Abstract
Aim: The aim of the present study was to explore the reasons for choosing dentistry as a career among Libyan undergraduate dental students attending the Dental Faculty, University of Benghazi during the academic year 2011-2012.Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a cohort of 192 dentalstudents (87 males and 105 females; 19-26 years old) attending the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Benghazi. An anonymous questionnaire included 30 questions was administered to all the students and they were required to rate the importance of 28 items on a 10 point Visual Analogue Scale ‘VAS’. Parametric tests were employed toexplore the significant discrepancies between scores of different groups.Results: Dentistry was the first choice for 78.6% with no significant sex difference.Helping people was given the maximum score by the students followed by the scientific factor. While, the least scores were given to the coincidence factor. There were no observed sexual dimorphism in the response of all the questions (p ≥0.058), except that females appeared to be significantly influenced by their high grades at high schools compared to males (P= 0.032).Conclusions: Helping people and scientific factors were found to be the most motivating factors for both sexes. Career education programmes at schools might help students to choose their careers.
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