BDS admission 2026

BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) is the dental degree you can take with a NEET UG score. Under the DCI Revised BDS Course Regulations 2007 (as amended), BDS is 4 academic years with 240 teaching days each, plus a compulsory one-year paid rotating internship, and the degree is granted only after the internship. A BDS student must clear the whole course, including the one-year compulsory rotatory paid internship, within 9 years from admission or be discharged.

Duration

4 years + 1-year paid internship

Entrance

NEET UG

Colleges

324 (list)

Regulator

National Dental Commission

Eligibility

• A BDS candidate must have passed Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Biotechnology and English individually with at least 50% aggregate in PCB (40% for SC/ST/OBC; 45% for candidates with locomotory disability of lower limbs) and must qualify NEET.
• A BDS candidate must be at least 17 years old on or before 31 December of the year of admission.

NEET UG 2026: who qualified

• NTA declared the NEET (UG) 2026 result on 16 July 2026; 11.21 lakh of about 20 lakh appearing candidates qualified (1,121,185 qualified out of 1,999,895 appeared).
• NEET (UG) 2026 qualifying cut-off for UR/EWS (50th percentile) was 715-213 marks.
• NEET (UG) 2026 qualifying cut-off for OBC, SC and ST (40th percentile) was 212-177 marks.
• NEET (UG) 2026 qualifying cut-off for UR/EWS-PwBD (45th percentile) was 212-194 marks; for OBC-PwBD and SC-PwBD (40th percentile) 193-177; for ST-PwBD (40th percentile) 191-177.

How BDS seats are filled

• MCC (all-India): MCC (DGHS) conducts counselling for 15% All India Quota seats, 100% deemed university seats, central universities (DU, AMU, BHU incl. institutional quota), ESIC, and IP University institutes including ESIC Dental Delhi (15% AIQ + 85% institutional quota).
• Open to all states: MCC's domicile-free open BDS seats include 15% AIQ BDS seats of states, 100% BDS seats of BHU, 15% AIQ seats of DU/IP University (incl. ESIC Dental), Jamia Millia Islamia's Faculty of Dentistry open seats, and 15% AIQ seats of ESIC.
• MAIDS Delhi: Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) is counselled by MCC under Delhi University: 15% seats go to All India Quota and 85% to Delhi state quota for candidates who studied Classes 11 and 12 in NCT of Delhi.
• State counselling: For state quota seats and private medical/dental colleges under state authority, candidates must apply to the respective state government counselling/admission authority; MCC does not handle these.
• MCC's 2026 bulletin lists AIIMS seats only as MBBS seats (100% MBBS seats of AIIMS); it lists no AIIMS BDS seats.

MCC's 2026 UG counselling has four rounds for AIQ: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3 and a Stray Vacancy Round, all conducted online. AIQ reservation in MCC counselling: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC-NCL 27%, EWS 10%, and 5% horizontal PwD reservation.

MCC fees to register

• MCC registration for AIQ/central university seats costs Rs 1,000 non-refundable plus Rs 10,000 refundable security for UR/EWS candidates, and Rs 500 plus Rs 5,000 for SC/ST/OBC/PwD candidates.
• MCC registration for deemed universities costs a non-refundable Rs 5,000 plus a refundable security deposit of Rs 2,00,000.

Where can your rank get a BDS seat? Our free NEET college predictor covers BDS with MCC 2026 closing ranks, and each college has its own page in the BDS college list.

BDS fees by state (per year)

State fee committees fix private dental fees every year. Below are the 2026-27 figures we have checked; where we have not yet seen the official order we show the figure a news site reported, labelled as such.

Deemed university BDS fees

Deemed universities set their own fees; all seats go through MCC. From each university's 2026-27 fee notice:

Hostel, mess, deposits and one-time university fees are extra. We confirm the exact figure in writing before you fill choices.

Leaving a seat: bonds and penalties

• Tamil Nadu's 2026-27 prospectus sets a Rs 10,00,000 discontinuation fee for MBBS/BDS candidates who leave the course after the permitted Round 2 resignation date, or who do not join after a Round 3/stray allotment.
• Delhi University's 2026 MBBS/BDS bulletin requires every admitted candidate to execute a Rs 3 lakh surety bond with two sureties, payable if the student leaves the course, surrenders the seat against MCC rules, or is removed for misconduct.
• Haryana's 27 August 2026 admission notification imposes a Rs 10 lakh bond and a three-year bar on Haryana MBBS/BDS admission for students who leave the course on or after 15 December 2026. (news report)

We found no official BDS rural-service bond in the 2026 notices we checked.

Who regulates BDS now

The Central Government constituted the National Dental Commission with effect from 19 March 2026 under the National Dental Commission Act, 2023 (Gazette notification S.O. 1447(E)), with Dr. Sanjay Tewari as Chairperson. The NDC has three autonomous boards: the Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate Dental Education Board, the Dental Assessment and Rating Board, and the Ethics and Dental Registration Board. In August 2026 the NDC's UG-PG Dental Education Board warned colleges that BDS/MDS admissions must be made only through NEET and the prescribed common counselling, within approved intake, with details uploaded on the NDC admission portal. (news report)

After BDS

• NEET-MDS 2026 is the single eligibility-cum-ranking exam for MDS admission for the 2026 session, and NBEMS's role is limited to conducting it and declaring the result.
• To sit NEET-MDS a candidate needs a recognised BDS degree, provisional or permanent registration with a State Dental Council, and completion of the one-year compulsory rotatory internship by the cut-off date.
• NEET-MDS 2026, conducted by NBEMS, was scheduled for 2 May 2026, with 31 May 2026 as the internship-completion cut-off for eligibility and the result due by 2 June 2026.

More courses after NEET

Sources

• Counselling: cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in
• Counselling: mcc.nic.in
• Neet 2026: cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in
• Neet 2026: cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in
• Neet 2026: cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in
• Regulator: egazette.gov.in
• Regulator: health.medicaldialogues.in
• Regulator: medicaldialogues.in
• Course: kgmu.org
• Fees context: tnmedicalselection.net
• Bonds: fmsc.du.ac.in
• Bonds: medicaldialogues.in
• After bds: nbe.edu.in
• After bds: natboard.edu.in
• After bds: biharhelp.in
• Fees: tnmedicalselection.net
• Fees: cee.kerala.gov.in
• Fees: neet2seat.com
• Fees: neet2seat.com
• Fees: edufever.com
• Fees: telanganatoday.com
• Fees: deccanchronicle.com
• Fees: news.careers360.com
• Fees: medicaldialogues.in
• Fees: kaher.edu.in
• Fees: evbab.manipal.edu
• Fees: evbab.manipal.edu
• Fees: dental.dpu.edu.in
• Fees: kvv.edu.in
• Fees: soa.ac.in
• Fees: sriramachandra.edu

Common questions