Dentist Job Description

Dentistry Career

I would highly recommend dentistry for people who are interested in human sciences. My fascination and interest with diseases, diagnosing and treating the human body led to dentistry. 

Education Requirements

It's about eight years of schooling to be a general dentist, four years of undergraduate degree preferably in biosciences and then you take the DAT after which you have to do four years of dentistry. It is a great experience going through dental school where you're trained to handle different dental diseases and treat the patients and after you're done with dental school you have the option of practicing as a dentist right away or going into specialty which could be orthodontics or endodontics which is the root canal specialty or pediatric dentistry or periodontics which is different from the medical profession where you graduate from medical school and you have to do residency before you can start practicing. 

Salary Expectations

Typically after you graduate the starting salary is anywhere between $200 to $250,000 a year and you typically work five days a week and after you've done working in an institution or with somebody for a few years you can start your own practice where you have the flexibility of working three and a half days, four days and making anywhere between $300,000 or upward and of course if you're a specialist then the salaries are much higher it starts anywhere between four and five hundred thousand dollars right away. 

Career Advantages

For me the biggest advantage I felt dentistry had over medicine was that I could practice three and a half days a week, I did not have to be on calls and I could still spend time with my kids and families and you can raise families without being completely absent. I have absolutely enjoyed being a dentist and taking away pain from patients which is a very satisfying experience so I would highly recommend dentistry to anybody but of course you cannot be grossed out by blood or saliva.