Abstract:
Background: The choice of a career is a crucial decision that has a lifelong impact on a person’s living
pattern. It is important to understand the motives of those choosing to study dentistry, because these
motives may influence an individual’s level of commitment to the profession. The aim of the present
study was to highlight the motives of choosing dentistry as a career among 432 1st year dental students.
Methods: A pretested close ended questionnaire comprising of 30 questions, was administered to
1st year dental students registered under Barkatullah University, Bhopal. Students were asked questions
pertaining to the importance of five central motives money, people, business, flexibility, and personal
background for selecting dentistry as a career. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17. Results: It
was observed that being self‑employed (54%) and helping people (51%) were reported as the top two
factors for joining dentistry. Conclusion: Students’ vision of a being self‑employed and helping people
appears to have influenced their choice of dentistry. This implies that being independent may be one of
the most motivating factors underlying the bright image projected by the dental profession. The policy
makers should work on making dentistry a lucrative profession, and improve the other motivating factors.
Machine summary:
Results This questionnaire study was conducted to understand the motivation of 1st year dental students joined dentistry as a career.
Based on the mean scores, the top ten factors, which motivated male students to choose dentistry as a career, are demonstrated.
Supported by the mean scores the top ten factors, which motivated female students to choose dentistry as a career, are demonstrated.
The purpose of this investigation was to obtain information about the reasons for choosing dentistry as a career among 1st year dental students of Bhopal City.
91%), whereas self‑employment, altruistic motives (helping people), and dentistry as a prestigious career were given maximum scores by the students, in the present study.
A high rating of self‑employment is exhibited in a study done by Scarbecz and Ross[9] among dental students of USA, who also reported that, the mean score for males were significantly greater than females.
Dental students in the US[22] reported that prestige was the least important factor in their decision to study dentistry.
Comparable results were International Journal of Educational and Psychological Researches / Vol 1 / Issue 4 / October-December 2015 275 reported by dental students of Peru,[10] where the economic reason appeared in the fourth and sixth position for males and females, respectively.
Reasons for choosing dentistry as a career: A study involving male and female first‑year students in Peru.
Reasons for choosing dentistry as a career by Arab dental students.
Reasons for choosing dentistry as a career: A study of first year dental students, India.