Factors Influencing the Selection of Dentistry as a Career Among Prospective Candidates: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study.

Objective: This study aimed to analyse the impact of sociodemographic factors on dental school candidates' decision to pursue dentistry as their career of choice.

Materials And Methods: Candidates shortlisted by three dental schools were invited to participate in a self-administered questionnaire study, featuring a validated instrument containing sociodemographic questions and 16 motivational items grouped into four domains: economic, professional, vocational and personal background reasons. The variations in motivational item scores across sociodemographic factors were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test (age, sex, ethnicity, having relatives in the dental profession and dentistry as the first choice) and Kruskal-Wallis test (dental school and family income).