How dental students make career choices: Observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the factors that motivate students to choose dentistry as a career and to examine their perspectives on future specialty choices, with particular emphasis on orthodontics. Material and Methods: A paper-based non-identifiable questionnaire was administered to the 4 th year undergraduate dental students from one public university and the 5 th year students from one private university. The questionnaire consisted of seven sections; (1) Demographic data, (2) factors influenced the choice of dentistry as a career?, (3) factors influenced the choice of dentistry over medicine?, (4) factors influenced the choice of a future specialty (After graduation from dentistry)?, (5) specialties were most preferred?, (6) factors influenced the choice of orthodontics as a future specialty?, and (7) factors influenced the choice of another specialty than orthodontics. The answers to the questions were designed as a five-point Likert scale. Results: A total of 135 responses showed that students choose dentistry mainly for “passion” ( n = 70 [51.9%]) and for being “practical study/working with hand” ( n = 63 [46.7%]). Students choose dentistry over medicine because dentistry offers more “practical training” ( n = 81 [60%]), “shorter career path” n = 66 (48.9%), “flexible working hours” ( n = 51 [37.8%]), and “less working hours than medicine” n = 28 (20.7%). Orthodontics came as the fourth choice for specialization. The most common reasons for not preferring orthodontics were as follows: “difficult to have a clinic specialized only in orthodontics” ( n = 32 [23.7%]) and “difficult to join a postgraduate orthodontic program” ( n = 29 [21.5%]). Conclusion: Dental students loved to work with their hands. They preferred dentistry over medicine because the study is more practical, offers a shorter career path, and provides more flexible working hours. Orthodontics ranked fourth among the students’ preferences due to the financial constraints associated with establishing specialized orthodontic clinics.