If dentistry is something you have been seriously considering, at some point, you need to stop wondering what the work is actually like and go find out. A dental internship is the most straightforward way to do that. You get inside a real practice, you watch real procedures, and you come away with a much clearer sense of whether this is the direction you want to commit to.
That clarity is genuinely useful, especially before you lock in a college major or start building a pre-dental track. And beyond helping you figure things out for yourself, the experience looks strong in applications. Admissions committees at dental and medical schools pay attention to whether students have made a real effort to engage with the profession early, and an internship is about as concrete as it gets.
What do dental internships for high schoolers include?
The core of most dental internships is observation. You shadow licensed dentists and hygienists through their actual workday, watching procedures like cleanings, fillings, extractions, and X-rays as they happen. It is a different experience from anything you encounter in school, and for most students, it is the first time the field starts to feel real rather than abstract.
Many programs layer in educational components as well, including workshops on oral anatomy, dental tools, sterilization practices, and how a dental office runs behind the scenes. Some offer exposure to specialized areas like orthodontics or pediatric dentistry. Others pair students with mentors who take the time to answer honest questions about the career path ahead.
With that, here are 15 dental internships to consider as a high school student! While this article primarily focuses on opportunities in the field of dentistry, we also have a list of internships across the broader medical field that you should check out!
15 Dental Internships for High School Students
1. HMS MEDscience Dental Summer
Location: Boston, MA
Cost: $2,800
Acceptance rate: Highly competitive
Dates: August 3 – 7
Application deadline: March 15
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12
While this isn’t a standard internship, it does allow you to spend a week working inside Harvard Medical School’s high-tech simulation lab, treating life-like, interactive patient mannequins as though they were real clinical cases. The program puts you through the full diagnostic process of learning to evaluate oral health problems, forming a diagnosis, and carrying out treatment on simulated patients. Hand skills are a significant part of the week, and you will practice suturing, tooth carving, taking impressions, digital intraoral scanning, and filling cavities, all under the guidance of dentists and physicians. Small group sessions are led alongside dental students from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and you’ll have the opportunity to hear directly from faculty and residents about their paths into the field.
2. ADA Forsyth Student Scholars
Location: Somerville, MA
Cost: None. Pays a minimum wage salary (35 hours/week) and provides a transportation pass.
Acceptance rate: Extremely selective, roughly 8 students selected from 200+ applicants historically
Dates: June 29 – August 21
Application deadline: April 1
Eligibility: Current 9th, 10th, and 11th graders from Eastern Massachusetts or Boston high schools
The Student Scholars program is an internship for Massachusetts high school students, where you’ll work as a full member of a research team at one of the world’s dedicated oral health research institutes. You will participate in your assigned mentor’s ongoing lab projects, learning standard laboratory techniques, conducting experiments, and generating data of your own. Research at Forsyth spans oral microbiology, craniofacial biology, and inflammation and immunology, so the specific skills you develop will depend on which lab you’re placed in. Throughout the summer, you’ll attend college-level lectures from Forsyth scientists covering topics like the oral microbiome, immunology, and oral health research methods. The program culminates in a formal presentation of your own research project to fellow students and mentors.
3. OHSU School of Dentistry Research Internship
Location: Portland, OR
Stipend: $15 per hour
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 22 – August 14
Application deadline: Applications open in November on a rolling basis
Eligibility: Currently enrolled high school students aged 16+
This research internship lets you spend six to eight weeks in a specific lab at the OHSU School of Dentistry, paired with a faculty mentor whose active research aligns with your interests. The school runs multiple research divisions, so depending on where you’re placed. You might be working on oral microbiome and biofilm studies, biomaterials development for dental applications, craniofacial biomechanics, including temporomandibular joint research, or community-focused dental public health projects. You’ll carry out real lab work, develop skills in scientific communication, and learn how to connect your bench-level findings to broader questions in oral health. At the end of the program, you’ll present your work at a formal research showcase alongside other interns.
4. Texas A&M Summer Pre-Dental Enrichment Program (SPEP)
Location: Dallas, TX
Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: July 13–17 for 10th–11th graders, June 1–26 for 12th graders
Application deadline: May 8 for 10th–11th graders, February 27 for 12th graders
Eligibility: Dallas-area high school students in grades 10–12 with a minimum 2.75 GPA, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The SPEP runs differently depending on your grade, but both versions center on giving you real exposure to what dentistry looks and feels like as a discipline. If you’re entering 10th or 11th grade, you’ll take part in preclinical dentistry sessions that combine lectures with hands-on lab work using actual dental materials, then take on an investigative dentistry project where you research a specific dental topic and present your findings to the group. The 12th-grade version adds four weeks of SAT preparation alongside the same core dental curriculum, making it as much about college readiness as it is about oral health. The program looks for students with a strong interest in serving underserved communities, so the conversations you’ll have about dental access and public health are built into the experience by design.
