Accepted into both Medical (DO) & Dental school. Which should I choose?

[PBJellytime]

I have gotten accepted into both medical school and dental school. I am currently choosing between Western University of Health Sciences for Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or University of the Pacific (DDS). I have been considering both for a long time now, but I still cannot come to a final decision. I feel that I truly want to go to med school, but I have a lot of thoughts/doubts that are making hesitant to make a life-time commitment.

My considerations:
1) Intellectually Stimulating: I am more interested in medicine because it has more options, and I find that dentistry may become very laborious and repetitive..
2) Tuition: dental school, especially UOP's, is very expensive. One of my sister's friends says he has been in debt for 10 years and still cannot pay if off. Further, he and his wife (also a general dentist) cannot find jobs in California, so are moving out of Cali to find jobs and start a family.
3) Location Location..
-For grad school: if I go to WesternU, I will be living in Pomona, which is where I have been living in for the past 3 years of undergrad. There is not much to do there, and I think I will have nothing to look forward to during my studies. Whereas if I went to UOP, at least I'd have a new city to explore after exams.. not to say I have always wanted to move to norcal and explore San Francisco!
-For medical residencies: if I go to WesternU, does anyone know what are the chances of getting into a residency in a location that is in California? or at least in a location that is not out in the middle of no where? I know most residency matches give priority to MD>DO>foreign medical students. I am happy as a primary care physician (Family Doc, Internal med, pediatrician, OMM)
-For dental specialties: If I go for medicine, I will most likely want to specialize (bc I hear there are way too many general dentists and it is hard to find jobs...true or not?) But I also hear dental specialties are very competitive and will most likely be located outside of California. Is this true also? I'm thinking about pedo or ortho.
4) Lifestyle: I care about having a balanced and healthy lifestyle both during graduate school and after. For me, that means having the time to exercise and spending some time with people I care about after exams. I understand both medical school and dental school will be very rigorous, but is this possible during medical school, rotations, and residencies?

Thanks for taking the time to read this..I would love some advice/knowledge/experience that you guys may have!

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[drgioiadds]

I think you answered your own question - if you enjoy medicine then go the medical route.
Dental school is very techinical - almost like a trades school with some science classes. I went the dental route, but I enjoy medicine so I am in the process of transitioning to DO.

 

[bing12]

I have gotten accepted into both medical school and dental school. I am currently choosing between Western University of Health Sciences for Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or University of the Pacific (DDS). I have been considering both for a long time now, but I still cannot come to a final decision. I feel that I truly want to go to med school, but I have a lot of thoughts/doubts that are making hesitant to make a life-time commitment.

My considerations:
1) Intellectually Stimulating: I am more interested in medicine because it has more options, and I find that dentistry may become very laborious and repetitive..
2) Tuition: dental school, especially UOP's, is very expensive. One of my sister's friends says he has been in debt for 10 years and still cannot pay if off. Further, he and his wife (also a general dentist) cannot find jobs in California, so are moving out of Cali to find jobs and start a family.
3) Location Location..
-For grad school: if I go to WesternU, I will be living in Pomona, which is where I have been living in for the past 3 years of undergrad. There is not much to do there, and I think I will have nothing to look forward to during my studies. Whereas if I went to UOP, at least I'd have a new city to explore after exams.. not to say I have always wanted to move to norcal and explore San Francisco!
-For medical residencies: if I go to WesternU, does anyone know what are the chances of getting into a residency in a location that is in California? or at least in a location that is not out in the middle of no where? I know most residency matches give priority to MD>DO>foreign medical students. I am happy as a primary care physician (Family Doc, Internal med, pediatrician, OMM)
-For dental specialties: If I go for medicine, I will most likely want to specialize (bc I hear there are way too many general dentists and it is hard to find jobs...true or not?) But I also hear dental specialties are very competitive and will most likely be located outside of California. Is this true also? I'm thinking about pedo or ortho.
4) Lifestyle: I care about having a balanced and healthy lifestyle both during graduate school and after. For me, that means having the time to exercise and spending some time with people I care about after exams. I understand both medical school and dental school will be very rigorous, but is this possible during medical school, rotations, and residencies?

