- November 25, 2025
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How Long to become a dentist
Before you become a dentist you need one core thing…
Dedication & Passion
Now with the easy part out of the way, what would it take for me to become a dentist? I decided to review every single dental textbook I could get my hands on. I started looking through different articles online, speaking to others who wanted to become dentists, and I even sat down in a dental chair with my dentist and asked him how he became a dentist.
And now, I’ll save you all that work I did to give you the super simple answer that I missed. Spoiler alert: your second-grade teacher was right. If you put in the work and time, you will end up achieving what it takes to become what you want to be (in this case, a dentist). It's not that it takes any crazy level of studying or an insane amount of homework.
What it really needs is dedication and a love for the profession you will be doing the rest of your life, day in, day out. You’re looking at teeth. You’re going to wake up and think about teeth. Some nights, you might even have dreams (or nightmares) of teeth. It might seem a little bit weird, but when you learn to love the profession, it might become a dream fit for you.
Why Should you?
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. It’s the biggest reasons we all initially think about before becoming dentists. The answer is yes, the salary is great. The average dentist makes $200,000 a year, while some who own a practice make as much as one or even 2 million a year.
Why is it that dentistry pays so high? One, because it’s a very, very difficult art. Two, because there are many different skills involved in dentistry, from hand skills to knowledge, you need to be incredibly specific with the way that you use your hands, with how you hold the hand piece, with how you sit in the chair. There are no mistakes, there’s no trial and error. There is no guessing at what could work.
And then on top of that, you also have an aesthetic variant to this, where the way that you make something and the art that you put out changes a person's life forever. And that is why it is so important to take the time to go through undergraduate studies and then to get into dental school.
The Time Starts now
The hardest part about becoming a dentist is just getting accepted into dental school.
Getting Accepted
It might be that you have a lot of extracurricular activities, but your GPA isn't high enough, or you might find out that you're going in with a 3.4 GPA, but you didn't have enough connections made throughout your time in undergrad, and you end up applying to four different schools before you can even get accepted.
Dental School Years
So once you're accepted into dental school, then the fun begins. It is years and years of learning, testing, and trials before you even get to work on a real patient. I can't even explain how many false plastic teeth I drilled holes into before I eventually even got to try it on a cadaver tooth.
Residency
But all that work finally paid off, because that's when I had to start and move towards my residency. The residency stage is where your practical skills truly develop.
Getting Accepted
It might be that you have a lot of extracurricular activities, but your GPA isn't high enough, or you might find out that you're going in with a 3.4 GPA, but you didn't have enough connections made throughout your time in undergrad, and you end up applying to four different schools before you can even get accepted.
Dental School Years
So once you're accepted into dental school, then the fun begins. It is years and years of learning, testing, and trials before you even get to work on a real patient. I can't even explain how many false plastic teeth I drilled holes into before I eventually even got to try it on a cadaver tooth.
Residency
But all that work finally paid off, because that's when I had to start and move towards my residency. The residency stage is where your practical skills truly develop.
How much longer does it take to become a dentist?
When you become a dentist, you have a few different options. You can choose a residency program to attend, which requires you to be accepted first, and based on your performance in dental school, you have different options for the residencies.
Residency Options & Timeline
A residency is kind of like trials for a doctor. You go in, you work under another doctor, and while you are licensed, you have to be observed by that doctor throughout your residency. A standard dental residency is one year long, but there are also different specialties, such as orthodontics, prosthodontics, or periodontics.
Each of these has a two-year to four-year residency just to complete it. There are also oral and maxillofacial surgeons; these surgery residencies can go as long as six years, and sometimes even require you to get an MD.
So what is the right choice for you? Well, that depends on where your love is. Maybe you decide that you want to be an artist and you want to do cosmetic dentistry, producing veneers like me, Dr Gretchen Galvin. Or maybe you are more interested in the surgery side of things, and you want to start placing full arch dental implants from pterygoid to zygomatic endpoints, like Dr Bryce Richardson of Vivid Smiles Dentistry out in Parker, Colorado. Or, you may decide that you want to move into the study of orthodontics and start changing the smiles of teenagers and adults through the practice of orthodontics, such as Dr Matt Miller working out of Rocky Point Orthodontics in Long Island. Thanks to the experts in the dentistry field, you don’t need to worry about “what do I need to do?” They believe that if they can do it, so can you.
Frequently Asked questions
Becoming a dentist isn't just about getting into dental school, it's about navigating a long, expensive, and highly competitive path. Even after graduation, the decisions don't stop. Will you stay an associate or become a practice owner? How do you handle the stress, debt, and real-world challenges? Read More...
You might be wondering what the dental profession pays you. If you’re going to be looking at teeth all day, I’m sure you don’t want to be wondering what egg prices are going to be when you get off work. As a dentist myself, Read More...
Whether it is providing preventative care, delivering dental restorative procedures, eliminating pain or correcting dento-facial esthetics, often, in a single visit, the dentist can Read More...
Dr. Gretchen Galvin
General Dentist | 10+ Years of Experience
Dr. Gretchen Galvin is a nationally recognized dentist known for her expertise in dental veneers, dental implants, and IV sedation. She is the founder of a leading online continuing education platform that has trained thousands of dentists across the country and helped solidify her reputation as one of Buffalo's most in-demand cosmetic dentists.
