Orthodontics as a prospective career choice among undergraduate dental students: A prospective study

Abstract

Objectives:The purposes of this study were to investigate the factors influencing the career choice of dental students and to identify the future life plans of the students at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Dental College who had chosen orthodontics as their future specialty.Materials and Methods:An epidemiological descriptive survey was conducted using a set of questionnaire among the second year to fourth year students at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Data were categorized by demographic variables and were analyzed with statistical methods using descriptive statistical analysis.Results:The most important factor influencing the decision to pursue specialty in orthodontics was considering that “orthodontics is intellectually challenging” (23%), followed by “previous positive experience” (15%). The decision to become an orthodontist was made by 3.7% of the respondents in the first year of their course, 44.4% in the second year of their study, 11.1% during the third year of their study, 25.9% during the fourth year of their study, while none of them had made their decision during the final year of their dental school studies. Only one student (3.7) said he planned to work in a private college in an academic setting, five students (18.5%) had plans to do private practice, two students indicated that they would work for the Ministry of Health, while most students (40.7%) reported that they were planning to try a combination of all of the above. Six students (22.2%) remained undecided.Conclusions:Majority of the students who had chosen orthodontics as their future specialty of choice at Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Dental College, Saudi Arabia had taken up this specialty as they felt that orthodontics was intellectually challenging.

An assessment of job satisfaction: A cross-sectional study among orthodontists of Saudi Arabia

“…[ 30 ] The higher level of overall job satisfaction might be attributed to the fact that 88.2% of the respondents had chosen orthodontics specialty as their first choice. The findings are in agreement with those of Sam,[ 31 ] who reported that 85.1% of the undergraduate students in his study decided to choose orthodontics as their professional career before graduation. Gallagher and Resmi Nairn[ 32 ] from the King's College London Dental Institute also reported orthodontics as the most popular career choice among dental specialties equivalent to restorative dentistry.…”

Career Development Plans of Dental Students at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania

“…Results from earlier studies, showed a wide range of viewpoints (Freire et al, 2011;Dhima et al, 2012;Aggarwal et al, 2012;dos Santos et al, 2013;Knevel et al, 2015;Sam, 2015;Sam et al, 2016;Nassar et al, 2016) related to career choices of Dental students. Generally, studies have indicated that Dental students' career choices are geared towards the students' own gains than towards the roles they are needed to play in their societies (Chattopadhyay & Chatterjee, 1991;Brand & Chikte, 1997;Vigild & Schwarz, 2001).…”

“…But, comprehensive data on the future career plans of its products and factors related to the students' career choices is lacking. If it was available, such data could be used by employers to plan human resource for oral health and by academic institutions to establish demand driven post-graduate programs (Sam, 2015). Further, the implication of lacking such information is that, some of the already established postgraduate programs in certain institutions are completely lacking applicants and some receive applicants intermittently.…”

“…Several studies have been performed on career development plans of Dental students worldwide (Freire et al, 2011;Dhima et al, 2012;Aggarwal et al, 2012;dos Santos et al, 2013;Knevel et al, 2015;Sam, 2015;Sam et al, 2016;Nassar et al, 2016), such studies are crucial for planning human resource for health (Knevel, Gussy, Farmer, & Karimi, 2015). Results from earlier studies, showed a wide range of viewpoints (Freire et al, 2011;Dhima et al, 2012;Aggarwal et al, 2012;dos Santos et al, 2013;Knevel et al, 2015;Sam, 2015;Sam et al, 2016;Nassar et al, 2016) related to career choices of Dental students.…”

“…Generally, studies have indicated that Dental students' career choices are geared towards the students' own gains than towards the roles they are needed to play in their societies (Chattopadhyay & Chatterjee, 1991;Brand & Chikte, 1997;Vigild & Schwarz, 2001). The career choices of Dental students may vary over time and between populations (dos Santos, Nicolau, Muller, Bedos, & Zuanon, 2013), thus obtaining recent information about future career intentions of Dental students is vital for the country's health care system and for health educators (dos Santos et al, 2013;Sam, 2015). Essentially, the information can be utilized by health educators (Aguiar, Pessoa, Câ mara, Perrier, & Figueiredo, 2009) and health professional employers to improve their services.…”