Post-graduate specialty choice among interns of a private dental school in Jeddah

Abstract

Evidence indicates that the majority of dental students report continuing their education further towards a post-graduate specialty degree. The choice of a career is a critical decision that has an obvious impact on a future life pattern. Based on the various factors that influence the decision of the students in choosing the post-graduate specialty student career counseling may be provided at the university level. This study was done to evaluate the specialty preference and their influencing factors among the interns in a private dental school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study is a cross-sectional survey conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among final year dental students batch 2020-2021. The response rate for the study was 85% which is 87 out of 102 interns from the batch 2020-21. The subjects of choice to pursue post-graduation among the respondents was Endodontics, Prosthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Oral maxillofacial surgery, Periodontics, Orthodontics, Restorative and esthetic dentistry, Advanced General Dentistry, Forensic Dentistry, and Oral Pathology. It is revealed that Oral Surgery followed by Orthodontics may be the leading choice of dental specialization among students and the preferred choice may be Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry. Our study and literature review suggest that there are few post-graduate specialties that are more preferred in comparison to some that are not. It is warranted that the students should be oriented about all the specializations in dentistry which will help in a targeted approach towards meeting the demand of supplying specialists from all the fields in Dentistry.