Dentist

Job Profile

The work pressure depends on how many other Dentists are working at your place of work. With people getting aware of oral hygiene and oral related issues on a constant rise, the work pressure at times can be quite overwhelming. In India, the working hours of a dentist can go to 8 hours, and in a few places, they work in shifts. If you own a private clinic, you can be your boss and work as much as you like.

A Dentist is responsible for diagnosing and treating dental issues. They need to help their patients develop and maintain good oral hygiene so that they do not face any other oral related issues. Here are some of the duties a dentist has to do:

• Inspect a patient’s mouth to find the cause of their oral problems.
• Remove decaying teeth and or fill cavities.
• Repair cracked or damaged teeth.
• Straighten or realign the teeth if needed.
• Take and study X-rays of the patient’s teeth, gums, jaw, etc.
• Administer anaesthetics while performing tooth removal procedures.
• Write a prescription for the medicines required after the tooth removal procedure.
• Instruct the patient on how to keep good oral hygiene with everyday products.

There are different aspects of Dental practice, some of them are like: Public Dental health specialist, Endodontist, Oral & maxillofacial radiologist, Maxillofacial surgeon, Oral pathologist, Orthodontist, Pediatric dentist, Periodontists and Prosthodontists.

Salary/Package

The starting salary of an entry-level dentist with less than a year’s worth of experience can be around Rs 15,000 to 20,000. With over a year’s worth of experience, a dentist will be compensated to the sum of Rs 24,000 to 30,000. A mid-career dentist with over five years of experience can look forward to over Rs 38,000 per month. With over ten years’ experience, a dentist can receive a handsome pay of over Rs 60,000 per month. These are just the basic level pay scale. These can differ significantly from state to state and from hospital to hospital. The salaries may also vary based on experience, skills, roles, location, etc.

Skills required

• To be successful in the field of dentistry one has to be passionate about medicine.
• Good communication skills and manners.
• You will also have to know about the different kinds of oral related diseases and issues a person can have.
• Since a dentist needs to use sharp instruments inside a patient’s mouth, the person needs to have steady hands and not afford to be clumsy.
• Composed and patient attitude.

Pros and Cons of a Dentist

Pros

• It is a career path that is in demand right now.
• A stable 9-5 job with little work pressure.
• You can start your own clinic.

Cons

• The work can get very monotonous.
• You can suffer from backaches and back-related problems.
• Some dental procedures do not work on certain patients.

How do I be one

To begin your course in Bachelor of Dental Surgery or BDS, you will need to have a pass certificate of Higher/Senior Secondary Examination from a recognized board with 50% marks in Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. The course for Bachelor of Dental Surgery now also allows students who have studied from NIOS or National Institute of Open Schooling to apply for the entrance exam. The college or university will determine the difficulty of the entrance exam you will be applying to but be assured questions on subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Biology/Biotechnology, and Chemistry will appear.