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SHENYANG, China/FUKUOKA, Japan: Through a rare comparison, dental researchers from universities in China and Japan have gained new insight into the motivations of young people studying dentistry in both Asian countries. Among other findings, the study revealed that Chinese students appear to have entered the profession primarily for its financial benefits and gain of personal prestige, while their fellow students in Japan reported that they had chosen the field to help people and out of personal interest.
According to the paper, money or social status was the decisive factor for enrolling in a dental school for almost every third dental student in China. Only one in five said that they had a higher motivation for studying dentistry. One in three admitted that they had chosen dentistry for no particular reason.
In Japan, however, more students appear to have actively chosen a career in dentistry. Family was also found to be a major motivation, which indicates that a significant number of dental students in the country are from a dentistry background and plan to continue their parents’ family business after they have graduated.
With regard to career choices, more than half of all dental students in Japan want to become a general dentist. This differs significantly from the Chinese students, who want to specialise or pursue a master’s degree. The researchers said that this could be because the income of general dentists is very low in the country even though there are too few dentists to treat its population of one billion adequately. They suggested that the country will need to reform its dental education system to address this gap by attracting students through better incentives.
The participants in the study, published in the latest issue of the International Dental Journal, were fifth- and sixth-year dental students from dental schools in Shenyang in China and Fukuoka in Japan.