Thanks for taking the time to read this..I would love some advice/knowledge/experience that you guys may have!

You clearly want to go to medical school, so I think you should go ahead and do that.

You did not even state any actual reasons to go to dental school, SO i say just go ahead with Western.

 

[PBJellytime]

Thank you for your responses. The reason this decision is so difficult for me to decide is bc I can see myself happy doing either. What I want to do is not only work in the health care sector, but to be able to have patient encounter, where I can interact and get to know my patients. I believe both fields have this aspect.

 

[Jackson-Ave-Dental]

You clearly want to go to medical school, so I think you should go ahead and do that.

You did not even state any actual reasons to go to dental school, SO i say just go ahead with Western.

Your heart has already been set, now go off to DO.

 

[browncrack]

You should take a year off and re-evaluate what you really want to do. It sounds like you are more interested in a PhD in Psychology.

 

[Quattro DMD]

Go with med school, give up your spot at Pacific. I'm sure there's someone on their wait-list that has more passion and certainty for the field.

 

[pawkinlot]

Balance and healthy lifestyle?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeFGIUbRC_Y

in all seriousness though, it seems as the other posters have suggested you seem to have your mind made up for medicine...give the UOP seat to someone who truly wants to go into dentistry and isnt debating between a different field.

 

[charlestweed]

2) Tuition: dental school, especially UOP's, is very expensive. One of my sister's friends says he has been in debt for 10 years and still cannot pay if off. Further, he and his wife (also a general dentist) cannot find jobs in California, so are moving out of Cali to find jobs and start a family.

It is also very hard for physicians to find good paying jobs in CA. I have a friend who is a DO and also a Western U grad. He currently works for Kaiser Permante as a primary care doctor. He works on the average 10-11 hour/day. Most dentists I know work 6-8 hours a day. I am an orthodontist and I work 4 hours a day at my private pratice.

 

[7 Iron]

It sounds to me like medical school is for you. I don't think wanting to move out of your current town is a good enough reason to go the dental route

 

[dentalWorks]

I have gotten accepted into both medical school and dental school. I am currently choosing between Western University of Health Sciences for Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or University of the Pacific (DDS). I have been considering both for a long time now, but I still cannot come to a final decision. I feel that I truly want to go to med school, but I have a lot of thoughts/doubts that are making hesitant to make a life-time commitment.

My considerations:
1) Intellectually Stimulating: I am more interested in medicine because it has more options, and I find that dentistry may become very laborious and repetitive..
2) Tuition: dental school, especially UOP's, is very expensive. One of my sister's friends says he has been in debt for 10 years and still cannot pay if off. Further, he and his wife (also a general dentist) cannot find jobs in California, so are moving out of Cali to find jobs and start a family.
3) Location Location..
-For grad school: if I go to WesternU, I will be living in Pomona, which is where I have been living in for the past 3 years of undergrad. There is not much to do there, and I think I will have nothing to look forward to during my studies. Whereas if I went to UOP, at least I'd have a new city to explore after exams.. not to say I have always wanted to move to norcal and explore San Francisco!
-For medical residencies: if I go to WesternU, does anyone know what are the chances of getting into a residency in a location that is in California? or at least in a location that is not out in the middle of no where? I know most residency matches give priority to MD>DO>foreign medical students. I am happy as a primary care physician (Family Doc, Internal med, pediatrician, OMM)
-For dental specialties: If I go for medicine, I will most likely want to specialize (bc I hear there are way too many general dentists and it is hard to find jobs...true or not?) But I also hear dental specialties are very competitive and will most likely be located outside of California. Is this true also? I'm thinking about pedo or ortho.
4) Lifestyle: I care about having a balanced and healthy lifestyle both during graduate school and after. For me, that means having the time to exercise and spending some time with people I care about after exams. I understand both medical school and dental school will be very rigorous, but is this possible during medical school, rotations, and residencies?

