When it comes to progressing your dental career, a portfolio is an excellent way to stand out in the crowd of other dentistry professionals. Having a comprehensive portfolio also allows you to clearly demonstrate every one of your accomplishments, skills, and achievements in the field of dentistry in a concise way.
Read on to learn more about what a dental career portfolio should look like, how to begin, and what to include, or download our free eBook for a step-by-step comprehensive guide to your dental portfolio.
What Is A Dental Portfolio?
A dental career portfolio serves as a collection of relevant information, including qualifications, skills, and opportunities, with an insight into your work ethic and experiences. Career progression is key, and evidence of this organised into a portfolio can help your peers, employer, and colleagues to see clear proof of CPD.
When you first qualify as a dentist and begin your working career, it’s likely that you will have more experiences more quickly compared to later on in your professional life. Due to this, it’s important to update your portfolio regularly during this time, ideally when you renew your annual dental registration. This way, you can update your resume, qualifications, achievements and anything else you have completed in the past year, as well as remove any outdated information or materials.
A good dental career portfolio can also be crucial when it comes to applying for new jobs or opportunities within the field of dentistry.
How To Begin a Dental Portfolio
To effectively plan a dental portfolio, you should first decide which format to display it in—physical or digital. Digital portfolios such as PDFs can be useful to quickly send via email or share with a colleague or potential employer, and you could even create a website on which to display it for easier access. However, creating a physical portfolio on high-quality paper in a ring binder alongside this is the best option, as it can be quickly looked through without having to download documents.
A complete dental portfolio should include not just clinical photos (although they are important) it should be used to display everything you have achieved in your career so far and demonstrate who you are as a person and a professional.
Beginning your dental portfolio can seem like a daunting task, but the London Dental Institute eBook can serve as your guide to producing the best possible portfolio for you. Download for free and set yourself apart from your peers.
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What To Include In Your Dental Portfolio
Your dental portfolio should include the following basic headings as standard:
- Your CV or Resume: Summarise your education (including undergraduate and postgraduate degrees), qualifications, and career progression on the front page.
- Achievements: This can include any professional certificates or prizes you have received in your career to date.
- Audits: This essential part of clinical dentistry must be documented in your portfolio, as it shows your commitment to improvements in patient care.
- Presentations: Any evidence of presentations given at meetings or conferences should be included.
- Publications: If you have published peer-reviewed papers, articles, or anything similar, it should be in your dental portfolio.
- Teaching: Showing you have experience in teaching is important, and this can include formal teaching qualifications and courses attended.
- Research: Including research experience demonstrates your analytical skills.
- Positions of Responsibility: Any leadership positions you’ve held should be listed, including how you manage cases alongside your dental team, implement change within your current practice through audits, communicate with your colleagues and patients, and organise day-to-day work.
If you want to stand out from the crowd with your dental portfolio, consider adding optional features to your collection of outstanding achievements and experiences, including:
- Memberships: Any professional memberships you have that display commitment to a speciality can be included.
- CPD Table: A summary sheet of your continuing professional development, such as courses attended, could also fit in your dental portfolio and show you are up to date with your professional development.
- Clinical Log Books: A clinical record or photography book could be included in your dental portfolio if you have a special interest in one aspect of dentistry, such as restorative dentistry or oral surgery. Displaying a record of these experiences, including relevant skills and procedures, can be useful to have in your portfolio.
- Feedback: Any positive feedback from patients or formal feedback from employers or colleagues can be included to demonstrate commitment to improving your skills and your already advanced skills in patient care.
The Complete Guide to Your Dental Portfolio is available as a free eBook to guide you through the process of creating your dental portfolio in detail. Download today and find out how to set out your portfolio, what to include in each section, and quick tips.
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Download the Complete Guide to Your Dental Portfolio eBook Today
The Complete Guide to Your Dental Portfolio is available as a free eBook designed to help you create an outstanding dental portfolio. This eBook answers all of your questions about how to make the best dental portfolio possible with detailed information at every step. There are also extra digital downloads to help you make your portfolio the best it can be, such as feedback sheets so you can collect them with ease to include in your collection.
Download the free eBook today, and start preparing your dental portfolio.
