How to become a dentist in France

Hej Hej ! Vi heter Anne-Solène and Damien. We are french exchange students in Dentistry from Paris University. Actually we come from New-Caledonia, a french island in the Pacific Ocean, but we are studying dentistry in Paris and from january, in Umeå for our last semester !

To become a dentist in France it is six years of study. Besides, it is more correct to say “dental surgeon” in France but, because it’s shorter, most people say “dentist”.

The first year of study is common for people who want to become doctor, physiotherapist, midwife, pharmacist, and of course, dentist. This year is a competition. At the end of it, the choice among the different courses will depend on our rank in the competition. The better we are, the more we will have the choice and it is very hard because there are much more candidates than places for the following years. There are only 20% of students admitted. So most of the students fail this first year. Then we can decide to try one time again, but only one. Personally, we did our first year in New-Caledonia (where we are from) and then moved to Paris to continue the studies.

In France, 16 dental schools exist. Not all the dental schools have the same way of teaching, so we are going to explain only for our university, the Université de Paris Descartes. (NB : The two universities of Paris are in the process of merging into one. So now, there are 15 dental schools, and we will graduate from “University of Paris”). For the following years in the course, they speak in semesters. Each semester finishes by final exams. If we fail, we have one more chance. And if we fail again, we have to do the semester again.

Before starting the dentistry course (the 2nd year), we have to attend a two-weeks internship as a caregiver and nurse in a random department at the general hospital.

Then, the first semester is about embryology, scientific and dentist English, anatomy and the beginning of what is a tooth. The second semester is quite similar, but we start to go to the hospital (as the clinic here) one halfday a week to assist students in 4th, 5th and 6th years and also start to practice basic treatments on dummies.

The third and fourth semesters develop the previous subjects and we practice dentures, endodontic treatments, and some prosthetic preparations still on dummies. We still go to the hospital one halfday a week.

Another difference with the Umeå dental school is that we have to do some lab steps for our patients’ prostheses (stone models, individual resin trays, wax-up, assembly on articulator …). We also manage the dental emergencies approximately one half-day per month.

A small island called Le Phare Amédée

During the seventh and eighth semesters, we start pediatric dentistry. Prophylactic fillings, extractions, fillings, and pulpotomy are the most common treatments we do and we learn how to treat children under nitrous oxide and oxygen gas. At the end of this 5th year, we have the last and most important exam of the dentistry course. It is the one to get the certificate to be able to prescribe and work in a dental office as a dentist.

During the ninth and tenth semesters, in addition to the clinic, we have one half-day to assist (and sometimes also to practice) in stomatology or specialized dental surgery department and one half-day working for the public health care (with elderly or children for exemple). During this last year, we have to do an internship of 250 hours in a dental office, as a dental surgeon. This is also during this year that we can go for an international exchange program.

After succeeding this last year, we can work as a dentist and still have to submit our thesis. The thesis we have to write is a kind of scientific article or report about different scientific articles. It is about a topic or clinic case we are interested in. We have to ask a teacher we choose to become our thesis master or referent who will advise us all along our project. We can start to write it during our 5th year and it is possible to present it in front of a jury from the 10th semester and up to two years after.

Once it’s done, we are finally Doctor in Dental surgery ! In France, there are four recognized dentist status : • Dental-Surgeon (Dentist) • Orthodontist • Oral Surgeon (medecine students can also become Oral surgeon) • « Oral doctor” (we try to translate as best as we can, and we will explain it below.

The three last status are specialities in their own. To get involved in, there is a competition again which we can apply in the 5th or 6th year (we can try both, but only apply two times) and require several more years working full time at the clinic.

Oral surgeon is between a dentist and a maxillo-facial surgeon. It is four more years of study after the competition. Orthodontist is three more years of study. « Oral doctor » is three more years of study. We call the speciality « Oral medicine ». It is quite similar as dentist surgeon but, because it implies more working years at the hospital, it means going further in the medical aspect of the profession and in the practical and theorical skills.

We can also do a lot of different trainings (from university or private) after being graduated, such as endodontics, implantology, periodontal surgery,... and finally, it is also possible to become a specialist in endodontics for exemple and making it an exclusive activity.

In France, there are 42 700 dental-surgeons (for 67 000 000 people in France) and 85% of them work in their own dental office (self-employed). They can be alone or in association with other dentists in the same office and employ or not a secretary and/or assistant(s). The average income of a dentist in France is about 5000€ (50 000 SEK) per month.

We are glad to finish our studies here in Umeå and definitely enjoy the time we are spending here. Tack så mycket för din Välkommen. We are looking forward to meet you all for sharing and discussing.

Anne-Solène and Damien