Financial Debt and Dental Career Choices

AIM: To assess the role of financial debt on dental career choices of final year dental students using American Dental Education Association's 2011 Senior Dental Student Survey Data.

METHOD: Only persons providing all financial debt figures were included. Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA and multiple linear regression in SASŪV9.2 after data optimization. Debt and differences between groups were assessed for socio-economic-demographic factors, dental school type, and students' career choice in terms of type and location of expected work.

RESULTS: Of 4152 participants, 960 reported debt including: consumer debt, credit card debt, car loans, educational debt prior to dental school, dental education related loans, and other loans. Overall 23.1% of the 4152 dental students reported any kind of debt (0.5% of the students did not have any debt). Mean+SD debt was: $ 228,356 +112,597 (dental debt was 84.86% of the total debt: $193,787 + $98,400). Public dental school students had significantly lower debt than private school students (Av.Diff=$51,574;p<0.0001). Those wanting practice ($247,832) or unsure about it ($297,625) had significantly higher debt compared to those contemplating Government ($132,083)/faculty/other positions ($195,572;P<0.0001). Though observed mean debt did not differ significantly between race/ethnic groups, race/ethnicity was independently associated with debt in linear regression models as were school type and self-reported influence of debt on career after adjusting for sex.

CONCLUSIONS: Dental education related debt is the greatest contributor to dental students' financial debt. Total financial debt is strongly associated with dental students' anticipated career choice; those with higher debt favored private practice options.