Dentist Resume Example & Writing Guide

Before you get to work on embellishing people’s smiles, there’s one crucial procedure you need to do first. It’s called writing a dentist resume, and the goal is to demonstrate your skills and experience to recruiters and potential employers.

Resume-writing might be quite different from all the other work that you’ve done so far. That’s why we’ve created a comprehensive guide that will help you every step of the way.

This article will show you what information you should put on your dentist resume and how to organize the document for easier viewing. On top of all that, you’ll find a bunch of expert tips to help you refine your resume.

Let’s get started.

What is the Right Format to Use for a Dentist Resume?

A resume format represents the way you convey information to recruiters, which makes it one of the most important aspects of your dentist resume.

There are many ways to go about demonstrating your skills and achievements in a resume, but three have been proven to work best with both recruiters and the ATS. These are:

Resume Layout

While a format represents a functional part of your dentist resume, a layout is its visual counterpart. It’s a crucial element to consider when creating a captivating document that entices recruiters to keep reading.

For starters, you should keep your resume one page long in most cases. Recruiters sometimes spend as little as 7 seconds skimming through them, which is why you want to show as much information as possible but in a brief and concise manner.

To make sections more distinct, you should have plenty of white space between them as well as 1-inch margins on all sides. Moreover, you can create a visual hierarchy by setting section titles to 14–16 pt font size and using 10–12 pt font size for regular text.

Lastly, make sure that you’re using a clean and legible font for your resume, like Arial or Times New Roman. Avoid overly stylized fonts that are hard to read and don’t look professional.

What Sections Should a Dentist Resume Contain?

There are two types of sections that your dentist resume should contain.

The goal of the resume-writing process is to include all the mandatory information and then spruce things up with optional but highly valuable details. These lists of sections should help you achieve that goal easier, but you can streamline the whole process by using our resume-building tool.

The software comes with a user-friendly interface and a bunch of powerful yet intuitive features that allow you to customize everything from font to format and layout with one click. The bottom line is—your dentist resume could be finished in a matter of minutes.

Before we go in-depth about what each section should be like, let’s examine a professional dentist resume template made using our resume builder.

Dentist Resume Contact Information

A contact information section is a simple one. Just state the facts and try not to make any spelling mistakes. The details you need to provide include:

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Keep in mind that your job title acts as a keyword for the ATS, so simply use “dentist.” Also, make sure to create a new, professional email address if you’re still using the quirky one you made ages ago.

Lastly, it’s generally recommended to omit your location unless you’re applying for a position abroad. What you could include is a LinkedIn profile, as it’s a professional internet network.

Dentist Resume Objective or Summary

A resume objective or summary is a short, attention-grabbing paragraph at the top of your resume. Its purpose is to highlight your biggest strengths to entice recruiters and potential employers to check out the rest of the document.

If you’re an entry-level candidate, you want to start your document with a dentist resume objective. Its goal is to hook recruiters in 2–4 sentences by demonstrating your drive and abilities even though you don’t have a rich work history.

On the other hand, experienced candidates should write a dentist resume summary. The point of this section is to draw attention to your most prominent professional accomplishments instead.

Dentist Resume Objective

Here’s a good example of a well-written resume objective created by a candidate who was specific when talking about their skills:

For comparison, the following is a bad example that gives recruiters no useful information to work with:

Dentist Resume Summary

When writing a summary, you want to grab the reader’s attention with the most impactful details about your professional career. Here’s a good example:

However, if you keep it vague, you’ll end up with a bland-looking resume summary like this one:

Dentist Resume Work Experience

The work experience section of your dentist resume is usually the most important one, so let’s see how to get the most out of it.

Dental Assistant Experience

If you’ve recently graduated or are only getting into the industry, you’ll significantly increase your chances with recruiters by creating a professional and information-packed work experience section that focuses on your skills and shows your ability to learn.

Here’s an example of how to demonstrate that:

General Dentist Resume

If you’re writing a general dentist resume, you should focus on the outstanding achievements you've obtained in your career. Don’t just list the responsibilities any general dentist could do—focus on those results that make you a senior in the field.

Here’s a good example:

Dentist Resume Education Section

The education section of your resume shares similarities with your contact information in that it’s supposed to be clean, simple, and straightforward. Simply list the following details:

• Your degree

• The institution that issued it

• Years of attendance

• Prominent results, relevant coursework, extracurricular activities, and more (optional)

Here’s an example:

The position of a dentist requires a degree, but if you’re applying for a similar role and you don’t have your diploma yet, you can still include it by adding “expected” next to a graduation date or writing “current” instead. Moreover, you shouldn’t include your high school degree unless it’s your highest one, as it’s considered redundant.

Finally, if you lack professional experience, you can put more emphasis on your education. Show your diligence toward the profession by listing academic accomplishments in a bulleted list. Otherwise, keep this section brief and let your work experience section do the talking.

Dentist Resume Skills

One of the best ways to approach the education section of your resume is with research. As a dentist, you likely have a lot of different skills to showcase. However, you want to emphasize the ones that recruiters are looking for the most. To find out which those are, you should research the job ad and the institution that you’re applying to.

Once you have a comprehensive list, you can create the skills section of your dentist resume right after the education part. Remember to keep soft and hard skills separate since they are different in nature. By doing that, you’ll give recruiters a concise overview of your skillset and make it more concrete.

You can also achieve this by mentioning some of your vital abilities throughout your dentist resume, especially in the summary, objective, and work experience sections. Include them next to some relevant results, and you’ll make them stronger in the eyes of recruiters.

Dentist Resume Optional Sections

Optional sections allow you to add more important information to your dentist resume or tailor it to the specific job ad that you’re applying to.

Licenses

A diploma is not enough to practice dentistry in the US—you also need a license. You should simply add yours after all the mandatory sections of your resume. Here’s an example:

Moreover, you could list any licenses that allow you to perform specific procedures, such as oral surgery.

Languages

If proficiency in a particular language is required, that information will likely be noted in the job ad. Nevertheless, these are valuable skills that look good on any resume. You should add the languages based on your skill levels, which are as follows:

Hobbies & Interests

The hobbies and interests section adds a healthy dose of personality to your resume and shows recruiters and potential employers who the person behind the document is. Take this opportunity to be yourself and briefly talk about something you’re truly passionate about.

Volunteer Work

Volunteer work is a great way to show that you’re truly enthusiastic about your profession. It shows drive and passion, which is something recruiters always look for. Moreover, it can help entry-level candidates offset their lack of professional experience.

Should You Submit a Cover Letter With Your Dentist Resume?

The answer is yes—a tailored cover letter that matches your dentist resume is one of the best ways to stand out among the competition. It shows that you’re willing to go the extra mile while simultaneously giving you the opportunity to talk about your skills and experience in greater detail.

Job-Winning Dentist Resume Example

Use this example

Closing Thoughts

And that concludes today’s lesson on resume writing!

We’ve given you everything from specific explanations on how to polish every detail of your document to dentist resume samples that you can use for practice and as inspiration.

All that’s left is for you to follow the instructions step-by-step, and your success is all but guaranteed. Lastly, don’t forget about our resume-building tool. It can do all the heavy lifting for you. Whatever the case, you’ll have a gleaming resume in no time!