Having a career in the medical field means helping people with their health issues and doing some of the most humane and difficult jobs on the planet. Not only that, but you will be in the business of trust since such careers are as responsible as they come. While most people instantly think of regular doctors like physicians and more specialized titles like surgeons, this is hardly everything you can be doing to make the lives of others better. Being a dentist is another highly appreciated and respected career path that not everyone can or is willing to follow. One of the reasons is the fact that dental school can be a truly challenging time.
Dental school is one of the most gruelling experiences anyone can go through, and if you have graduated and are now a certified dental practitioner, there is nothing left for us but to congratulate you. However, now comes the time to start looking for positions and prepare yourself for the real world. You are on your own now and the decisions you make could affect your whole career, right from the very start. This is why you need to move wisely if you want to increase your chances of success. Making a name for yourself in your field is a long and tedious mission during which you will need to both build the trust of the people in your community and expand your knowledge. Let us take a look at how to prepare for life after dental school.
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Contents
Start Looking at Specialised Job Boards
The first thing we would suggest you do is to get yourself familiar with popular job boards for dental professionals. While your school might have certain recruitment resources and practices in place that the students usually go with, you also have to be able to search for jobs on your own and there is no better way of doing so than these boards.
It makes sense to focus on specialist recruitment sites like www.dentaljobsonline.ie. These are used by dentists around the country all the time and such places are the best for companies to advertise their needs and experts to find potential jobs. They constantly have new listings, so we suggest that you visit such sites often until you find exactly what you are looking for. An opportunity worth checking out will present itself eventually, just keep trying and looking.
Source: LinkedIn
Learn How to Manage Time
Reality as a student and as a solo practitioner or associate is very different and it takes a lot of getting used to if the transition is done poorly. You may have been used to taking an hour or more to install fillings up until now, but in a clinic, you will have to be able to complete this type of procedure in 30 minutes or less. Of course, nobody should or will expect you to do it in half the time straight out of school, but this is something to think about and work on as you improve and learn.
With that being said, prepare right now for the faster pace and find ways to better organise your workload. You might have to delegate lesser jobs to support employees, for instance, so that you can focus on more pressing matters and do what is expected of you. Or maybe you could keep your schedule light at the beginning until you can adapt and perform more things during an average workday.
Source: Entrepreneur
Accept Criticism
As a new dentist, you have to be ready to deal with criticism, both good and bad. Do not take what people tell you personally and just keep your head up. It is perfectly normal for you to make mistakes at the moment since you are after all a brand new employee fresh off their education. This is most likely more of a reflection of your inexperience than your expertise as a dentist. Mistakes happen but not because you lack the know-how. Take it as an opportunity to learn and adjust and move on. Hard work is said to beat talent every time, so it will surely do the same in terms of getting you experience and the right amount of expertise.
Source: Penobscot Community Health Care
Do not Stop There
Another thing you should do is not stop after you have finished dental school. Dentistry changes all the time and new procedures and technologies are being introduced constantly, improving the dental hygiene and health of people. So, you have to keep on working on your education in order to keep up with the big and sudden changes and advances.
There are plenty of continuing education classes and courses that you can follow so you can earn new certifications and perform a wider range of procedures. You can also shadow some of your older peers and mentors to see how they work and learn new things, especially the little everyday aspects of being a dentist.
Source: Fiveprime
Make Time for Yourself
The last thing you have to do is remember to take time off work from time to time and do things that you love. Losing yourself in the work and forgetting who you are will not do your career any good. Clinics and dental school are very tough environments, so we would not suggest that you jump straight into the frying pan right after your studies. Start slow and make sure that you have plenty of time to decompress and enjoy life or else you will not be satisfied with your work life and suffer through your shifts, as well as when you finally arrive home.
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Conclusion and Takeaways
Having a healthy relationship with your job is often overlooked but in reality it is as important as actually having and doing a job. Follow these few tips if you want to enjoy your time as a dentist and become a better professional who is happy with where they are in life. This will allow you to start on the right foot and set yourself for a long and successful career in one of the most rewarding and fulfilling jobs on the planet.
