Ever wondered what it’s like to be a dentist? Spending your whole working life peering into people’s mouths and putting up with bad breath! Is it a great job with the satisfaction of knowing you’ve made a real difference to someone’s life? Here, we look at the pros and cons of getting into dentistry.
Dentists play a crucial role in the health and well-being of our teeth and gums. The health of our mouths has a major impact on other areas of our well-being too, both physically and mentally so the work of the dentist can never be understated. Whether it’s dealing with an abscess or helping someone gain their confidence back through cosmetic dentistry, it’s a job that requires a lot of training, studying and dedication.
One major advantage is that being a dentist pays well and will always be in great demand. As long as humans have teeth, we’ll always need dentists and as the population increases and people are living longer, this need is set to rise exponentially. Professionally, becoming a dentist is a great move as a large number own their own practice or part-own in a partnership. This means being your own boss, controlling your own work schedule and choosing which services to specialise in. Dentists hold an important place in the local community and as members of professional organizations.
The training involved does not come easily however. You will be required to spend many years at school, taking at least 8 years to become fully trained. Dentistry also comes with a commitment to continue training and learning right through your career as technology advances and new treatments become available. Being a student for that many years also comes with a financial cost that could see you thousands in debt through student loans by the time you’ve qualified.
The position comes with a great deal of responsibility as you’re in charge of someone’s health. Giving anaesthesia, prescribing medication and performing surgery are all serious actions that require high levels of accountability. This can come hand-in-hand with an increased level of stress being experienced. Not only are there health implications to what you do but also customer service ones. Often dentists will have to be part of a rota for being ‘on-call’ during nights and weekends.
If you love working with people then dentistry provides plenty of opportunity to communicate with many different types of people. However, there will always be those challenging patients who are never happy or never follow your advice! No two days will ever be the same and that certainly makes the time fly when you have so many different patients with different needs. There is normally a routine that will need to be followed which normally consists of people walking in, signing in on a register, sitting in the waiting area on one of the Reception Chairs sourced from companies like Best Buy Office Chairs and then waiting until getting called. You then go into the dentist to be checked professionally and advised on how to improve your teeth.
A fairly strong stomach is probably a good idea too as there will definitely be some yucky mouths to deal with during a dentistry career. However, with the lows of dealing with the odd gross patient there will be plenty of highs when you use your creativity to solve a painful problem and make a genuine difference to improving someone’s life.
