Dentists diagnose and treat dental problems, provide preventative care and education to maintain oral health. They perform procedures like fillings, extractions, root canals, and use x-rays to examine teeth. Becoming a dentist requires undergraduate education with a focus on science, high grades, dental admission tests, and earning a dental degree with clinical training. Dentists can specialize or open a private practice, and salaries range from around $108,000 to over $176,000 depending on experience level.

1. DentistryAshley Gonzalez

2. Dentists..Diagnose and treat problems with teeth/tissues in the mouthGive adviceAdminister care to help prevent future problems Provide instructionsInformation

3. Remove tooth decayFill cavitiesExamine x-raysPlace protective plastic sealants on children's teethStraighten teethRepair fractured teeth Perform corrective surgeryInformation Continued

4. Extract teethMake modelsTake measurements for denturesAdminister anestheticsWrite prescriptionsInformation Continued

5. Take high school biology, chemistry, physics, health and math courses Maintain a high GPAAttend Undergraduate SchoolTake the Dental Admissions Test (DAT)Earn a Dental DegreeBecome LicensedConsider SpecializingStart a Practice or join a PartnershipHow To

6. First two years consist of classroom and lab coursesFinal two years are spent in clinics under the supervision of licensed dentistsExpect to work 7 to 10 hours a day, not including emergenciesHave awesome teeth!Requirements

7. Percentile 10th 25th 75th 90th $107,432 $119,635 $155,770 $176,465Salaries

8. Contributor, An EHow. "How to Become a Dentist | EHow.com." EHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | EHow.com. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ehow.com/how_7978_become-dentist.html>."Dentists." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 17 Dec. 2009. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos072.htm>."How to Become a Dentist." Degrees, Schools, Online Courses and Careers - Education-Portal.com. Web. 28 Apr. 2011. <http://education-portal.com/how_to_become_a_dentist.html>."Google Images." Google. Web. 17 May 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://dentistteethwhiteningreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dentist-teeth-whitening-1.jpg>.Bibliography