Looking into a career in dentistry?

Question

'm an English major freshman in college and I've been thinking of maybe becoming a dentist in the future. Are there any good graduate schools or dentistry schools you'd recommend? and more importantly, what do i need to get in to those schools? do I need pre-med education? If so, when and where and how do i receive premed ed?

Lastly, how many total years of education do i need to finally become a fully qualified dentist? Can someone just give me a whole walkthrough on what I need to be doing to become a dentist? Thanks!

Answer 1

Your undergraduate major can be in anything you want, but you will need the same sciences that the pre-med students take:

--- 1 year of freshman biology

--- 1 year of inorganic chemistry

--- 1 year of organic chemistry

--- 1 year of physics

(all the above with the labs that go with these)

--- calculus

you can take these at any time during your undergraduate years or after graduation, you can get into one of many programs around specifically for people who decide they want to get the pre-reqs for med/dent/vet school after they'e graduated.

Decide NOW which dental schools you're interested in, so you can check their pre-requisites. I see that the University of Michigan, for example, now requires some advanced courses like microbiology. See the here: http://www.dent.umich.edu/prospective/pr...

Most top universities have good dental schools. Here is one list: http://www.dentalschooladmissions.com/de...

I believe it's 3-4 years for general dentistry (maybe depending on whether you want a DMD or a DDS, but then you go out into the world and do exactly the same work with either degree).

Another 1-3 years of you want a specialty such as orthodontics.

I don't believe there's an internship/residency phase for general dentistry the way there is after med school for doctors. You have to pass the dental boards, including doing fillings, crowns, etc., but then you just go out into the world and do them. For some specialties like oral surgery, there may be internships, I just don't know.

Good grades are important, also scoring well on the DAT. Good eye-hand/fine motor coordination is going to be essential. Stay reasonably fit, because you'll need the stamina to be "on" all day long, every day.

Answer 2

No, you can probably just major in biology or some biology related major. My cousin is a dentist and he majored in biology. You dont need pre-med cuz your not dealing with the body. Just the mouth (at least i dont think you do)

Columbia University, Univ of the Pacific (in Stockton, CA) UCSF, UCLA, Univ of Southern California, Boston University, Harvard, Univ of Michigan, Univ of Minnesota, Indiana University, NYU, and UPenn are really great dental schools. You still need a bachelors degree first and probably an amazing test score. It also kind of depends on what field of dentistry you want to do (like DDS, DMD etc..) cuz some of these schools only offer certain specialities.