dentist
Americannoun
-
dentists
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dentist
1750–60; < French dentiste, equivalent to dent tooth ( see dent 2) + -iste -ist
Explanation
A dentist is a doctor who specializes in teeth, gums, and the mouth. If you get a bad toothache, you should probably go to the dentist to make sure you don't have a cavity. When you visit the dentist, you might have your teeth and gums examined and cleaned, or you may need surgery for an impacted wisdom tooth or x-rays to make sure you don't have cavities. Dentists are health care professionals who attend dental school and train for several years before practicing. Dentist comes from the French dentiste, from dent. or "tooth."
Vocabulary lists containing dentist
Body Language: Dent, Dont ("Tooth")
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ist
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I don’t feel anything like what’s said on the news,” said Abdul Rahman Al-Hassan, 38, a dentist who moved to Riyadh nine months ago from Moscow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
A cavity doesn't always have to mean drilling, injections, or an uncomfortable visit to the dentist.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026
"We walk around completely afraid, constantly on alert," said Caroline Lo Bianco, 36, a dentist who had her phone ripped from her hands through the window of an Uber when she was seven months pregnant.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Something like a million people vote in this event every year, according to the daytime news segment that I caught at the dentist the other afternoon while getting a tooth cleaning.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
And it’s kinda funny, cause he’s a dentist, so a good storyteller also makes sure to keep them coming back.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Until approximately a decade ago, many dentists routinely cleaned implants with the same metal scalers used to remove deposits from natural teeth.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
It is fully licensed by the Albanian health authorities – and so are all of its 15 resident dentists.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
The government says that it is changing the dental contract and training more dentists in the areas most in need.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
In the United States, dentists have used it off-label since 2014, when it was approved as a medical device for reducing tooth sensitivity.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Stripping pods is a precise and meticulous job that might be suited to pedantic dentists or finicky spice experts, but it’s a horror for an impatient teenager like me.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
