Public Dental Health – Careers That Pay
- Dentist
- Practice Manager
- Consultant
- Researcher, Engineer
- Professor
Public dental health, or PDH, is all about the wellness and overall health of the public’s dental area of overall health. It is the industry of professionals that keeps entire communities and regions from being overwhelmed by the many lurking dental conditions and diseases attributed to subsequent and often drastic declines in quality of life. For those interested in a career in this particular sector, the following five options are not only civic-minded but also quite lucrative in many cases.
See our ranking of the 10 Best CEPH Accredited MPH Degrees Online.
1. Dentist
Perhaps the profession center-most to the PDH sector is that of the dentist. The dentist is the person who performs the most specialized work on teeth: cleaning, inspections, tooth removals and replacements, fillings, emergency treatments, and more. To become a dentist, one must acquire licensing in their state which requires completion of dental school and several other parameters. Those who complete these requirements and then become a dentist are then privy to a very high-pay, high-demand job in today’s medical industry.
2. Practice Manager
Practice managers work as the top management official at medical practices. In performing this role, they are typically in charge of hiring, firing, protocol, client relations, billing, and all else that takes place in the administrative portion of a medical practice. The only exception to this manager’s power lies with the doctors and their right to self-regulate in medical work within the facility. Those in this important managerial position often yield from a variety of business, management, and other backgrounds and educations.
3. Consultant
Consultancy is the professional giving of guidance and expert advice in any number of business areas. Consultants are called in to give advice to automakers, law practices, marketing companies, restaurant chains, and even doctors’ and dentists’ offices. As a consultant, one may find work in many areas of the PDH industry. To become a consultant, however, one must present with considerable experience and/or education. Firms and self-employment are the most common venues in which consultants work.
4. Researcher, Engineer
Research and development, often called R&D, is incredibly important to the future of dentistry in public health and all other capacities. Many think solely of endeavors in space travel and computer tech when research and engineering come to mind. While these areas of work are true to these professionals’ points of focus, they also work all throughout the medical industry to create new and more effective methods and products aimed at human health and well-being. Dental prosthetics, implants, alterations, and other areas of need all fuel a constant demand for these kinds of professionals in the PDH industry specifically.
5. Professor
If you are one to enjoy teaching others, a career as a professor can also be found in association with the fields of dentistry and PDH. Professors spend most of their time teaching and working on their lesson plans but do spend some time working on administrative tasks, meetings, and other various duties found in the postsecondary platform. Whether professing in dentistry or some entirely separate discipline, professors, as a whole, are expected to see a great increase in demand through the coming years. This then translates to higher wages, more job opportunities, and many other great benefits.
The PDH sector works to maintain the dental health of countless members of the greater public each and every day. Those working in this industry are thus very important, highly-sought, and quite often, well-paid. These five high-paying positions are just a few of the many to be found in public dental health today.
