Career · Medicine and health
Dentist
Treats teeth and looks after the health of the mouth.
Career overview
What a day looks like
A dentist sees patients: examines their teeth, explains what is going on and helps keep the teeth healthy. The work takes care and the ability to calm someone who feels nervous.
Try it yourself this week
35 minutes
Make a home first-aid guide from a reliable source
- Choose three everyday situations: a cut, a burn from hot water, a nosebleed.
- Find out what to do from a reliable source: a school textbook, the Red Crescent website or a clinic's website. Don't take advice from comments.
- For each situation, write 3–4 short steps and one line: “when to call 103 or 112 urgently”.
- Show the guide to an adult and ask if everything is clear. Note which part was harder for you: working it out, or imagining blood and pain.
What you'll learn about yourself: Whether you're interested in how the body works and how to help someone — and how you feel about the unpleasant side: blood, pain, responsibility.
20 minutes
Measure your pulse before and after exercise and explain the difference
- Sit quietly for 3 minutes, find your pulse on your wrist or neck and count the beats for 15 seconds. Multiply by four and write it down.
- Do 20 squats at an easy pace. If you have any health limits or feel dizzy, stop — that's a result too.
- Measure your pulse right away, after 1 minute and after 3 minutes. Write down all the numbers.
- Draw a simple graph and look up in your biology textbook why the heart beats faster during exercise and how quickly it calms down.
What you'll learn about yourself: Whether you're curious about what happens inside the body — and enjoy turning how you feel into exact numbers.
What you can do next
Next 3 months
Learn how a tooth is built
Find a diagram of a tooth in a reliable textbook and redraw it, labelling the parts.
In six months
Make a tooth-care reminder
Take recommendations from a reliable source and lay them out for a younger family member. You do not need to treat anyone or make diagnoses.
In a year
Ask a specialist
Together with your parents, ask a dentist what a working day looks like and what future doctors study.
What it pays
No verified information is available in this section yet.
Where to study
No verified information is available in this section yet.
How to get into college
College gets you a profession faster than university. You can apply after grade 9 or after grade 11.
- Colleges accept students both after grade 9 and after grade 11. After grade 9 you study longer — about 3 years 10 months; after grade 11, about 2 years 10 months. The exact length depends on the college and the specialty.
Source: kchk.edu.kz (opens in a new tab) - About 80% of students admitted to colleges in the 2024/25 school year study on a state order, which means in state-funded places (in 2023/24 it was about 70%). But each college and each specialty has its own number of state-funded places.
Source: inbusiness.kz (opens in a new tab) - There are also paid colleges. For example, training as a nurse at ADILMED costs 450,000 ₸ per year. Check the price and conditions on the college's website.
Source: adilmed.kz (opens in a new tab)
UNT: which subjects to take for university
The UNT (Unified National Testing) is Kazakhstan's national university entrance test. You need it to get into university after grade 11.
- The UNT 2026 has three compulsory subjects: History of Kazakhstan, Reading Literacy and Mathematical Literacy. On top of these, you take two profile subjects, chosen to match your specialty.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - In total, the test has 120 questions (maximum 140 points) and you get 4 hours. The format is the same as in 2025.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - Profile subjects depend on the group of specialties. For example: information technology — Mathematics and Computer Science; nursing and veterinary medicine — Biology and Chemistry; electrical engineering — Mathematics and Physics; law — World History and Fundamentals of Law. The full list is published by the National Testing Center.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - For creative specialties (for example, media and design), you take History of Kazakhstan and Reading Literacy through the UNT, and two creative exams at the university itself.
Source: testcenter.kz (opens in a new tab) - Some universities have their own admission rules. Nazarbayev University, for example, requires a UNT score of at least 85, a GPA of 4.0 and English at IELTS 6.0 level.
Source: nu.edu.kz (opens in a new tab)
Courses and opportunities
No verified information is available in this section yet.
History of the career
No verified information is available in this section yet.
Well-known people in this field
No verified information is available in this section yet.