OMFS ST1 Interview Questions 2026

The Medibuddy Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 Question Bank includes over 50 scenarios that closely mirror the real interview, each with a model answer written/edited by high-scoring candidates who sat the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview in 2026.

However, knowing a strong answer isn't the same as delivering it well under pressure, which is why we provide:

Study Groups with candidates across the country
Unlimited Live Mocks with real people
Peer Feedback on your mocks from a wide range of candidates

10 years’ experience preparing doctors for interviews

Users of the Medibuddy Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 Revision Platform have secured some of the most competitive training jobs in recent rounds. Ask around, there's a good chance the trainees in the year above you used us too.

Always up to date

Did you know the interviews change every year? That's why we review and update every Question Bank on the platform twice a year, so you know you're always practising with scenarios based on the latest interview structure.

Network and practise real interview scenarios with other candidates

Question Bank

See every scenario, and how to answer it well

Over 50 scenarios across all four stations, which tell you exactly how to respond to each question.

Study Groups

Connect with candidates across the country

Most people only ever practise with one or two friends. Study Groups connect you with candidates right across the country sitting the same Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview.

Live MocksBeta

Practise interview technique with different candidates

Arrange or get matched on demand with other candidates and run real scenarios out loud under interview conditions. Those who practise with the widest range of people tend to score the highest.

Peer FeedbackBeta

Reviewed by candidates across the platform

Submit your recorded mocks to candidates across the platform and get honest, varied feedback. Reviewing other people's mocks teaches you just as much.

The question bank, and other candidates to practise with, all in one platform.

What candidates say

Scored well, secured their post

A few of the candidates who prepared with us for the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview.

Verified candidateInterviewed 2026

"The clinical and situational judgement scenarios were pitched exactly right. Having a structure ready meant I could work through an emergency calmly under pressure."

Secured first-choice deanery

Verified candidateInterviewed 2026

"Practising the communication station out loud with other candidates was the single most useful thing I did before the day."

Ranked highly

Part 1 • See the questions

The Medibuddy 2027 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 Question Bank

The interview is a four-station format, delivered virtually, and each station is tightly timed, so you have a limited window to deliver the high-scoring answers you need to do well. That means every point has to land, and knowing how to structure each answer is essential. That's why each of our 50-plus scenarios comes with a model answer, written by candidates who scored highly in the 2026 Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview, so you know exactly how to approach every question the interviewers throw your way.

What's inside

What's included in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 Question Bank

There's nothing worse than getting to the interview and being handed a scenario you've never seen before. The panel draws on clinical, pathway, academic and communication themes across the four stations, so the safest approach is to revise across all of them. We provide scenarios for every part of the interview, including the common ones and the more unusual cases that have come up before, so you don't get caught out.

Clinical Scenario & Situational Judgement

Acute and general OMFS scenarios where you play the ST1: assess, prioritise and escalate safely, each with a worked answer showing how to structure your response.

Training Pathway

Questions on the OMFS training pathway and your motivation and readiness for ST1, with model answers so you can present your experience clearly.

QIP, Audit & Research

Questions on quality improvement, audit and research, with structured answers so you can talk through methodology and impact.

Communication

The actor-led communication station, with worked scenarios showing how to communicate clearly and sensitively with patients and colleagues.

Reflecting the current structure

Our scenarios are built around the current interview themes, targeting clinical judgement, prioritisation, communication, professionalism, governance and specialty insight.

Try it

Try an example Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 question

You are the on-call OMFS ST1. A 38-year-old woman is referred to A&E with a three-day history of worsening right lower jaw pain and rapidly increasing neck swelling. She is immunosuppressed after a renal transplant and takes tacrolimus and prednisolone.

On arrival she is visibly distressed, drooling and unable to swallow her saliva. Observations: temperature 39.2, heart rate 118, blood pressure 98/64, respiratory rate 22, SpO2 94% on air.

How would you approach this?

Question

What are your immediate concerns, and how would you approach her?

Example answer

This is a rapidly spreading odontogenic deep neck space infection with an immediately threatened airway and early septic shock, needing simultaneous airway assessment, resuscitation and urgent senior escalation.

History: the rate of progression, red flags such as drooling, dysphagia, a muffled voice or stridor and a tripod position, her dental history, and her immunosuppression and transplant details.
Airway examination: trismus, floor-of-mouth induration and tongue elevation, and listening for stridor or accessory muscle use.
Neck: the extent and character of the swelling, and whether it crosses the midline.
A full set of observations and a NEWS2 score, which is already high.

Question

What investigations would you request, and what is the priority?

Example answer

Investigations run alongside resuscitation and must never delay airway management.

Bedside: a venous blood gas with lactate and a glucose.
Bloods: FBC, CRP, U and E, coagulation, a tacrolimus level, blood cultures before antibiotics, and a group and save.
Imaging: a contrast-enhanced CT of the neck and chest to define the deep neck spaces and any mediastinal extension, but only once the airway is controlled; an unstable airway should never go to CT unescorted.

The airway is the priority: drooling with a raised respiratory rate and saturations of 94% in a distressed, immunosuppressed patient means an immediately threatened airway.

Question

You assess her airway as critically threatened. What do you do, and who do you involve?

Example answer

This is a time-critical emergency beyond independent ST1 management, so I would escalate immediately, in parallel with resuscitation.

