Vocational Aspirations, Cognizance and the Availability of Career Counselling Among Dental Interns in Bhubaneswar City, India: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Background Career paths, choices, and overall professional contentment of dental students are likely shaped by the vocational advice, skill sets, and practical experiences they acquire during their dental school tenure. Aim To determine the career aspirations, apprehensions and to assess the availability of career guidance among dental interns of three private dental colleges in Bhubaneswar city, India. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 207 dental interns of three private colleges of Bhubaneswar city using a self-structured English questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions divided into four sections, which included demographics, vocational aspirations and cognizance for choice of dentistry as a career and availability of career guidance. Data were collected, analyzed and was represented as numbers and percentages using the Chi‑square test. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results A total of 198 dental interns responded to the questionnaire. There was a slightly higher representation of women (59.60%) compared to men (40.40%). A larger proportion of women (96, 62.34%), compared to men (58, 37.66%), reported that dentistry was not their initial career choice. There was a notable difference in the preference for becoming a specialist dentist between men and women (p=0.008), with 56 (60.22%) women aspiring for specialization compared to 37 (39.78%) men. Conclusion A majority of the participants expressed that a low pay scale represents the primary limitation in the field of dentistry as a profession. Moreover, most participants aspire to continue in the field of dentistry, with the majority opting for postgraduate studies after completing their internship.