I don't think a lot of people actually knows what a dentist does. Partially because we don't see them often work, and we spend more time with the dental hygienists. This article was created to eliminate most speculations people had on dentists. It is also a great space to people that are trying to find their future career path.
It's a challenging thing to be a dentist. It takes many years of studies, time, and money. After becoming one, you will quickly learn that it is a job that requires a connection with people especially your patients. Every single one of them is different, and their oral issues too. A dentist task is the responsibility of oral health.
A dentist is a medical professional. They are specialized in oral care. They have many responsibilities such as monitoring, teaching dental heath to their patient or removing a damaged teeth. They take care of any oral issues.
In their typical day, dentists will start by going through their first patients files. Before taking care of any patient, they need to sterilize their hands. They can get between 3 and 20 patients. During the day, they can have tasks like routine check-ups, a patient communication, or dental procedures and administrative work too. At the end of the day, they will add notes to the files or their patient. Someday, they can do task like fill up pulp chamber.
There a lot of place for a dentist, but they tend to stay in clinics, dental offices or even hospitals. A dentist can also choose to open their own dental practice.
It depends on where you live, but all students end up in the same place, in dental school to get a bachelor degree. They also need to get a license to practice. If you live in Canada, more specifically Quebec, you need to finish a college program in science, have a university degree from a dental program and a license to practice.
The average annual salary for a dentist in Canada would be $170 000. For an entry-level position, it starts at $125 000 and with experience can go to $250 000 a year.
If they want growth in their career, they can pursue studies to be a specialist. As a specialist they can be an orthodontist, a cosmetic dentist or a pediatric dentist for instance. To get this rank, they need to do additional post graduate training.
Like any job there is a reason to doubt pursuing it. There are no exception for a dentist. A dentist does a lot of manual tasks. It can cause pain in their hands, wrists, and neck. Don't forget that they need to perform a lot standing up and for hours. Those daily tasks can lead to musculoskeletal issues. It is pain and injuries in the musculoskeletal system. To add to that, they can be exposed to infectious diseases, chemicals, and radiation.
It is not going to happen. There is already some technologies involve in the dental field, but humans are the reason why those robots function so well. When they succeed, they are in control of a specialist. They will get more performant eventually, but they will always need someone to guide them.
The age of retirement for a dentist is usually around seventy years old.
I hope this article cleared up every assumptions people had on dentists. It's a hard task to be one and to become one. They need some recognition for their hard work and for taking care of our health. I also hope that this article was helpful for intimated potential future dental students.
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