Annals and Essences of Dentistry
Open Access

Abstract

CAREER ASPIRATIONS AND REASONS FOR CHOOSING DENTISTRY AS A CAREER – A SURVEY OF DENTAL STUDENTS IN GANDHI DENTAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL, BHUBANESWAR

Garla BK

The motivations for choosing a career are yet not clearly defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate why students at Gandhi Dental College had chosen dentistry as their career, to consider the factors that had influenced their decision and to study their different career goals. Career aspiration of Dental students was assessed with the help of a questionnaire which was distributed among dental students and interns. Answers were then analyzed to find differences between the groups. The overall response rate was 86%. Main reason to enter this profession was their own interest (53.91%). 57.39% of the undergraduates and interns aspired to do post-graduation for better salaries and good job opportunities. 62.17% wanted to go abroad for further studies commonly to the USA and wished for some career counseling in this regard. When asked whether they would advice their friends to take up dentistry 81.74% said yes mainly because of good scope while 18.26% said no due to factors like increased stress and saturation in this field.

Published Date: 2011-06-30;