Thanks for taking the time to read this..I would love some advice/knowledge/experience that you guys may have!

I have highlighted (in blue) your own post... read the blue parts only. it will help you get to a decision faster.

Another thing, I think its a bit too early to start talking about specialties (for either medicine or dentistry).... how you know you want to be a primary care doc? Last time I checked (I am an ex pre-med), there has been a good decrease in new docs going into primary care. There reason: They are most overworked and least compensated....

You might go into med school, and by time rotations start and you get exposure to real medicine, and a new interest will develop. Don't rule out the various areas of medicine.... The is the one (and only) point in medicine that outshines dentistry, there are simply too many fields to go into.

As far as dentistry goes, its hard to talk about specialties when you haven't even started DS. From what a few dental students tell me, the competition there is on a whole different scale.... So If you decide to go into dentistry, you have to first enjoy the aspect of being a general practice dentist cause thats the most frequent specialty graduates end up going into (even if they wanted to specialize)

 

[dentalWorks]

It is also very hard for physicians to find good paying jobs in CA. I have a friend who is a DO and also a Western U grad. He currently works for Kaiser Permante as a primary care doctor. He works on the average 10-11 hour/day. Most dentists I know work 6-8 hours a day. I am an orthodontist and I work 4 hours a day at my private pratice.

and only 2 days a week (sometimes 3), and still brings home 400k

 

[newyorkblork]

I feel that I truly want to go to med school,

I am more interested in medicine because it has more options, and I find that dentistry may become very laborious and repetitive..

I am happy as a primary care physician (Family Doc, Internal med, pediatrician, OMM)

I'm thinking about pedo or ortho.

I understand both medical school and dental school will be very rigorous, but is this possible during medical school, rotations, and residencies?

I've cut out the waffling from your post. What you seem to be saying is, "I really want to go into medicine but I'm afraid it will be a lot more work than dentistry, so I'm looking at dentistry as a lifestyle healthcare profession".

If you're really that into medicine, figure out why. If those why's are unique to medicine, then go into medicine. 10 years of a very rigorous school program and residency is a long time - 40 years of regretting your choice is an infinitely longer, much more arduous time.

I will go ahead and say that I don't think Dentistry is any more or less repetitive than medicine. You get cases, you use your skills to treat them. You will have bread-and-butter cases, but you will have that as any type of doctor as well. Maybe not ER Surgeon, but I don't remember seeing that in your listings.

Have you done your shadowing?

 

[BombayBDS]

I agree with the last poster.

Go shadow under a dentist. Dentistry is definately intellectually stimulating but its also a lot about practical work and hand skills.

 

[flapaTron]

seems a little late in the game to be figuring this out op. i shall echo the above posters: SHADOW

 

[newyorkblork]

As an extended note, to the original poster and others who are deciding:

For me, with medicine when I was shadowing, there was a constant feeling of "Wow, how do you do this every day?" I felt that way with cardiology, neurology rounds and oncology. GI specialists told me to avoid the profession entirely, and Primary Care seems like a political hotbed right now that everybody, including my shadow-ees, want to avoid. But as PC doctors, they couldn't get out if they wanted to.

Orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgery seemed more my style, but as the general advice is not to marry yourself to a specialty, and the general sentiment is that working for a hospital is the wave of the future, I realized that pursuing doctorship probably wasn't my cup of tea.

I took a year off and did an editorial internship; I did some teaching and some tutoring and looked at jobs in finance and consulting (where practically all my friends are). I came to the conclusion that one of the primary goals in life was autonomy, not just 'lifestyle', 'money', or 'intellectual stimulation' in and of itself.

I came across Dentistry randomly - a friend suggested it as a profession that might be good for me. I shrugged and said 'why not?', and started shadowing. It wasn't until I shadowed and talked to a few General Dentists that I really felt "this is something I can do for the rest of my life". I'll cite the usual reasons, autonomy, working with hands, the instant gratification of treating patients in a visit or two, patient interaction (double-edged sword, patients are people and people can be 'ducks')... but dentistry just gave me a very positive vibe that let me know this is a profession I should chase.

