queen Mary University of London.

Joshua Brian Scaife is a fourth year dental student at Cardiff University. Joshua was elected to lead the annual volunteer trip working with the Global Brigades charity. This role involved organising and administrating a trip for twenty, fourth year students to Honduras to provide free dental care. Joshua has written this article to share his experiences and hopefully to inspire other dental students to take opportunities to use their valuable skills to help those in need across the world.

Scott Wright is a fourth year dental student currently studying at the University of Glasgow. His reason behind writing this article was to inform other students and young dentists about the impact social media can have on them both personally and professionally. Additionally Scott hopes to give professionals some advice regarding online activity.

Nadeem Rahim is a final year dental student at The University of Sheffield and will be starting Dental Foundation Training in September 2015 in Bedfordshire.This article is aimed at current dental students as an introduction to my experience of the transition from graduating from dental school to beginning dental foundation training.