how to became a dentist in the USA?

Question

i graduated in my country and i would like to became a dentist here in the USA

Answer 1

You have to join an "advanced placement program". It's usually a two to three-year full-time program offer by most dental schools. You would enter in a class as a second year student along with 4-year dental students. Admission to the DDS program is that candidates must pass Part I of the National Dental Board Examination and also achieve a minimum score of 230 on the computerized (TOEFL). Upon successful completion of the program, culminating in the D.D.S. degree, the graduate dentist then has met the educational requirement for licensure. I know it's a long process (2 to 3 more years in dental school) but every international dentists are required to go through it and it is highly competitive.

Try the following links for examples:
http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/admissions/dds_admissions.htm#dds-isp
http://uclasod.dent.ucla.edu/admissions/index.asp?id=389&ph=1

Answer 2

The fastest way I know of is to sit for the dental hygienist boards for your state and get your license to practice dental hygiene first, then find out from the dental school nearest to you what credentials you need to sit for the state dental board, or go online to the department of business and professional regulation for your state and they will have a phone number you can call for more information. It varies so much from state to state. The dental hygienist idea is just the way most colleagues I know have been able to earn a decent living while preparing to get a license to practice dentistry in their state.Hopefully it won't be too complicated for you and your credentials from your previous country will be transferable. Good luck.

Answer 3

Just vote for Angela's answer as the best, because it is 100% accurate. The minimum requirement before certification to take the boards in any school that I have ever checked is two years, but you have to be an outstanding student to do it in less than three. Good luck.

Check out http://www.dental.upenn.edu/academic/PASSprogram/pass-program.html for one program.