Call the on-call OMFS consultant or senior registrar and the anaesthetic team simultaneously, and involve ENT in case a surgical airway is needed.
Sit her upright, do not lay her flat, apply high-flow oxygen and keep her nil by mouth, alerting theatres and critical care early.
Do not instrument the airway in an awake, frightened patient, as this risks precipitating complete obstruction.

At ST1 the role is prompt recognition, initial resuscitation and rapid escalation, and recognising that solo management is outside my scope is itself part of the assessment.

Question

How would you manage her medically while the airway plan is coordinated?

Example answer

Medical resuscitation runs concurrently, along Sepsis 6 lines.

Two large-bore cannulas, blood cultures before starting IV broad-spectrum antibiotics per local protocol (covering oral streptococci, anaerobes and gram-negatives, mindful of her immunosuppression), and a crystalloid fluid bolus targeting a MAP above 65, with catheterisation to monitor output.
Do not stop her tacrolimus abruptly; involve the transplant or nephrology team urgently, and consider stress-dose steroids as she is on prednisolone.
IV dexamethasone to reduce airway oedema may be considered, but as a senior or anaesthetic decision, not unilaterally.

Question

What are the priorities in theatre for definitive management?

Example answer

This is led by the OMFS consultant and anaesthetic team, with the airway secured before any surgery.

Airway: anaesthetist-led awake fibreoptic intubation when the airway is distorted but patent, or an awake tracheostomy if oral access is lost, decided jointly with OMFS, anaesthetics and ENT.
Surgical: incision and drainage of all involved deep neck spaces with washout and drains, extraction of the causative tooth to remove the source, and pus sent for urgent culture.
Post-operatively: ICU or HDU admission, continued IV antibiotics, and close monitoring for complications and graft function.

Question

What complications concern you most, and how does her transplant status change your approach?

Example answer

Her immunosuppression alters the risk profile and demands a multi-team approach.

Complications: descending necrotising mediastinitis, the most feared, with a mortality up to 40%; post-operative airway re-oedema; septic shock progressing to multi-organ failure including acute kidney injury; and necrotising fasciitis or opportunistic and fungal infection, which are more likely when immunosuppressed.
Transplant considerations: avoid nephrotoxins where possible, remember tacrolimus has a narrow therapeutic index and fluctuates in acute illness, and never alter her immunosuppression without transplant team input, as reducing it risks rejection.

That's one scenario. There are over 50 more.

Actively maintained

How we keep our Question Banks up to date

The Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview changes from year to year, and the biggest fear for any candidate is getting to interview day and realising you've revised with a question bank that's totally outdated.

That's why we review and update every Question Bank twice a year, so you know you're revising with scenarios that are likely to come up. We do this in April after the previous year's interviews, and again in the autumn when the new recruitment guidance is published.

For 2027, this process kept the Question Bank aligned with the current four-station format, including the actor-led communication station, so you always practise with the format the panel is using now.

Updated for 2027 Interviews

Part 2 • Practise them live

The only interview resource where you can practise live with other candidates from across the country

Our Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 Question Bank tells you exactly how to answer real interview scenarios. But how you practise with them will determine how many marks you score. Simply reading answers off a screen won't prepare you for the intense scrutiny you'll face in the interview. And only practising with the same few colleagues or friends limits the amount of feedback you'll get. Medibuddy gives you unique access to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 candidates across the country, so you can learn from a variety of perspectives and hear a far wider range of feedback than your own circle could ever give you.

Study Groups

When you prepare in isolation, you're relying on your own interpretation of the interview process, which is one of the quickest ways to get found out on the day. Study Groups connect you with other doctors across the country who are also applying to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1, so you can engage and network with people preparing for the same interview as you. Everyone brings different experience from different hospitals and deaneries, meaning you won't ever miss out on the key bits of information that could swing the interview in your favour.

Live MocksBeta

Candidates who don't take part in mocks often struggle to adapt to the pressure of the interview. Your knowledge might be correct, but without convincing delivery the interviewers will score you poorly. The best way to improve your delivery is to take part in as many live mocks as possible, which is why we haven't put a cap on how many you can do. We also know how difficult it can be to organise mocks with other people, so all you have to do is join the waiting room and we'll match you with a different Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 candidate each time. Take turns as both the interviewer and candidate on real Question Bank scenarios, so you can see exactly how other candidates perform in real time, while refining your own interview technique.

Peer FeedbackBeta

Preparing alone means you won't know how you're coming across during the interview. And preparing with the same few candidates means you'll miss opportunities to improve, which is why it's so important to get as many opinions as possible on your performance. With Medibuddy, you can record a mock and submit it for feedback from other candidates on the platform, so you receive a wider range of feedback and refine your answers with each person you practise with. Reviewing other people's mocks is just as valuable, as it shows you how strong candidates handle the same scenarios, which is one of the fastest ways to improve.

The interview

What to expect from the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery ST1 interview

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a competitive specialty, entered by dual-qualified candidates, and strong applicants are often separated by narrow margins at interview.

The interview's four-station format is delivered virtually and assesses clinical judgement, prioritisation, communication, professionalism, governance and specialty insight.

Station

Clinical Scenario & Situational Judgement

An OMFS scenario testing your clinical judgement, prioritisation and safe escalation, where recognising the limits of your role matters as much as clinical knowledge.

Station