The average cost of dental school

By Carina Boucher | Citizens Staff

You've got a passion for all things teeth — but you have questions about dental school. How much does it cost? How many years will you need to attend? Read on to answer those questions and more.

What types of dentistry are there?

To be accepted in to dental school, you'll need a four-year bachelor's degree — most dental students major in chemistry, biology, or physics, but no specific major is actually required, as long as it has a foundation in science. Then, you'll need to take the Dental Admission Test. It consists of natural sciences, perceptual ability, reading comprehension, and quantitative reasoning.

Once you pass that test, you'll decide if you want to complete a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) degrees. From there, you can decide whether you want to become an orthodontist, prosthodontist, oral surgeon, or general dentist.

How many years is dental school?

According to the American Dental Education Association (ADA), a dental school program is four years long. In the first and second year of dental school, you'll be focusing on biological science classes and functions of the body, as well as the diseases that can affect it. Classes usually include:

• Anatomy
• Physiology
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Pharmacology
• Oral anatomy, pathology, and history

You'll also be learning how to care for a wide and diverse array of populations, as well as how to interact with patients.

In your third and fourth year of dental school, you'll be doing mostly clinicals, or direct patient care, as well as practice management. You'll be learning how to care for the disabled, chronically ill, geriatric, and special care patients that you may be seeing, as well as children. All of this ensures that you have received a wide variety of experience during your dental degree program and will be able to handle any situation that may come your way.

How much is dental school?

U.S. News and World Report has named dentistry as one of the "100 best jobs" for the 7th year in a row, so you're in a great spot when it comes to choosing a career. There's job security, financial stability, and dentists are widely needed.

According to the ADA, over the four-year program, dental school tuition can range anywhere from $120,000-$424,000. That number includes tuition, fees, instruments, instructional materials, health services, and other fixed costs. That seems like a lot - but the typical salary of a dentist is over $150,000 per year, and some may make over $200,000 per year. You can also apply for loans, scholarships, or grants to help ease the burden of the high cost of attendance.

When applying for dental school, you'll also want to consider that you'll be required to buy your own equipment. Most programs will have a kit that you'll need to buy, costing you upwards of $5,000. But you'll be using it for hours every day during the academic year, so that cost is certainly worth it.

Paying for dental school

Dental school is pricey, but it's an investment in your future. There are a few ways that you can supplement the tuition costs:

• Apply for dental scholarships, grants, fellowships, and assistantship positions.
• Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to find federal student government loans and grants, as well as state and school financial aid.
• If you still have expenses and can't cover them yourself, you could take out a private dental school student loan to help with the cost.

Grants are need based, and scholarships can be either need or merit based. Neither of those require repayment.

Assistantships are usually merit based and can help cover your tuition in exchange for 10-15 hours of on-campus work each week. Some assistantship options could be a Teacher's Assistant or Research Assistant.

Ready for the future

When you're ready to take the next step in your education, we'll be right there with you. You can help fill the funding gap in your dental education with a Citizens Dental School Student Loan.