Dentistry is considered a great career with above-average salary and lots of respect. One of the things a dentistry professional has to do to keep their career moving forward is writing a perfect resume.
Martin Poduška Editor in Chief / Resume Writer Last updated: Oct. 26, 2023 Average: 4.9 ( 127 votes )
This resume guide for dentists provides all the key information needed to create an effective dental resume. Topics discussed include formatting, writing a summary, choosing skills, and creating work experience and education sections on a dentist’s resume.
Becoming a dentist is no small feat. While your years of training and education should certainly earn you a top-paying position, you will need a compelling resume to help get your foot in the door at the practice of your choice.
In this guide, we will be taking you through the necessary steps for optimizing your resume for a job in dentistry. By reading this guide, you will learn:
The general rule of thumb when it comes to any sort of healthcare resume is to use the reverse-chronological resume format when possible.
Reverse-chronological resumes place the utmost focus on work experience, making this section the largest and most central element in the document. This type of resume will list your most recent position first and work backward from there.
This format is ideal for dentistry because it gives candidates the best opportunity to showcase their relevant work experience and demonstrate their abilities through key responsibilities and achievements.
However, there are scenarios in which an alternative resume format may be required:
A resume summary serves an important purpose – introducing your resume to a hiring manager and whetting their appetite with just enough persuasive and relevant information to make them want to know more about you as a professional.
Let’s look at an example of an incorrect resume summary for a dentist and discuss how to correct it:
"Dental professional with 6 years of experience working in an office with new and recurring patients. Carried out a full range of dental work and experienced a high level of customer satisfaction throughout time in previous positions."
Why is this incorrect? This dentist's resume summary is on the right track but is missing a few key elements that would make it a lot stronger. First and foremost, the applicant should provide more specific details regarding the range of dental work experience they have and provide greater context around the patient satisfaction point.
"Enthusiastic and compassionate dental professional with over 6 years of experience working in dental care and administration. Specialized in dental prosthetics and related dental services. Received more than 50 positive reviews on Yelp, increasing the dental practice’s score from 3.5 to 5 stars."
Why is this correct? In this corrected example, the applicant makes it much more clear what areas of dentistry they specialize in (dental prosthetics). Additionally, they offer quantifiable information regarding their increased patient satisfaction levels through the improved Yelp rating example.
Working in dentistry requires you to have people skills that are equally as impressive as your dental skills. One wrong interaction with a customer can negatively impact a practice, no matter how good the quality of the work was.
With this in mind, it is important to highlight both hard (technical) and soft (interpersonal) skills on your resume. This will show employers that you are more than just a talented dentist – you are also a capable communicator who can satisfy a patient’s emotional needs as well.
Here are 10 hard and 10 soft skills to include on a dental resume:
When writing your work experience section, it is essential that your job descriptions do more than just plainly list your responsibilities.
You should use these descriptions as an opportunity to play up your biggest responsibilities and showcase any accomplishments you achieved during your time in the position.
Dentist | Cleaner Smiles Dental
Albuquerque, NM | May 2018 to June 2021
