The percentage of dentistry graduates finding a full time job was up 7.1% in 2015, and graduates also enjoyed the highest median starting salary from any university degree.

However, according to the Australian Dental Association President, Dr Rick Olive AM RFD, there is more that must be done in order to secure the future of Australian dental students and new graduates.

We asked Dr Olive AM RFD about his thoughts on the employment rate and median income graphs based on GradStats data.

Dr Olive AM RFD said “While the 2015 figure for dentistry graduates finding employment is favourable compared to other professions, there is more work to be done in order to secure the future of Australian dental students and new graduates. We can see that the chart itself showed a much higher rate of full time employment over 1998-2011 (above 93% on average) period.”

“Removing dentists from the Skilled Occupation List has made some difference. However the deregulation of university placements significantly contributes to the existing oversupply and impacts on the likelihood of new graduates securing a job in a reasonable timeframe after completion of their studies.”

Regarding the median income, Dr Olive AM RFD said “Students make a considerable investment, incurring personal debt when undertaking studies in dentistry with full fee paying students paying more than $150,000 for their degrees. The median salaries reflect the fact that a dentist qualification may take from between five to seven years to complete depending upon the type of programme undertaken.”

Dr Olive AM RFD also said “Unlike those undertaking studies in medicine, dentist graduates are able to independently practice without undertaking clinical internships. Similarly dentist graduates have a well-defined skill set that does not easily translate to any other sphere of employment.”

Compared to the rest of university health degrees, the profession of dentistry had the largest percentage increase in its graduate employment rate, rising from 79.6% in 2014 to 86.7% in 2015.

From 1999 to 2015 dentistry had the second largest percentage increase in median graduate income, this being 89%. In 1999 the median income was $42,300 and in 2015 it was $80,000 per year.
Data for the graphs has been sourced from GradStats 1999 to 2015.

More articles on My Health Career:

• GradStats from the turn of the century…. What are health graduates getting paid? What’s the employment rate?
• Future looking brighter for dentistry graduates as profession is removed from the Skilled Occupations List