Views of Students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Dental School on Dentistry as a Career

Background: Career choice is a critical decision that has an obvious impact on the future life pattern of an individual. Understanding the priorities and socio-demographic background of students choosing dentistry is essential because economic factors may influence an individual's level of commitment to the profession. Aim/Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate factors that influenced the current group of dental students to accept to pursue Dentistry as an undergraduate programme from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) dental school. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of KNUST dental students carried out from January to March 2017. The complete student population was 215 which included 25 foreign students and thus there was no sampling. A structured Google form questionnaire was designed and submitted to students through their respective class representatives. The data collected included reasons for their choice of the program of Dentistry and the factors that influenced their decision. Results: A total of 160 responded out of the total student's population of 215. This represented 74.4% of the total student population. The average age was 23.4 years. And the male to female ratio was 1:1.3. 75% of the respondents had been to a dental clinic before. 51 (31.9%) chose dentistry as their first choice. About 23% of the students reported they ended up in dentistry due to their non-acceptance into the medical school. 20% of the students said that they had no prior knowledge of dentistry and 50% of the students indicated that Dentistry was not their first option because there was no government financial sponsorship for students opting for dentistry at the KNUST dental school as compared to the Medical program. Conclusion: Dentistry was not the preferred program choice among dental students from KNUST. Majority of them ended up in Dentistry because of their non-admission into Medical school. Only 31.9% chose dentistry as their first preference. The majority who chose it as their first choice had had previous positive encounters with dental surgeons. Other students made the decision based on advice from relatives or due to their belief that the profession was lucrative or had flexible working hours.