Schooling Needed to Become a Dentist

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. Larry Klein, a dentist here in St. Petersburg, Florida and today we're going to talk about what type of schooling it takes to become a dentist. First of all, you gotta be good in school. So kids, sittin' there decidin' whether you want to do your homework or not, you want to be a dentist, you gotta do your homework, m-kay? And get through high school, make it through there, then you need to qualify and attend a college. It doesn't matter which college you go to. It doesn't matter what you major in, but it's a matter of just graduating from an accredited college. After that, you need to go ahead and take a an entrance exam from the dental school, which is called a D.A.T. or Dental Aptitude Test and it's a test that a, basically, you have to study for and once you pass that, then you can go ahead and qualify a, to be qualified for a dental school. Not every state has a dental school, so you need to check which ones you want to go to, which ones have the programs you are looking for, but then, the dental school is a four year program and that will get you through to become a general dentist. There are also different specialties involved if you want to go and specialize in different specialties, obviously there's more schooling involved with that ranging from a one year residency to four years in oral surgery. So if you have any other questions about what schooling is needed to become a dentist, feel free to give me a call, I'm Dr. Larry Klein here in St. Petersburg, Florida where a smile is contagious!"