Abstract
Background: The changing nature of the dental workforce and the need to retain the services of future members has made it important to understand why current dental students have chosen dentistry as their carrier. It greatly contributes to discussions concerning dental education, practice and future workforce planning. This study aimed, first to investigate factors that lead to choice of dentistry as a profession among first year dental students in a South Indian State and, secondly to evaluate gender differences in motives for pursuing a career in dentistry.
Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administered questionnaire to all first year dental students studying at three randomly selected dental institutions (n=240).
Statistical analysis used: Descriptive statistics and Mann Whitney-U Test
Results: A total of 203 duly filled questionnaires were included in the study. Female (74%) exceeded male students (26%). Only few respondents (24%) had placed dentistry as their first career choice. Desire to work in health care (84%), unable to enter medicine (79%) and independence of work (72%) were the top three influential factors. This study revealed significant differences between males and females with respect to desire to work in health care motive.
Conclusions: The results of this study highlighted some important influential factors in the choice of dentistry as a professional career.