What is the workplace of a dentist?

Don't be fooled into thinking that you can only work in a local dental surgery there are a multitude of places a dentist can work! The workplace for a dentist is however a dental office or dental hospital. The conditions are often typical sterile clinical environments with resident dentists and nurses. A dentists day are never the same due to the variation in the patients and interaction with different people every day. 

General practice

Most dentists work in a local dental practise and are known as general dental practitioners. The location of this surgery is often a high street or village, often local to the dentists. The locality of surgery often means that flexible work hours are available. General dental practitioners can work under the NHS or for a private dentist however most choose to do both in these settings. 

Community practise

Community dentists work in many locations for example private homes, nursing homes, community surgeries and mobile surgeries. The role of a community dentist is to treat patients who struggle with accepting treatment in a general surgery. These patients must be referred to a community dentist. Community dentists typically look after patients who are homebound, elderly, physically or mentally disabled or suffer from mental illnesses. The demanding nature of this job is made worthwhile by the rewarding aspects.

Hospital practise

Hospital practises do not provide general services to the general public and often see less patients then general practise dentists. Dentists who work in a hospital partake in more complex surgeries such as operations to fix complex medical conditions, severe facial injuries, medical abnormalities or dental diseases.  The services they offer are categorised into four functions

• consultant advice and treatment for cases of special difficulty including accident
• dental care for long- stay patients 
• dental care of short-stay patients 
• dental care of out- patients whose complex needs require care to happen in a hospital

There work is often highly specialised within these fields

• oral and maxillofacial surgery
• oral surgery
• orthodontics
• paediatric dentistry
• restorative dentistry

Armed forces

Some dentists choose to join the armed forces as a dental officer. Your expertise will be used to treat patients from all areas of the armed forces