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There are different ways of becoming a dentist depending on which country you live in. In some countries, students just graduating from high school can immediately enroll in a dental school. In other countries, you have to train in a specific medical school in order to specialize in dentistry. In the United States, you have to take four years of college before you can even apply to a dental school. In college, you are allowed to study anything you want: mathematics, chemistry, English, Music, or Art History, it doesn’t matter. Despite what you decide to major in, you are required to take a series of classes in preparation for dental school. Science courses like biology, chemistry and physics are prerequisites to dental school. These types of classes will help students understand the applied science courses they will have to take once they actually get to dental school, such as pharmacology, anatomy, physiology, and dental materials. Most dental schools also require students to take at least one semester of a writing, humanities or social science course in order to prepare them for the amount of communication that will be involved in being a dentist. The admission officers of most dental schools will look at applicants to do very well in all of these prerequisite courses. The average grade point average (GPA) for the first year class this year is 3.4 with a range of 3.2 to 3.7 overall, and 3.15 to 3.6 in science courses. (That's a high B to A average on a four point scale.) Similar to the SAT or ACT, dental school applicants are required to take a test called the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). You can find more information about this test on the American Dental Association’s website. This test will question you knowledge of mathematics, natural sciences, and reading comprehension. There is also a special part of the test that is unique to dental schools called the Perceptual Ability test. This portion of the test requires you to solve simple geometric and architectural problems. Only those applicants with high GPA’s and high scores on the DAT will be accepted into dental school. But it is not enough just to do well in school. Dental schools choose applicants that have some previous exposure to dentistry by observing or assisting in a professional dentist office such as TMJ Dentistry. If you have never actually had any experience being a dentist, then how do you know you really want to be a dentist? Dental schools do not want you to go through the first three years of schooling just to realize you do not want to be a dentist and drop out of dental school. They recommend that you observe or assist in a professional setting for at least 30 hours. The more exposure you have to the field, the more the admissions committee to a dental school will respect your desire to become dentist. Another thing that will help you be accepted into a dental school is volunteering hours. Dentistry is a public health career, and all of your time will be spent helping people become healthier and happier. Volunteering shows an admissions committee that you have the type of giving, caring personality that cares more about helping people than you do about the luxuries that come with the career. If you are only in it for the money, an admissions committee can usually tell and will not respect you for it. Volunteering shows that you are dedicated to helping people. If you decide not to specialize in a certain area, dental school is a four year program. You are eligible to practice as soon as you have graduation with your degree. However, most students decide to stay in school a little longer in order to home their skills in a certain area of dentistry. If dentistry is the career for you, then you will want to contact the schools Office of Admissions and set up an appointment with the Dean as soon possible. Admissions committees like to see an interest early on.
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