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do you have to become a dental hygienist before becoming a dentist

I am a junior in high school and I am interested in become a dentist #dentist #dentistry #dental-hygienist #dental #medicine

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Rekha’s Answer

Hi Corey,

I appreciate that you are choosing Dentistry as your career path. To answer your question, you do not have to be a dental hygienist in order to apply for the Dentist. I strongly recommend shadowing in Dental office to strength your resume and to know whether dentistry is the one you want it.
I hope it answers your question.
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Julie’s Answer

No you do not have to be a hygienist to become a dentist. Study hard and become a dentist. I need teeth.
Thank you comment icon Hi, Julie! Thank you for answering Korey's question. Would you be able to provide more details about the path that can be taken to become a dentist? Gurpreet Lally, Admin
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warren’s Answer

dental school id 4 yrs after university. dental hygiene is 1-2 yr i believe. they are different
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Richard’s Answer

A dental hygienist is a separate career path. To become a dentist, you need a 4 year undergraduate degree with good grades and satisfying all the dental school prerequisites. Then you can apply to dental school which will be an additional 4 years of training.
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Julianne’s Answer

You don't have to become a dental hygienist to become a dentist. Once you complete your undergraduate degree, you can apply for dental school. You can graduate in 4 years as a dentist and can practice once you complete the National Boards and become licensed.
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Shannon’s Answer

yes shadowing is a great way to figure out what you want to do. at this stage you should be checking everything out! don't limit yourself to any one thing until you have to. one idea is to ask your parents' friends if you can shadow them, just for fun. if you don't like it, thank them and just leave politely. when you get to a place that has you blabbing for weeks about how cool _____ is, then you may have found your thing. even then keep a very open mind. having a wide variety of interests is really fun & keeps your brain growing for your whole life.
once you've found your thing, ask a ton of questions while you're shadowing. this is how your instructors will know you're serious about it. go online & read articles, then go to your mentor & ask an intelligent question. they'll be impressed. they will know that you're just a kid and won't expect you to know anything. they will, however, be pushing to see if you can read something & try to figure out more in your head. the articles you read will matter later (read the new england journal of medicine when it makes sense to you, for example); something that sounds like science in the national enquirer won't impress anyone. maybe a speech by NDT is a good place to start, or even billnyethescienceguy. find a sentence that's just a little bit over your head, look it up online to try to understand it and then ask your mentor to explain it. that's 'impressing your mentor 101'. it's not about getting all the right answers. it's about learning how to think, how to learn, form a complex sentence, all those professor-y skills.
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