The best advance of the twentieth century - college essay prompt

Hello,
I really appreciate your help all the time :)

This is one of the topics for college essay: What do you believe was the most significant scientific or technological advance of the twentieth century?

So I'm thinking 'the orthodontics' as the answer and possibly tie it to my dream of becoming an orthodontist or a dentist, because I don't want to say 'cars' or 'planes'...

But does it answer the question - the most significant? I mean, some people don't even care about it...
Is 'the orthodontics' too weird to be the main subject? doesn't it sound like it doesn't even belong the 20th century?
I don't want to end up writing an obscure and lacking-in-substance-essay.
I need you honest opinions, and if you think my idea is inappropriate, could you give me some examples that would fully answer the question?

Thank you so much

Good afternoon :)

To start off, aren't orthodontists and dentists two different things? I mean, the dentist checks for disease, cavities, etc. and the orthodontist does things like braces, right? I'm not sure-that might be wrong :)

Which is it you would like to focus on? I think in order to make this a "life changing" topic, you need to relate it in some way to some other huge thing. For instance, isn't there research out there showing that people with bad dental hygiene have more heart problems? I think if you want to use this topic you really need to connect it to a concrete reason why it is so earth-shatteringly important. Was there an advent of some specific dental procedure or technology during the twentieth century that moved the field of dentistry along swiftly? Were there great changes in procedures or technology during this time period that significantly improved/advanced the profession? Anything along those lines. If you find that there isn't enough information on this topic, it might be easier to choose something else within the dental field, i.e. a particular technique or procedure.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Gloria
Moderator, EssayForum.com

Thank you. Your comments really helped me to correctly approach this topic. if I can't find anything significant, I will think of something else or choose other topic.

and yes, orthodontists work on braces and dentists deal with cavities :)

But for this topic, am I supposed to relate it to personal elements(dreams/goals, etc)? or do i just explain why I think something is the most significant advance?

Thanks for clearing that up :)

This topic sounds like it just wants you to explain why you think this event is the most significant; there isn't anything in the prompt that leads me to believe you are to relate it to you personally.

Best of luck!

Regards,
Gloria
Moderator, EssayForum.com