What is the first thought that comes to mind when you think of the dentist? Is it disgust, or fear, or perhaps interest?
I was in eighth grade when I had the epiphany that I wanted to be a dentist. I’m almost always met with surprise with this decision. Sometimes pleasant surprise, but more often a surprise rooted in confusion. How in eighth grade could I be so certain I wanted to be a dentist, not just a doctor? Saying I wanted to enter dentistry as a middle schooler seemed so outrageous, almost like the equivalent of knowing what I wanted to major in college by elementary school.
Why did I think dentistry was so cool? I was raised by a dentist.
Growing up surrounded by dentistry was certainly an experience. There was no such thing as the tooth fairy in our household, only primary teeth and permanent dentition. My mom would let me peek over her shoulder at photographs of her prosthodontic work and be amused at my shriveling away at the sight of bloody gums and images of metal rods poking out of the spaces teeth used to be. She would take me to visit her office where rows of teeth impressions casually sat on counters like figurines. Before I could even remember anything, the invitees to my one year old birthday party were entirely my mom’s dental students. Dentistry was never out of the ordinary for me, it was rather just an extension of my childhood in the way that cartoons or picture books were.
On the surface, I do see why dentistry can be viewed as an unattractive potential career path. There does seem to exist a faint stigma surrounding dentistry that gives the topic an unattractive flare to many students — a stigma that does not exist in regards to general medicine. After all, it’s not uncommon for kids to understandably feel strong displeasure at even just the thought of an appointment with their dentist. The idea of a stranger prodding around at your teeth for cavities and braving the looming possibility of a shot every second you sit in that dental chair certainly sparks a sense of fear. I even understand how dentistry can seem a little weird. Dentistry is associated with the mouth, which is associated with saliva, which is associated with bacteria. And being a dentist is essentially to work with all of these components. But if this is the only characteristic that makes dentistry “weird,” don’t some medical doctors work in arguably far worse parts of the body?
Dental work is so much more significant than just “working in peoples’ mouths all day,” as my peers often put it. Dentistry plays a fundamental role in maintaining the comprehensive homeostasis of the body, and yet it is neglected and often looked upon as a purely cosmetic field. Good oral health helps us to eat, to talk, and to smile. There have been so many instances of compromised oral health leading to much more serious, life threatening health implications, and the correlation between oral health and the rest of the body has been extensively proven to exist. Dentistry should be looked upon with the same lens as general medicine. But to high school students, a lot of dental work is reduced to simply “braces” or “cavities.”
During my time shadowing in the dental clinic at my local Veterans Affairs hospital, I have realized that working as a dentist not only requires a deft hand and sharp eye; a dentist also must fulfill the role of an educator, and often a champion of emotional support. A dentist has to take the role of an educator to the patient in the dental chair, maintaining a calm and collected exterior but also providing informative and detailed guidance when informing patients on the procedures they are about to undergo. Both the dentist and the dental assistants must to show companionship, to both lighten the mood and to continue developing a connection with the patient to make the dental process seem more approachable. The human interaction aspect of dentistry is so often overlooked.
But I do want to acknowledge that cosmetic dentistry certainly does a significant role in both health and in quality of life. So many oral health conditions such as a cavity, or even a lost tooth, can have a debilitating effect on a person’s self confidence. A smile can be a pillar for self confidence, and in that way, oral health can be correlated to mental health. There are so many ways that dentistry can make an impact on others’ lives that in ways aren’t just fixing an unseen issue or giving a shot.
I do feel that dentistry is an underrated profession. For all students that perhaps never considered dentistry as a potential path of interest because of how strange the topic may seem, I encourage you to recognize the field for the unique ways it can help other people. Oral health is not all saliva, blood and gums; it can also be a fulfilling experience of companionship and self confidence. Consider dentistry as a potential field of study! Dentistry can be cool, dentistry can be impactful, and dentistry can certainly be self fulfilling.
Would you ever consider being a dentist?
