Should i become a dentist

For example, which undergraduate degrees give me the best chance to get into dental school? Does is matter? When do I apply for dental school? What does the exam cover? The following guide answers these questions and others, and discusses many of the details involved in the multi-year training process. Should I Become a Dentist In general, dentists are responsible for the oral health of their patients.

This might include everything from offering advice on foods or hygiene to repairing fractured teeth or performing more invasive procedures. Dentists might handle regular cleanings and hygiene, filling cavities, extracting teeth, applying sealants or whitening agents, creating dentures, straightening teeth and writing prescriptions.

Should I Become a Dentist When contemplating a career as a dentist, take a quick inventory of your personal traits. In addition to having the patience and diligence required for oral health work, dentists must have excellent people skills in order to communicate well with colleagues and patients.

They must be very good at working with their hands, trained with a variety of instruments, and very attentive to detail. For those who run their own offices, organizational and leadership skills are also a must. Occasionally, some dental schools admit students who have completed a three-year pre-dental program.

Each dental school has its own list or prerequisites. Make sure you research and understand them before advancing too far in your undergraduate studies. Aspiring dentists should take the DAT during their junior year of undergraduate studies. The DAT is conducted by the American Dental Association ADA and is made up of four multiple-choice tests that cover natural sciences, reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning and perceptual ability. You may take the DAT up to 3 times, if needed, but must wait 90 days between exams.

The DAT can be taken a fourth time with special permission. The only difference between the two degrees is the name itself. Both degrees are accepted by state licensing boards. If you are interested in pursuing a career as a dental specialist, additional post-graduate training may be required.

This specialized training typically lasts one or two years and involves completing a residency. The NBDE is broken into two parts. The first part focuses on basic sciences, while the second part focuses on dental topics. Your dental school may arrange for you to take this test with the rest of your class.

Depending on where you live, you may need to complete a state or regional exam. These are clinical tests that require students to perform real dental procedures on patients.

Those who choose to become dentists often do so not only because they want to help people, but because it is a career with a reputation for high salaries. Those who choose to specialize might make even more. Should I Become a Dentist When learning how to become a dentist, you might find that another, similar course of study is more suitable for your career goals. Those who choose the professional healthcare path might move into areas related to dentistry, including careers in podiatry, optometry, surgery and other medical professions.

This salary comparison tool can help you compare the salaries of dental professionals in your area. Universities of Dentistry in Europe. Hungary formally, until , the Republic of Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.

Browse your Cell. If someone jerks in their chair because they're nervous, it can be easy to accidentally hurt them. Fortunately, that's never happened to me, but I've heard of cases where a dentist accidentally clipped someone's tongue with a dental instrument — and as the dentist, you are percent liable for those kinds of injuries, even if it was caused by the patient squirming. That's another reason you want to make your patients as comfortable as possible: If they're relaxed, they're less likely to move around, and you're less likely to accidentally hurt them.

There are pros and cons to working for yourself. I worked for a dental group for two years, and now I own my own practice. I think sometimes dentists in dental groups are just interested in the paycheck. I prefer working for myself, because I feel more of a personal connection to my patients and there's more flexibility overall. That said, overhead is very expensive. You have to pay for complex machinery as well as disposable supplies, and it gets really pricey. You also need to pay for your office space, malpractice insurance, and the salaries of all your employees.

I still make more working for myself than I did at a dental group though. A lot of dentists have back and neck issues. Regardless of the dental procedure, you're usually in the same position hovering over the patient. I recently started having really severe lower back pain, after working on a patient who needed a full mouth reconstruction from going through chemotherapy, which messes up your teeth.

I was sitting in one position working on her for hours. I've also seen patients who had decay on every single tooth and needed root canals on most of them. Those procedures can be very taxing on your body too. Now, I do yoga for my back, and that's helping. Dental insurance will also be a pain in your neck. In most cases, the amount an insurance company will pay barely covers the dental procedure. That forces some dentists to use cheaper labor and cheaper equipment in order to get more out of the insurance reimbursement.

I didn't want to do that, so my office only accepts one type of dental insurance. Generally speaking, dentists have a very high rate of dissatisfaction. Request Appointment. What Parents Are Saying. Highly recommend! Dentist was fantastic, hygienist was fantastic. So great with my daughter! See All. Request An Appointment Use the form to the right to request an appointment for your child. Office Location Maitland Office St. Cloud Office. Maitland Office Maitland Ave.