1Professor & Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2Senior Research Officer, Clinical Research Unit Apollo Proton Cancer Centre, Chennai, India
3Associate Director, Analytics Evolent Health Medical Devices, Washington, USA
4Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
5Professor & Head, Department Paediatrics and Preventive Dentistry, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Sobhan Mishra, Professor & Head, Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Institute of Dental Sciences, Siksha O Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, e-mail: sobhan.surgeon@gmail.com
Online published on 27 March, 2020.
To assess the opinion of dental students and interns regarding dentistry as a career option based on the course, curriculum and their future plans.
A pre-piloted questionnaire was distributed among the final year undergraduate students and interns of dental institutes in Odisha, India. They were surveyed in relation to their opinion about dentistry and its scope as a career option.
Age, gender and the batch to which the students belonged to were the only criteria for segregating the students. Chi-square, Fisher Exact and 2 sample T-tests tests have been used to find the significance of study parameters on categorical scale between two or more groups (gender based).
67.9% of the respondents were females which show a strong inclination among the female gender towards choosing health care as a career option. 61.2% female respondents compared to 58.8% of males preferred pursuing post-graduation after under graduation.
Due to the societal orientation which regards women as primarily home makers, the responsibilities for family caretaking continue to fall disproportionately on women. This study provides valuable information to the curriculum and policy makers of dental education in India which will help make dentistry a better and viable career option for many in future and in particular for the female gender to challenge these strict gender divisions.
Dental Education, Gender, Career, Students
