Gender-Based Motivational Factors For Choosing Dentistry As A Career By First Year Dental Students Of College Of Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: Dentistry, also known as “Dental Medicine” is opted for various reasons like prestige, socioeconomic status or personal desire. However, some join dentistry just to fulfil the wishes of their parents. Students who choose dentistry by their own choice excel better in this field. Another general impression is that mostly female students prefer it. To have a true picture of these impressions in our society, we planned this study to identify the reasons and motives of undergraduate dental surgeons for joining dentistry. Methods: A cross-sectional study, was conducted on 278 students at Margalla College of Dentistry, from December 2020 to April 2021 after the approval of the Ethical review committee of the institute. - The probability judgmental sampling technique was used. Students who consented were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data which was analyzed using SPSS 21. Results: In this study, about 48.4% of students selected dentistry as their first choice but out of these only 48.9% did prior career planning. Female students 76 (49.6%) opted for dentistry as compared to male students 12 (30.7%). However, there was an insignificant difference regarding career choice between both genders (p=0.591). Prominent motivating factors were flexible work patterns (63.5%), self-employment (63%), financial security (44.8%) and parents wish (25%). Conclusion: Students chose Dentistry not only due to their interests but also because of flexible work patterns, financial security and self-employment. Both genders have more or less the same inclination towards dentistry. Keywords: Career; Dental students; Factors; Pakistan; Undergraduate.