As far as career choice is concerned, dentistry has proved to be very popular. It has gained popularity due to its unique characteristic and challenge of serving patients and working with hands. Moreover, the fact a variety of career options open after completing the required qualification criteria is a major factor in students being attracted to this profession.
Prior to admission to a dental school, you need to have 2 years of college level pre-dental education. It is advisable for high school students to take courses in physics, chemistry, maths and biology. Applicants are required to take Dental Admissions Test (DAT) and its score is counted for entrance to a dental school. Recommendations and interviews also plays a major role in selection of a candidate. The successful career options that have a great future prospect and are a must to look for are general dental practice, salaried dental services, university teaching and research, industry, sales and marketing, and the armed forces.
General dental practice
After graduation, most dentists work as general dental practitioners, usually in a posh area providing dental care to the general public. To some extent it is possible for GDPs to exercise control on the place of their work and working hours. They may either work under National Health Service (NHS) or privately. Most of them opt for both options. As far as charges are concerned, they may vary. For NHS dental treatment, the charges depend on the course of treatment that the patient needs and is decided by NHS Primary Care Trust. Private charges depend on the dentist and the treatment the patient requires.
Salaried dental services
A dentist may treat patients in a dental hospital. They provide care to dental patients in two ways: one way can be that the patient himself approaches the doctor for treatment and is not hospitalized and the other way is that the patient is admitted to the hospital for treatment that requires stay in the hospital. The main job of the dentist is to give instructions to patients on dental care after oral surgery. Dentists perform X-ray and administrative work like updating information and records relating to the patient. Dentists may also work in dental schools providing care and education to patients.
University teaching and research
Dentists can also choose to work for colleges and universities as instructors to train students aspiring to be future dentists. If you choose to go into teaching dentistry, you will have to chalk out lesson plans, give lectures and prepare students to become good professionals by conducting exams and giving them assignments. In a teaching profession, you actually have to help students work in laboratory and also clinical settings. As far as qualifications are concerned, a doctoral or master’s degree in dentistry is required to become a professor in a university. You can also go ahead in the field of research to come out with new discoveries that ultimately affect patient care. If you plan to go for the research option, all you need is an advanced degree or some additional training apart from a dental medicine degree.
Dental sales and marketing
After completing your dentistry degree, if you feel that you have enough knowledge about it, you can very well chose a career in dental sales. If you are working as sales representative for a company dealing with dental products, you need to give presentations and conduct demonstrations for prospective clients. You need to be updated with the ongoing trend in dentistry industry and also keep yourself updated with what your competitors are planning. For choosing a career in this field there are no fixed standard of education required. All you need is a bachelor’s degree to be a sales representative for scientific companies. However, some companies may need additional degree in sales or marketing from a reputed institute.
Federal dental services
If you are keen to go into federal services, you can help in fulfilling the health needs of the military personnel and help the government in designing and carrying out dental public health and research programmes for the government. If we talk of the current scenario, there are a large number of dentists in the commissioned dental corps, be it the U.S. Army, Navy or Air Force. If we look at the remuneration, dentists are offered attractive salaries to become officers in the uniformed services. Dentists who work in the civilian branches of the federal, state and local governments are offered sufficient compensation as compared to their colleagues in private practice.
