To practice as a dentist, a DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) or a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine) is required. Both of these graduate degrees are earned after completion of a bachelor’s degree. Both DDS and DMD programs have similar admissions requirements, and most importantly, both will qualify you for a career in dentistry! In addition to general practice dentistry, there are 10 specialties within dentistry that you may wish to pursue.

You can find more information about a career in dentistry, dental school, and how to prepare at ADEA.org.  A great place to start is their Why Be a Dentist? page.

Program Admission Prerequisites

In addition to selecting a major and completing your bachelor’s degree at Beloit College, students interested in continuing on to DDS or DMD training need:

• Two introductory Biology courses with lab: Zoology (BIOL111), Botany (BIOL 121), or Topics in Introductory Biology (BIOL172) and Microbiology (BIOL 208)
• Four courses with lab in Chemistry: Introductory Chemistry (CHEM 117), Environmental, Analytical and Geochemistry (CHEM 220), and Organic Chemistry I and II (CHEM 230 and 235)
• One semester of Biochemistry (CHEM 260 or CHEM 300)
• General Physics I and II (PHYS 101 and 102)
• 2 semesters of English with intensive writing
• Dental Admission Test (DAT) score, administered by the American Dental Association (ADA)

Additionally, many programs recommend:

• Four advanced Biology courses: Cell Biology (BIOL 237), Anatomy (BIOL 256), Human Physiology (BIOL 257) and Genetics and Evolution (BIOL 289)

Some programs may require:

• A math or statistics course: (ex. MATH 110: Calculus or BIOL 247 Biometrics)
• Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 100)
• Principles of Economics (ECON 199)

Additional Requirements

Individual schools may have specific requirements. Check the website of schools that you are particularly interested in applying to.

More Information

• Associated American Dental School Application Service (AADSAS)
• American Dental Education Association (ADEA)