5. Rutgers Decision for Dentistry
Location: Newark, NJ
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Extremely selective, 45 spots per cycle across three cohorts
Dates: Three phases across the academic year in October, February–March, and April
Application deadline: April 30 for the upcoming year
Eligibility: New Jersey high school students
This program is structured across three separate days over the academic year, with each phase being different from the last. Your first visit is an introduction to the dental school itself, in which you’ll get hands-on experience taking dental impressions on manikins, supervised by RSDM faculty, and then sit down for lunch with dental student mentors. Your second visit is a clinical observation day, where you’ll go chairside to watch your student mentor at work in an actual clinic. A panel of practicing dentists from various specialties also joins to talk about what drew each of them to their specific area of the field. The third and final phase is an admissions symposium designed for you, your parents, and your guidance counselor, walking through exactly what dental schools look for in applicants and how the process works.
6. Tufts Mini Dental School
Location: Boston, MA
Cost: $3,625 for session 1, $5,425 for commuter in session 2, $6,950 for residential
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 22–26 for session 1, July 5–17 for residential session 2, July 6–17 for commuter session 2
Application deadline: May 1
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors aged 16+
This week-long session at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine has you working through a curriculum that moves between dental science, clinical skills, and technology. The hands-on component puts you in the simulation lab to practice actual procedures like filling cavities, removing plaque, and suturing, all under the guidance of Tufts faculty and dental students. Case-based learning runs alongside the lab work, with real patient cases used to show you how oral health problems connect to systemic wellness. You’ll also get exposure to the kind of dental technology currently used in clinical settings, giving you a forward-facing view of where the field is heading. The program wraps with a capstone project where you develop and present an idea or solution in oral healthcare, applying what you’ve learned in a format that asks you to think critically rather than just demonstrate technique.
7. VCU Dental Careers Exploration
Location: Richmond, VA
Cost: Free!
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: July 13–17
Application deadline: May 2
Eligibility: Rising 10th graders through graduating seniors with a minimum 3.0 GPA, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Richmond area high schoolers are preferred, though out-of-area students may apply.
Five days at VCU School of Dentistry give you a broad sweep of what working in oral health actually looks like from day to day. The lab activities are practical and hands-on, so you’ll carve teeth, take dental impressions, practice suturing, and work through exercises in digital dentistry. Alongside the lab work, the program walks you through the different roles that exist within dental care, from dental hygienists and general dentists to specialists, covering what each role involves educationally and professionally. It’s a solid, introductory way to engage with dentistry so you can make an informed decision about whether it fits your career goals.
8. NYU College of Dentistry Saturday Academy
Location: New York, NY
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Selective, around 450 students admitted per batch
Dates: 7 sessions held biweekly on Saturdays throughout the fall semester
Application deadline: Applications open May 1
Eligibility: High school students
NYU Dentistry’s Saturday Academy is a free college-preparatory program that introduces high school students to dentistry through biweekly sessions during the fall semester. Across seven Saturday meetings, you explore topics like oral pathology, head and neck anatomy, oral bacteria, wound healing, and translational research while also learning about resumes, personal statements, interviews, and the college application process. The program includes hands-on dental activities such as taking dental impressions, working with tooth models, carving teeth from soap, and practicing cavity restorations on simulated teeth. Much of the mentoring comes directly from NYU dental students and faculty, so you spend time talking with people already studying and working in the profession.
9. Stony Brook Dive Into Dental Sciences
Location: Stony Brook, NY
Cost: $2,375
Acceptance rate: Moderately selective
Dates: June 28 – July 3
Application deadline: May 15
Eligibility: High school students
You’ll work in Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine’s preclinical laboratory for the week, using the same facilities and equipment that dental students train on. It’s a rare opportunity to use high-speed dental handpieces and other instruments, prepare cavity restorations, create typodont impressions and pour stone models, fabricate athletic mouth guards, model a central incisor in wax, and practice banana suturing. A guided tour of the dental school is included, along with a visit to the Center for Implant and Dental Technology to watch demonstrations of the kind of advanced work happening in the field right now. You’ll also attend an information session on Stony Brook’s Scholars for Dental Medicine program, useful if you’re thinking about what accelerated routes to dental school actually look like. The week finishes with lunch alongside dental students, faculty, and administrators.
