Are you interested in a career in denturism? This is an exciting career choice for people who want to help others. Denturists create removable oral prostheses, like full and partial dentures, for their patients. As a denturist, you’ll have the fulfilling opportunity to give patients their smiles back.
It’s easier than you might think to get started as a denturist. Here’s what you need to do to get started in this exciting career.
Denturism College Program
If you want to become a denturist, you’ll need to enroll in a denturism college program. This is a niche program, so there are only a few colleges in Ontario that offer it. Generally, you need to have a high school diploma to apply to denturism programs. A background in science or healthcare can also be an asset.
In college, experienced instructors will teach you the competencies you’ll need to become a denturist. You’ll learn a mixture of theoretical information and hands-on skills.
Theoretical learning includes general anatomy, orofacial anatomy, and microbiology. Your theoretical classes will give you the background information you need to perform hands-on denturism.
You’ll also learn hands-on skills that you’ll use in your future career as a denturist. You’ll learn how to perform visual and digital examinations of patients’ mouths. You’ll also learn how to make impressions of patients’ mouths, and how to design appropriate dentures. This includes making partial dentures, full dentures, and dentures over implants.
Denturism college programs also teach students about small business management and practice management. Your instructors will help you learn how to start and run your own denture clinic.
Certification Examination
Denturists are regulated oral healthcare professionals. Since they’re regulated, they need to be members of the College of Denturists of Ontario (CDO) to practise.
To join the CDO, you’ll need to pass an examination. The examination consists of two parts. The first part is a written exam. The written exam is written in two, three-hour sessions. You’ll have to answer questions about things like clinical practice, laboratory, and practice management.
The second part is a clinical examination. This is the hands-on part of the exam. During this portion of the exam, candidates have to perform tasks or solve clinical problems. This part of the exam involves live, standardized patients. Since you’ll have received a lot of hands-on experience during your college program, this shouldn’t be difficult.
Once you pass the examination, you’ll be a member of the CDO. You’ll be able to call yourself a denturist and start looking for work. If you don’t pass the examination, you can try again and hopefully get certified.
If you’ve moved around a lot in the past, you may be wondering if you can practise denturism in other provinces. Other provinces have similar regulatory requirements. If you plan to move out of Ontario in the future, you’ll need to become certified by your new province’s regulatory body.
Where Denturists Work
As a denturist, you can look for work in dental offices or in denture clinics. Dentists are trained to make dentures, but they may be too busy to make their own dentures. They’ll hire denturists to work in their clinics and handle these tasks. Working in a denture clinic is another employment option. These clinics specialize in making and repairing dentures.
If you’re entrepreneurial, you could start your own denture clinic. As a small business owner, you can provide your denture services directly to your patients. As your business grows, you can even hire denturists to work in your clinic.