Teeth cleaning and cavity filling is becoming a more popular prospective profession for college students in Louisiana.
Jim Wier, associate dean for the LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans, said there have been more applications to the school this year so far, something he attributes to the growing popularity of the medicine.
The increase comes despite the recent disorganization caused by Hurricane Katrina – two floors of the school flooded and the roof sustained damage. The school is holding classes in locations around Baton Rouge and hopes to return to their home building this summer.
Wier said 100 percent of previously enrolled dental students returned after the storm, and he does not think the storm will affect next year’s applicants.
Wier, who met with interested students Wednesday on campus, said last year when he visited the University of Louisiana at Lafayette he met with 12 students, but he met with 19 this year.
He said he has seen an increase in every school in the state.
Wier also said he has seen highly-qualified students interested in applying.
The deadline for applying for next fall is at the end of March, Wier said, so it is still too early to say for sure if more students are going to apply.
Wier said dentistry is a people-oriented profession and students are interested in the career because many dentists make $184,000 a year and work 30 hours a week.
Colton Ducote, biological sciences senior and president of the pre-dental society, said he thinks the profession is so popular because it creates entrepreneurial opportunities and is not similar to a regular doctor who is on call all the time.
Ducote said he has wanted to be a dentist since he was eight years old.
“I was the one who thought it was cool to go to the dentist,” Ducote said.
Wier said he thinks students will be able to return to the dentistry school in New Orleans either this summer or in September.
Ducote said some new equipment has been donated to the school because some of it was destroyed in the hurricane.
“It’ll make more people want to go there because it’s going to a better school in the future,” he said.