Dentist Job Description

Series Summary

The dentistry profession dates back to 7,000 BC. Modern dentistry has made huge strides and today uses specialized tools to make the process much more enjoyable. Dental complications, such as cavities, root canals and common diseases, are now cured quickly and efficiently. In addition, the education requirements for the dentistry profession have also improved care. A general practitioner of dentistry requires a bachelor's degree and a doctoral degree from a accredited dentistry program. Dentist can specialize in over nine recognized fields, ranging from public health to maxillofacial surgery. With salaries averaging over $130,000 it is not only a well-paid profession but also a very crucial one. Interested in learning more about dentist careers? Take a moment and watch this free video series. Our expert, Dr. Mike Glasmeier, is a experienced dentist. He takes the time to discuss the job description of a dentist. Learn about the pros and cons of becoming a dentist. Also, find out the qualifications for becoming a dentist. Dr. Glasmeier also shares his hardest and funniest moments in the dental profession. So, take a moment, and learn more about dentist careers today!

Video Transcript

"This is what a typical dental treatment room looks like. What we have here basically this is the patient chair and this is where the patient sits. A dentist sits typically kind of right around here and works on the patient usually around this angle. Basically a dentist is a type of health professional that deals with the mouth. More specifically they look at the teeth and the gums and any of the supporting structures that hold the teeth for example the bone. A simple thing such as if you are doing fillings, removing cavities, taking out teeth that cannot be fixed, or trying to restore an infected tooth. Those are typical responsibilities that we see as a dentist. Often times we have to be put in a position where we have to evaluate whether or not a tooth can be fixed or not and if so how you can go about having it fixed. That is kind of where it kind of dwells into different subcategories of dentistry. A general dentist is basically kind of a jack of all trades when talking about evaluating, diagnosing and treating conditions that are in the mouth. As far as my job responsibilities obviously we would do a comprehensive exam on every patient that comes in, gets a comprehensive exam. So we are basically counting the teeth. We are evaluating the condition of the teeth, checking for cavities, checking for existing fillings, checking the integrity of everything that is in the mouth. Not only is it checking the teeth but we are also checking the gums because we are trying to rule out if a patient has a gum disease. So it is an evaluation of basically of the teeth and the gums and making a diagnosis again of is it something that is fixable or not and how you go about fixing it. When you get farther into it we have a lot of different responsibilities such as we call it restorative. Restorative meaning fillings so we also deal with fixing broken teeth or taking cavities out of teeth but also diagnosing gum conditions. We also review X-rays. We take a lot of X-rays and we are reviewing for disease and pathology and stuff like that. There are other things too that we do, not just from a diagnostic standpoint or a restorative standpoint but we also do replacement options. So if the patient comes in and they have missing teeth one of our job responsibilities is trying a treatment plan, the different alternatives for that patient to be able to get replacements for those teeth. You can get more specialized such as what is called a periodontist which their specialty basically relies on looking and analyzing the gum and the bones of the mouth. Then you have something like an oral surgeon and they deal with more difficult extractions or removing teeth or weird pathologies and disease that we see on the jaw and on the bone. An endodontist is basically a root canal specialist. They deal with dealing with more difficult root canals that often times a general dentist cannot manage. There is also what is called a pediatric dentist and they basically manage children anywhere from the ages of six months all the way up to maybe 13 to 14 years old. There is also was is called a prosthodontist. A prosthodontist deals with prosthesis. So anything that may involve something that is removable that goes in and out of your mouth such as like a denture or they can do something like what are called implants like an artificial tooth replacement. They can also do other things with crowns and bridges, different versions of ways to basically fix your teeth. There is also what is called an oral pathologist which is a specialty person that deals with disease of the skin or medical history, medical history abnormalities or things just overall in the mouth that the general dentist can't basically diagnose and treat on their own."