As a pre-dental student, an internship can provide you with invaluable knowledge and experiences. It opens you up to the real-world implications of your prospective field and gives you a close-up look at what the profession entails.
An internship abroad, in particular, opens your eyes to a breadth and wealth of experiences that enrich your worldview. As such, you should also consider completing an overseas pre-dental enrichment program.
If you’re still undecided about applying for a pre-dental internship, keep reading to learn about its benefits to both your career and life.
Benefits of Pre-Dental Internships
The benefits of completing a pre-dental internship include further studies, a thriving dental career, a global perspective, and an expansive network.
1. Invaluable Industry Experience
It’s become a meme that even entry-level jobs require experience from applicants. Doing an internship provides you with that experience and more. You’ll be working alongside dental professionals and getting a first-hand look at how it’s done in the real world.
The practical experiences you’ll have can include:
- Patient Handling – You’ll learn how to speak with patients and know, for example, whether they need reassurance about an upcoming procedure.
- Administrative Work – Not all dental work is done on patients; you can also learn about different administrative functions when you intern.
- Office Politics – This is an area of the industry you can’t learn in the classroom.
- Career Enlightenment – Because you’ll be working in a specific dental field, completing an internship gives you clear insight into what it actually entails.
- Global Medical Perspective – Those who intern overseas come home with a unique global medical view—an asset to any practice you pursue.
Additionally, unlike jobs where you need to be extra thoughtful when choosing, you can try out different areas of the dental field, such as sports dentistry. Internships let you test out different practices and areas of responsibility, helping you find the most fulfilling one.
2. Chance to Observe Professionals
Simply seeing how dental professionals conduct their day-to-day practice is invaluable to your educational journey. You can observe not just how they perform procedures but also how they interact with patients and other office staff. This adds to your sense of professionalism, enabling you to be a seamless fit when you finish your studies.
Moreover, pre-dental internships allow you to practice in different field areas. Internship programs can assign you to work with dental hygienists, for example. This gives insight into how other aspects of dental care tie up, making you a more insightful professional in the future.
3. Exposure to Unusual Situations
When you spend months in the dental field as an intern, you’ll inevitably be exposed to cases and situations you probably haven’t even read about yet. Exposure to unusual conditions gives you a first-hand view of how professionals adapt to them.
For example, you’ll likely encounter advanced oral diseases and conditions and see how dental professionals approach the issue. Even watching how the pros react to these situations plants seeds of knowledge in you, making you ready when it crosses your path.
Similarly, you could find yourself in a place with limited medical equipment and supplies when interning abroad. Exposure to underserved areas teaches you to be more adaptable and not be fazed by the limiting circumstances and the unfamiliar. This will be an asset when you return home to more accommodating work environments, such as access to technology like digital dental radiography.
4. Confidence
Experiences gained from an internship directly translate to a more confident dental professional. When you have hands-on experience in a specific field, you’ll have an aura of confidence potential employers, patients, and colleagues can sense. And when you’re confident in what you’re doing, you tend to perform better.
5. Dental School Admissions Support
Pre-dental enrichment programs have a network of admissions experts and dental educators. They can provide dental school admissions support to participants who complete their internship programs. This support can include:
- Dental School Admissions Counseling
- Interview Coaching
- Letters of Recommendation
These can be crucial to getting admitted to the top dental schools across the globe and getting essential tips and tricks of the trade.
6. Ideal Candidate
On paper, you immediately become more attractive to prospective employers. Professionals and organizations understand the value of pre-dental internships and how they foster growth in individuals. So, a pre-dental internship gives you a leg up on other candidates who don’t have the same wealth of experience, and it affords you access to more opportunities.
Additionally, you’ll be an adaptable, resourceful, and confident applicant that will stand out from any pack you go up against.
Final Thoughts
A pre-dental internship requires an upfront investment from you—be it time and energy or a placement fee for an overseas program. But the rewards far outweigh the costs, making it a great investment for your career.
