Background Information

Being a pediatric dentist requires a lot of hard work and dedication. First off lets start by saying that in order to be a General Dentist you must first recieve a Bachelors Degree and then go to Dental School for 4 years. That right there is already 8 years until you can become a dentist. If you want to go into a specialty you must go for a minimum of an extra 2 years residency. Specialties would include Pediatrics, Orthodontia, Cosmetic, Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery. During you Bachelors Program you would need to major in a science such as biology,chemistry, and physics. These programs are extremely vigorous and require a great knowledge and love for the sciences, also you have to realize that a lot of your classes are going to be weed out classes. They have weed out classes to somewhat force kids to drop the major they're doing in order to get the best of the best. After 4 years of going through the four year school of your choice you are forced to take the DAT's (Dental Admission Test). This is a test scored out of 30 that decides where you will or will not go to dental school. The average score for these tests are approximately 24. After countless upon countless hours of studying for this test you have to decide where you want to go to dental school based on your results. In dental school your professors will go in depth about dental care and how to treat patients. They will also instruct you in labs and practices to get you real life experience being a dentist during school. After Dental School you will graduate with a D.D.S which is Doctor of Dental Surgery so you are techincally considered a Doctor and it is a well deserved title. Like I mentioned earlier, if you want to go into a specialty it requires atleast 2 more years of schooling in a residency program. There are many residency programs all over the United States and finding the best one is all a matter of opinion. Once residency is over you must find a job at a dental office. You will be hired as an associate to the owner of the practice and start off with a very good salary.