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: Zoology (BIOL111), Botany (BIOL 121), or Topics in Introductory Biology (BIOL172) and Microbiology (BIOL 208)
• Four advanced Biology courses: Cell Biology (BIOL 237), Anatomy (BIOL 256), Human Physiology (BIOL 257) and Genetics and Evolution (BIOL 289)
• Four courses in Chemistry: Introductory Chemistry (CHEM 117), Environmental, Analytical and Geochemistry (CHEM 220), and Organic Chemistry I and II (CHEM 230 and 235)
• General Physics I and II (PHYS 101 and 102)
• Calculus (MATH 110)
• Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 100)
• Principles of Economics (ECON 199)
• 2 semesters of English with intensive writing
• 1 semester of statistics
• Dental Admission Test (DAT) score, administered by the American Dental Association (ADA)

Additional Requirements

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

More Information

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