Dentist Career Information

Video Transcript

"Tips for becoming a dentist. Certainly you want to make sure that you kind of immerse yourself in a situation where you are being exposed to that. It is one of those things that if you read about it and you see a little bit about it that is one thing but to actually be interacting with the dentist sitting down with the patient and watching things, that's the biggest tip I would say is making sure that you observe, you know, the practices that dentists do. It is one thing when you see it in a book but when you see it live it can certainly change your perception of how you perceive dentistry. So certainly getting to know a dentist and kind of seeing what they do that is one and obviously another tip would be it is very hard to get into dental school nowadays so from an academic standpoint you have to be academically strong so you need to do well on your prerequisite courses that you need to get into school. Certainly there is an admissions test and they look on that very highly and it is very important that you do well on that test. But for me the three biggest things I see is doing well on the placement test, basically making good grades, having a good grade point average and certainly getting the exposure that you need to make sure that you make the right decision. As far as learning on the job, you know I think learning to be compassionate and understanding and trying to help the patient understand what they need because again dentistry can sometimes be a very complicated and mysterious and ambiguous thing for the patient. So a pearl of wisdom is being able to be compassionate and understanding and being able to translate it into a way that the patient can identify with and recognize and understand. That is a, that to me is very, very important because whether or not you are the best technically skilled dentist or not I think your personal skills are just as important if not more important. Because the patient basically needs to sit there and make sure that they understand and feel like you not only have compassion towards them but be understanding and willing to know that whatever you tell them isn't going to be put off in a way that is putting them down. Certainly one of the biggest challenges again is trying to deal with patients that are indifferent and don't want to come. Too often times we deal with patients that don't want to be there to begin with. So either someone took them in there or pain brought them in there and it is trying to deal with the patients that don't want to be there. That is certainly a big obstacle and a lot of it again has to do with being able to hear the patient out and understanding where they are coming from and learning how to be empathetic so that the patient can be comfortable with you doing whatever it is that you recommend. So again I think dealing with the patient, difficult patients that can be a very big obstacle and certainly trying to make sure that people maintain adequate care of their mouths so that you are not always working in emergency situations."