Dentist Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

What to highlight in a dentist resume

Regardless of your branch of dentistry, every dentist’s resume should highlight:

• Relevant dentist education, licenses, and certifications as a dentist
• Expertise in vital dental qualities, hard skills, and soft skills
• The field of dentistry you’re in and your experience and expertise in it
• Real data that showcases your most significant dentist accomplishments, for example a high patient retention rate
• Types of dental procedures and equipment you have expertise in

How to write your dentist resume

The format of your dentist resume will largely depend on your level of dentist experience and particular skills. If you have plenty of professional experience, the go-to format is the chronological (aka reverse-chronological) format, which focuses on these valuable experiences.

The three dentist resume formats dentists can choose from are:

• Reverse-chronological: Also known as the chronological
  format, this format lists relevant dentist soft and hard skills while featuring your work experience in reverse-chronological order, with your most recent dentist job at the top.
• Functional: The functional
  format focuses on dentists’ soft and hard skills instead of work experience. This is an ideal format for recently graduated dentists.
• Combination/Hybrid: The combination
  format combines the reverse-chronological and functional resume formats and equally features work experience and dentist skills. This is a good format for dentists with a lot of experience.

Regardless of the dentist resume format you go with, you should include these resume sections to best showcase your dentist abilities:

Contact information

Your dentist resume header section with your contact information should be visually appealing and include information about yourself, such as:

• Your name and professional title. Most dentistry professionals have either a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DDM) degree. These abbreviations (DDS and DDM) are typically included after their name in their signatures or other formal documents. In a resume, you can include it in your header and also mention it in the Education section.
• Type of dentist (general dentist, dental assistant, endodontist, orthodontist, etc.). Most dentist resumes follow the format of listing your name and your field of dentistry right below it.

Resume summary

Most hiring managers will read the dentist resume summary first, so it should stand out and sell your greatest strengths as a dentist. This section should, in a few short sentences, showcase your:

• Years of dental experience
• Best achievements as a dentist in your specialty
• Top technical skills in your specialty

Skills

The skills section in your dentist resume should highlight the relevant soft and hard skills in your branch of dentistry tailored to the dentist position you’re applying for. Hiring managers typically look at hard skills first before moving to soft skills, as hard skills can vary depending on the branch of dentistry.

Hard Skills

• Oral hygiene
• Providing fluoride treatments
• X-Ray
• Anesthetic
• Oral surgery
• Fillings
• Root canals
• Extractions
• Maxillofacial surgery
• Veneers
• Experience in preventative dentistry

Soft Skills

• Communication
• Spacial awareness
• Detail-oriented
• Problem-solving
• Compassionate
• Empathetic
• Organizational skills
• Time management
• Proper bedside manner
• Interpersonal skills

Work experience

You should emphasize your most important achievements and skills when listing your previous dentist jobs. At the same time, you should showcase your successful dental procedures and duties management. Whenever possible, you should use quantitative data to showcase your achievements, such as the revenue you grew for the clinic and your patient retention rate.

Here’s a good example of an achievement with quantifiable data for dentists:

• Examined and treated over 300 patients with a variety of dental care needs. Fostered professional and friendly relationships with patients which increased patient retention by 55%.

Education

The education section of your dentist resume is very important and should include:

• Your doctorate, Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) or Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), listed above the educational institution where you studied
• List your bachelor’s degree followed by the college or university you attended
• Any specialized courses or fields of study

Certifications and licenses

Your relevant certifications and licenses should always be in their own separate section. You should always start with the certifications and licenses that the job description seeks. Certifications commonly found on Dentist resumes include:

• Certified Dental Assistant (CDA) certification
• National Entry Level Dental Assistant (NELDA) certification
• Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) certification

Do's and don'ts for a dentist resume

Below is a list of some valuable do’s and don’ts when it comes to crafting the best resume:

Do’s:

• Use an applicant tracking system (ATS)-friendly resume template. ATS is software used by hiring managers to filter out irrelevant dentist resumes and select the resumes that best fit the job description and needs of the clinic.
• Proofread your resume for any typos or errors. Ensure that your dentist resume is compatible on all devices such as desktop, mobile, and tablet.
• Use a resume summary if you’re a dentist with a lot of experience, and use a resume objective (which focuses on your career goals and top skills) if you have limited experience.

Don’t:

• Send the same dentist resume for every job application. Different dentist jobs will have different requirements. Tailor your resume to emphasize the needs for each position you apply to.
• Use the reverse-chronological format if you have only recently finished your dentist training, and don’t have much professional experience. Instead, use a functional resume format, which emphasizes skills and training.
• Include information for dentist positions held more than 10 years ago. This helps keeps your resume concise, and focuses on more important recent experiences.