10. University of the Pacific Dental Camp
Location: Stockton, CA
Cost: $3,800
Acceptance rate: Open registration
Dates: Session 1: June 1–11; Session 2: June 16–26
Application deadline: May 24
Eligibility: High school students
This program splits your time between two campuses, and each setting offers something different. On the Stockton campus, you’ll attend lectures and seminars with faculty, alumni, and staff from the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, covering oral health overview, basic dental terminology and anatomy, disease prevention, dental radiology, community oral health, and the range of specialties that exist within the field. Simulation activities here include blood pressure measurement, emergency management scenarios, and simulated suturing techniques. The San Francisco campus visits give you access to the dental school’s simulation and research facilities, and you’ll also see dentistry outside of academic settings through visits to private practices and community health clinics. Working in small groups with a faculty or student mentor, you’ll put together a presentation on a topic in oral health care, on topics like patient education on oral hygiene, comparative materials for cavity restoration, disease prevention strategies, or an overview of dental specialties.
11. University of Maryland D-REX
Location: Baltimore, MD
Stipend: Up to $5,400
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: Section I: June 1 – July 31; Section II: June 15 – July 31
Application deadline: Currently open, keep an eye on the program website to stay updated with the deadline
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors enrolled in Maryland public high schools with a minimum 3.2 GPA. Must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident to be eligible for a stipend.
D-REX pairs you one-on-one with a faculty mentor at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry for up to nine weeks of full-time research. The labs you might work in cover a range of areas within dental and craniofacial science, including oncology and diagnostic sciences, neural and pain sciences, and biomaterials, and many faculty mentors run projects that cross disciplines. The program is designed to build actual research skills, such as learning how to ask a scientific question, carry out experiments, analyze data, and communicate findings. Because D-REX is supported by NIDCR, the work you’re doing is aligned with national priorities in oral health research rather than serving as an educational simulation. High school participants share the program with undergraduate students, so you’ll be working alongside people at different stages of their pre-dental path and developing professional skills alongside scientific ones.
12. UW Dental Academy
Location: Seattle, WA
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate: Highly selective, only 50 students admitted
Dates: Multi-session academic year program
Application deadline: November 15
Eligibility: High school students in Washington State
The UW Dental Academy is a multi-session program that gives Washington State high school students sustained, repeated access to the UW School of Dentistry over the course of the academic year. You’ll interact with a wider range of dental professionals than most high school programs offer, including dental lab technicians, hygienists, dental assistants, and specialists. Hands-on experience runs through the sessions, and dental student mentors from the UW are central to how the program is run. For students in Washington State thinking about dentistry, it functions as both a career exploration tool and a genuine entry point into the professional community at one of the region’s leading dental schools.
13. UConn Health High School Student Research Apprentice Program
Location: Farmington, CT
Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 15 – July 17
Application deadline: April 1
Eligibility: 11th-grade students who have completed junior year with a B average or better. Must be Connecticut residents attending Connecticut high schools, be first-generation college-bound, low-income, and educationally under-resourced students, aged 16+ at program start. Must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
For five weeks, you’ll work full-time in a basic science or clinical laboratory at UConn Health, getting mentored research experience in an academic medical setting. You’ll get to formulate research questions, run experiments, analyze what you find, and put together a poster presentation of your results at the end of the program. Placements span both medicine and dental medicine research, so your experience will be shaped by which lab you’re matched with and what that team is currently investigating. The program is specifically designed for first-generation college students from under-resourced backgrounds, making a research career genuinely attainable and giving you the credibility and experience to pursue it.
14. NYU REOHS
Location: New York, NY
Stipend: $5,000
Acceptance rate: Extremely selective
Dates: June 1 – July 30
Application deadline: February 2
Eligibility: Graduating high school seniors
Research Education in Oral Health Sciences places you in NYU Dentistry’s research labs, matched with a faculty mentor covering research in subjects like pain research, bone and tooth development, tissue regeneration, and biomaterials. Classroom instruction runs alongside the lab work, covering research fundamentals, the responsible conduct of research, the principles of translational science, and an introduction to clinical dentistry. Professional development workshops and peer mentorship from other program participants are also a part of the schedule. The program was created to increase representation in oral health research, making it a strong choice if you’re from an underrepresented group in the biomedical sciences.
15. S.M.I.L.E. Healthcare Pathway Program
Location: Howard University, Washington, DC, or Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN
Cost: Free
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; 50 students per year
Dates: Vary by the session
Application deadline: Typically late March
Eligibility: Rising 11th graders; priority given to economically disadvantaged students
The S.M.I.L.E. Healthcare Pathway Program is designed for rising 11th graders who want to explore careers in oral health through a fully funded, weeklong residential experience. You will participate in academic enrichment workshops, college prep sessions, and hands-on activities centered on fields like dentistry, dental hygiene, and dental assisting. The program also places a strong emphasis on mentorship and community engagement, connecting students with professionals and peers who share similar interests while building awareness around healthcare disparities. By the end of the week, participants complete a capstone project reflecting on their experience and take part in guided discussions that examine real-world health inequities in a meaningful way.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image source: New York University