The path to being a dentist in Australia is not always easy. You just don’t have to build experience and buy dental tools, you also should also consider a lot of other factors in the dental industry. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that “private health insurers paid benefits for over 31 million dental services provided in Australia” from 2017-2018. AIHW also reports that there are over 16,500 registered dentists as of 2016 and still growing. These figures show that demand for dental services and professionals continue to grow forging a more competitive avenue for aspiring dentists. Here are some of the struggles they face.
The Coronavirus pandemic
A of dental practitioners have been struggling at the onset of the coronavirus lockdown. Almost every country all over the world has enforced some sort of quarantine or lockdown forcing people to stay at home. The impact in Sydney can also be felt with hundreds of stores temporarily closing. Even dental clinics are affected with these draconic measures. Patients can’t go to clinics and even dentists have to go online to buy dental tools. Those who are eager to accumulate dental experience need to put their ambitions on hold and find other ways to earn a living.
Cost and maintenance of practice
The road to being a registered dentist involves a considerable amount of investment in terms of finances, time, and effort. Especially for those who want to start their own dental clinics, a lot of investment is needed – from dental chairs to dental scaling instruments and everything in between. These capital expenditures can be quite expensive at first with costs reaching up to USD500, 000. However, in the long run, successful dentists don’t need to spend as much anymore and can easily buy dental tools, medicines, and other medical paraphernalia.
Immigrants face more struggles
Aspiring dentist immigrants may also find it harder to jumpstart their careers in Australia. Despite years of studying dental anatomy and gaining professional experience in their origin country, they still need to build enough experience in Australia. Some need to take side jobs or pursue other careers before they can fully practice dentistry. Despite this, many foreign nationals still dream of practicing dentistry in Australia because the benefits and rewards outweigh the challenges in the long run.
Despite the difficulties of aspiring dentists in this day and age, the profession remains stronger than ever as more people seek dental care.
