Life after dental school can bring its own challenges and surprises for new dentists. Here are six tips to remember during your first year of practicing, based on the experiences of a new dentist who has just completed their first year out of dental school1:

1. Finding the Right Place to Work Can Be a Challenge: Your job search may be more complicated than it would have been a few years ago. You still deserve to find a great launching pad for your new career. Sadly, many first-year dentists need help finding a positive work environment. Large corporate dental entities frequently fail to maintain a culture that will help you achieve a fulfilling career and work-life balance. Becoming an associate in a private practice without at least 3-5 years of experience can be challenging.
2. Gaining Experience and Learning the Best Way to Run a Practice is Time Well Spent Before You Decide to Become a Practice Owner: For new dentists, gaining experience and learning the best way to run a practice is time well spent before you decide to become a practice owner. Dental school works differently than practicing. Gone are the days of a three-hour block dedicated to a single patient. The reality is that dentists often have to juggle multiple patients and procedures in a day.
3. Location, Location, Location!: For many new dentists, the long-term goal may be to go into business for yourself. However, you will need experience and guidance in your first few years as a clinician, which is why most dentists start working as an associate. Ideally, you will work for a practice with a great mentor by your side.
4. Time Management, Clinical Quality, and Patient Case Presentation: My biggest struggles starting out were time management, clinical quality, and patient case presentation. Time management was the biggest challenge because in dental school we had a three-hour block to devote entirely to one patient and only had to focus on one thing at a time. Working with assistants in the office helped improve my efficiency, and I was able to learn how to multi-task better. Treatment time also significantly decreased due to the utilization of CEREC® CAD/CAM technology5.
5. Develop a Professional Support Network: The acquired skills have proved invaluable in my work as a researcher; for example, I attended a cadaver course on sinus lifting and worked in the clinic with more experienced colleagues as well as with residents. Moreover, as well as practical assistance, this network provided me with emotional support.
6. Reflect on Your Progress: There is truth to the cliché that dentistry lends itself to a career of lifelong learning. Everyone’s first year in practice inevitably alerts them to countless aspects of their practice that require development, but reflection with other early-career colleagues corroborates an appreciation of how far we’ve all come since our early days as qualified dentists.