Motivations and future aspirations of dental interns: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Career choice is one of the most important and critical decisions in a student's life. Educators and admission committees are also interested in researching the factors that affect a student's decision to opt for dentistry. Objectives: To identify dental interns' motivation for studying dentistry and to study their future aspirations after graduation. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive survey. A detailed, anonymous, structured questionnaire to assess motivating factors for joining dentistry as a profession was administered to the study group of 78 dental undergraduate students undergoing internship (interns). The questionnaire consisted of sections on demographic details, motivational factors, and career choice items. Data was analyzed using counts and percentages and ranking of motivating factors was based on calculation of mean and standard deviation. Results: The response rate was 94%. Majority of the respondents were females (80%). The most popular reasons for choosing dentistry as a career were family advice, prestige and social status, interest in medical sciences and altruistic motives. The majority of the students planned to do postgraduation (35.1%) or practice dentistry (18.9%) after graduation. The dental students had a positive attitude towards the dental profession. Conclusion: The motives for joining dentistry were primarily related to personal factors. The students took responsibility for their career choice and parents' approval played a major role. Majority of the students planned to pursue a postgraduation degree after completing graduation and few were inclined to be employed in public or private sector.