Emerging Trends in Dental Specialty and Employment Choice Among Male Dentists Graduating from King Saud University between 2005 and 2015

Alshahrani, Sami; Masud, Nazish; Moukaddem, Afaf; Alswayyed, Tariq; Masoud, Hussain; Almothen, Mothen; Alshammari, Yasmeen

doi:10.12816/0044341

Emerging Trends in Dental Specialty and Employment Choice Among Male Dentists Graduating from King Saud University between 2005 and 2015

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ College of Dentistry, King Khalid University Abha

² Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences Riyadh

³ Department of Advanced Restorative Dentistry, King Abdulaziz Medical City Riyadh

⁴ Ministry of Health Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

⁵ Dentist at private sector

10.12816/0044341

Abstract

Aim of the work: specialization in any field is known to be associated with higher productivity. Postgraduate dental education has a key role in providing the proper training for practitioners. This study aimed to assess the dental specialization trends among dentists who graduated from 2005 to 2015.
Method: this observational descriptive study was conducted with the dental graduates of King Saud University. The participants were identified randomly and contacted via telephonic communication based on the list provided by the university academic affairs. The structured interview included 12 multiple choice questions to identify the specialty preferences of the graduate dentists. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test were used where applicable. The p-value < 0.05 was considered significant for all applied statistical tests.
Results: this study included 233 dental graduates the majority of which were working in the government sector (70%). Almost half of the subjects (49%) were general practitioners and had no specialization. Most of them had an interest in a postgraduate degree with prosthodontics being the most aspired specialty (30%). The overall trend of specialization between 2005-2015 showed a marked decline in both local and international post-graduation (p-value 0.013). Conclusion:specialization in the Saudi dentistry field is experiencing a decline in the number of graduates both locally and internationally. From here arises the importance of career and specialization orientation especially among the final year students to guide them in choosing their future specialties, while considering the needs and requirements of the community. This should be coupled with a proper recognition of the dental needs of the Saudi population.

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