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About Dentistry
You'll become
Average Salaries
Dentistry workers may earn between $53,000 and $185,000 per year
Play a leading role in the Australian healthcare sector and build in-demand professional skills by studying a dentistry course.
You love working with people and want to make a difference with your job. Challenge yourself, build an exciting new career, and play a key role in a significant preventative health field by studying a dentistry course.
After completing a dentistry course, you’ll be eligible to apply to work as a dentist, diagnosing and treating oral diseases, advising on oral health, and restoring normal oral functions in patients. You’ll work in a small team, likely in a private practice, to provide the best possible dental care to all your patients.
If you’re proactive and people-focused, have an interest in health and a desire to learn, a career as a dentist is for you.
A dentistry course will equip you with the versatile and practical skills to diagnose and treat a range of different oral health problems, and build essential knowledge of dental illnesses and treatments. With a focus on practical learning, a dentistry course will ensure you graduate with the tools to succeed in the vital and growing dental industry. By working as a dental graduate, you’ll also build the essential interpersonal and business management skills required to manage a successful dental practice.
You must study dentistry as a bachelor’s degree, and apply to sit an examination to receive qualification to practice as a dentist. After completing a dentistry course, you’ll work as a dentist or dental surgeon. If you have a passion for learning and want to challenge yourself to succeed, a career in dentistry may be the rewarding and exciting opportunity you’re looking for.
If you love working with people, thrive when challenged, and are seeking an exciting and rewarding career in the health sector, a dentistry course is for you.
What do dentistry graduates do?
Dentistry course graduates usually work as dentists, and may work in small teams with other dental professionals to provide holistic dental care to patients. As a dentist, you can expect to perform tasks like:
- Preparing for dental procedures, including sterilising and organising dental tools;
- Diagnosing dental diseases using a range of methods including radiographs, salivary tests and medical histories;
- Administering anaesthetics;
- Providing preventative oral health care such as periodontal treatments, fluoride applications and oral health promotion;
- Conducting cleanings, oral procedures and minor oral surgeries;
- Providing restorative oral care such as implants, complex crown and bridge restorations, orthodontics and other teeth repairs;
- Conducting and interpreting oral radiography;
- Performing minor oral surgeries, including tissue biopsies;
- Prescribing medications;
- Advising patients on oral hygiene and other oral health care;
- Managing a dental practice, including managing appointments, patient files and leading team members; and
- Ensuring practice compliance with all relevant occupational health and safety regulations.
Due to the small-scale nature of private practice, dentists may find themselves taking on a broad range of management and administrative duties in addition to the technical requirements of practicing dental care. With this experience, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to build skills in administration, customer service, scheduling, and database management, and develop the ability to work effectively in both teams and in independent work.
Career Outcomes
Career Outcomes
Due to the small-scale nature of dental practice, your work will likely also involve elements of practice management and business management, and you may also manage or own the dental practice in which you work.
Graduates of dentistry courses usually work as dentists, and may seek employment in private practice, hospital or clinic settings. After completing a dentistry course, you may work as a:
Is dentistry right for you?
You’ll thrive working in dentistry if you:
- Are driven and proactive
- Enjoy working in small teams
- Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Have a thirst for learning
- Can take initiative
- Have a mind for details
- Enjoy repetitive work
- Are organised and focused
- Work well with people
- Want to challenge yourself
Job opportunities
The Australian Government’s Job Outlook anticipates modest growth in job opportunities in the dental industry in the next few years. Currently employing approximately 10,300 dentists, the industry is expected to grow to employ approximately 11,200 people by 2020.
While growth in job opportunities has contracted slightly over the past decade, the Australian Government recently removed the dental profession from the list of professions seeking skilled migrants after lobbying from the Australian Dental Association, indicating more employment opportunities will be available in the future.
Average Salaries
A dentist in Australia can expect to earn between $53,000 and $185,000 per year, with most earning around $98,000, according to PayScale. PayScale notes a positive relationship between experience and earning capacity, and identifies that dentists’ earning potential peaks after practitioners have been working for approximately 20 years, before declining slightly in later years.