How Long Does It Take to become a dentist?
- November 25, 2025
- 11308 Views
The 8 Year Process From Freshman Year To Dental Lisencure
Getting a dental license starts off before your first lecture at University. It begins with getting into a college that will set you up for dental school. There a long list and choosing one where you will thrive in is important. With a good GPA and some extra curricular you can get into a college that will work for you.
Undergradute
During your undergradute you can in theroy major in anything. However there are some undergraduates that are more suited to preparing you for dental school. Most of the doctors we have interviewed have majored in Biology or Chemistry. Others majored in Engineering or Buisness. But there are certain pre-requistes that you need to take to get into dental school. Each dental school sets its own requirments. Be sure to check the ones you plan to apply to. Generally the following list is what is required: • Biology with Lab • Oragnic Chemistry with Lab • Oragnic Chemistry with Lab • Physics • Biochemistry • Anatomy • Calculus • 100 level English If you do choose to major in something other than biology or chemistry, consider buisness. From our surveys we see that buisness majors tend to be the most succsesful dentists. They start their own practice and with a few strategies from thier buisness they were able to grow their pratice to multiple locations. 88% of dentists feel they were underprepared to run their own practice. With buisness majors this figure falls to just 34%. Choose a major that you believe will benifet you and your career. If you are going to go into debt you may as well make it benifet you in the long run!
Dental School
DAT (Dental Admission Test), the LSAT for dental school. A standardized natinal test scored from 0 to 30, with the average being only 19. This test and your GPA will be the decieding factor in what dental schools let you in. While shadowing dentists and showing leadership experince will help. A good DAT score is worth more than anything else. There are prep courses to help you so with enough studying anyone can do well on the DAT. Once you arrive at dental school you have 4 years of work ahead of you. Each year building on the last preparing you for the dental field.
Year 1
Heavy classroom work to lay the ground work for clinical dentisry • Gross anatomy • Histology and cell biology • Biochemistry and physiology • Dental anatomy and occlusion • Introduction to clinical dentistry • Some preclinical lab work (practicing on plastic teeth)
Year 2
Heavy classroom work to lay the ground work for clinical dentisry • Pathology and pharmacology • Radiology • Periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics • Preclinical lab work • Introduction to clinical dentistry • May start seeing actual patients toward end of year (Depends on the dental school)
Year 3
Heavy classroom work to lay the ground work for clinical dentisry • Working in school's dental clinic treating patients • Rotations through different specialties • Building competency in fillings, crowns, extractions • Patient management and diagnosis • Required number of procedures you must complete
Year 4
Heavy classroom work to lay the ground work for clinical dentisry • More complex patient cases • Meeting all clinical requirements for graduation • Electives in specialties you're interested in • Applying for residencies if pursuing a specialty • National Board Dental Exam
Dental Specialties
After completing dental school and passing the board dental exam. There are a two main options for you, you could go right into general dentistry or choose to specalize. Here is a breakdown of how much more schooling is required for each speacality. • Orthodontics (2-3 years) • Maxillofacial Surgery (4-6 years) • Pediatric Dentistry (2-3 years) • Endodontics (2-3 years) • Periodontics (3 years) A full breakdown of each specality is outside the scope of this article but we plan to relase one soon! This way you can prepare your plan from the very start.
Is It Worth It?
From our research, those with drive and ambition for their field and a desire to grow their practice have a great outlook. From their income to their work life balance, these practice owners thrive from all the work they have put in. In our interviews they state how looking back they enjoyed the years they spent in school, both in class and out of class.
Frequently Asked questions
Atleast 8 years but often 9 or more if you choose to speaclaize. Read More...
Dentist make between 160k a year up to 250k as an associate. If you choose to own you own practice there is no limit to how much you could make.
If you want to work in the dental field, passion for care and great treatment are a must. As well, if your someone who wants a path to growing your own company than becoming a practice owner is a great way to do so.
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.
