Choosing Dentistry as a Career - Essay Example

?INTRODUCTION: Choosing a particular profession is one of the most important decisions that we take in our life. .In my opinion, I would like to focus on a career that is enjoyable, productive, creative and simultaneously allows you to work for the betterment of humanity. According to me, one of the most productive and fulfilling career that provides you various opportunities to help and promote humanity is that of a dentist. Dentistry gains magnificent attention in last some decades and so a huge percentage of people around the world and from US are devoting their life to this noble profession. Becoming a dentist requires a lot of hard work dedication but the factor that motivates you to face these difficulties is the actual pleasure gained when you are able to change someone’s life by creating a beautiful and healthy smile for them and the joy of which could not be expressed. 1. Why did you choose this particular career? I chose to become a dentist as being a child I had to visit a dentist many times for correction of malaligned teeth that I had. So my dentist who was also a specialist in the field of orthodontics inspired me deeply as it gave me a vague idea of how can I also bring smile and self confidence back to an individual by providing him with a competent smile again by incorporating the blend of my hand creativity and mental alertness, same as my dentist did for me thus returning me my self esteem and the confidence to smile again .Thus I found this field very satisfying and fulfilling. 2. What personality characteristics are likely required for this career? How does you own personality match/not match? As a dentist one should be strongly determined to devote selflessly for the betterment of humanity .Patient usually have a lot of expectations from their dental surgeon so I believe that a friendly comforting and assuring attitude, healthy communication skills, ability to understand and cooperate with patient and last but not the least is to work hard and selflessly for the genuine wellness of patient. A dentist should thrive to learn the new advanced techniques being introduced, he or she should possess interpersonal skills, manual dexterity and ability and motivation to alleviate the pain and discomfort caused by various oral diseases. Basically a dentist should possess good bedside manners along with good well learned dental techniques to treat pain. 3. What education/training is required for this career? What is your plan for achieving this education/training? The level of candidacy in the field of dentistry is very high. Dentists are health professionals who have a license to practice and provide oral preventive treatment to the community. In order to become a dentist one needs to undergraduate in a science related field, preferably biology .After that a person is supposed to take and qualify a Dental Admission Test (DAT) set up by the licensed dental universities and once cleared, you get eligible to study dentistry and thrive hard for next four years in order to achieve a degree of Doctor of dental medicine abbreviated ad DDS. After attain DDS degree one needs to get himself registered as a dental surgeon which enables him to practice dentistry .A person is supposed to do an internship after completion of dental school which helps him to practice his dental techniques more, and give him an opportunity to improve his communication, problem solving, leadership, detail oriented and patience and dental skills. I take my studies seriously and always pass with good grades. I plan to undergraduate in biology and join a well reputed academy that prepares students to achieve good marks in the upcoming Dental Admission Tests (DAT). I am surely going to work hard and prepare myself very well for the test so I can clear my test with flying colors after which I plan to thrive with full spirit and struggle continuously for four years to attain my DDS degree. Motivation, will power and hard work are the three main factors that I am following to achieve my goal. 4. What skills do you currently possess that will be helpful in this career? Which skills do you think you will have to work the hardest to develop? I believe that in order to become a dentist one should have a thirst to learn advanced techniques, should be very hard working determined and should possess strong will power and interpersonal skills. I believe that I am blessed with a confident and charming personality which will help me to deal and cooperate with my patients in a better way. I am hardworking too but I know that once I enter the field of dentistry I have to work more on grooming my dental skills , to overcome my fear regarding oozing of blood and to fulfill my patients expectations. I believe that in order to become a dentist one should have a thirst to learn advanced techniques, should be very hard working determined and should possess strong will power and interpersonal skills. I believe that I am blessed with a confident and charming personality which will help me to deal and cooperate with my patients in a better way. I am hardworking too but I know that once I enter the field of dentistry I have to work more on grooming my dental skills , to overcome my fear regarding oozing of blood and to fulfill my patients expectations. 5. What is the outlook for this career? In terms of salary/What are the positions available and future possibilities? Dentists are highly paid throughout the world .The earning power is proportional to their academic qualifications, experience, location, working time and dental skills. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, general dentists earn up to $101,000 a year, as of Jun 2, 2012.The field of dentistry provides the numerous field in which one can progress further such as orthodontics, Oral surgery, Paedodontology , Periodontology and a variety of others .Specializing in a certain field and then practicing it contributes greatly to your earnings. Many dentists earn through self employed practice by doing private practice and many choose to work for community by joining respective hospitals where salaries range from $37,714 to ?80,674. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2012). 6. What do you think you will like the most about this career? What do you expect you will like the least? I think that working for the betterment of humanity and improving quality of life by alleviating the pains and diseases or oral region and thus promoting health is the basic duty of a dentist and it really attracts me to myself become a dentist one day .It is going to provide me the opportunity to meet new people every day , deal with them patiently and cooperate with them to meet up to their expectation , which is surely going to groom my personality and will help me to be more patient and cooperative and as my job will provide me numerous opportunities to help humanity ,this will bring satisfaction and immense pleasure to my life. The one thing that I am not going to like about my profession is uncooperative patient who do not follow instructions prescribed to them and thus it becomes really challenging to treat them in a best way. 7. In relation to your career, where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years? I plan to Attain my DDS degree by next five years followed by one year internship which will help me to practice my skills more .After that I plan to do clinical MSC in paedodontics , a branch of dentistry in which you provide treatment to child’s teeth. Children have bad brushing habits and their intake normally comprises of sweetening things that provide harm to our oral cavity .So I really want to do specialization in the field of paedodontics so I can help the tiny angels to enjoy a healthy and smiling childhood, with healthy teeth. CONCLUSION: Choosing dentistry as a career is very challenging and requires a lot of input effort and hard work. Along with these aspects it also requires a person to behave well, and use his best interpersonal and diagnostic skills to treat patient and help him to get rid of pain caused by oral diseases. Dentists are paid highly throughout the world but it should also be kept in mind that patients expect a lot from their dentist and in order to meet the expectations of a patient a dentist should thrive hard, should be open to new techniques and should work his best for the betterment of his patient, The field of dentistry provides you numerous options in which you can specialize and work more for the benefit of society. A dentist can provide his services for community by working at a certain hospital or he can practice privately too. Thus this career not only provide you means or earning a good amount of money but also open doors which let you help others and thus provide you with the feeling of contemplation. REFERENCES Be A Dentist, http://www.ada.org/beadentist.aspx The 10 characteristics of top dentists who thrive in practicing fee-for-service dentistry. Kirk Behrendt, http://www.spiritofcaring.com/public/453.cfm Dentistry A Career For Future, http://www.adldentallabs.com/dental/dentist.htm British Dental Journal 197, 89 - 93 (2004) Professional satisfaction among California general dentists DA Shugars, MR DiMatteo, RD Hays, S Cretin and JD Read More