I think people are too quick to judge dentistry as "lol u fill teeth all day". There's a diagnostic process . There's practical skill development. There's business management.There are patients. You will see procedures that are an extremely varied level of complexity. You will have the ability to affect your community in a variety of ways, including teaching, encouraging thorough shadowing programs and talking to prospective dental students, taking on associates as mentees, doing charity and community service work, getting involved with the schools. Oral health is completely downplayed for some weird reason in American society.

If you're bored with a DDS, you have the option to change up your game. Focus on the stuff you like. Implants. Cosmetics. Restorations. Or do some of it all if you want.

What exactly is the difference in "intellectual stimulation" between doing eye surgeries for 50 years and doing mouth surgeries for 50 years? There will be a limited number of procedures for any profession you choose. Being a doctor isn't like what you see on TV. You're likely not going to be "saving lives" with "groundbreaking radical new surgeries".

Keep in mind that all of this comes "From Below" - was I 100% right in my assessment of doctorhood versus dentisthood? Probably not. But again, it came down to the "vibe" and the "educated prediction", and I believe I made the right choice for myself. And ultimately it just comes down to choosing for yourself.

 

[Mackchops]

As an extended note, to the original poster and others who are deciding:

For me, with medicine when I was shadowing, there was a constant feeling of "Wow, how do you do this every day?" I felt that way with cardiology, neurology rounds and oncology. GI specialists told me to avoid the profession entirely, and Primary Care seems like a political hotbed right now that everybody, including my shadow-ees, want to avoid. But as PC doctors, they couldn't get out if they wanted to.

Orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgery seemed more my style, but as the general advice is not to marry yourself to a specialty, and the general sentiment is that working for a hospital is the wave of the future, I realized that pursuing doctorship probably wasn't my cup of tea.

I took a year off and did an editorial internship; I did some teaching and some tutoring and looked at jobs in finance and consulting (where practically all my friends are). I came to the conclusion that one of the primary goals in life was autonomy, not just 'lifestyle', 'money', or 'intellectual stimulation' in and of itself.

I came across Dentistry randomly - a friend suggested it as a profession that might be good for me. I shrugged and said 'why not?', and started shadowing. It wasn't until I shadowed and talked to a few General Dentists that I really felt "this is something I can do for the rest of my life". I'll cite the usual reasons, autonomy, working with hands, the instant gratification of treating patients in a visit or two, patient interaction (double-edged sword, patients are people and people can be 'ducks')... but dentistry just gave me a very positive vibe that let me know this is a profession I should chase.

I think people are too quick to judge dentistry as "lol u fill teeth all day". There's a diagnostic process . There's practical skill development. There's business management.There are patients. You will see procedures that are an extremely varied level of complexity. You will have the ability to affect your community in a variety of ways, including teaching, encouraging thorough shadowing programs and talking to prospective dental students, taking on associates as mentees, doing charity and community service work, getting involved with the schools. Oral health is completely downplayed for some weird reason in American society.

If you're bored with a DDS, you have the option to change up your game. Focus on the stuff you like. Implants. Cosmetics. Restorations. Or do some of it all if you want.

What exactly is the difference in "intellectual stimulation" between doing eye surgeries for 50 years and doing mouth surgeries for 50 years? There will be a limited number of procedures for any profession you choose. Being a doctor isn't like what you see on TV. You're likely not going to be "saving lives" with "groundbreaking radical new surgeries".

Keep in mind that all of this comes "From Below" - was I 100% right in my assessment of doctorhood versus dentisthood? Probably not. But again, it came down to the "vibe" and the "educated prediction", and I believe I made the right choice for myself. And ultimately it just comes down to choosing for yourself.

AWESOME post. Read this.

I'll emphasize that dentistry involves a lot of diagnostics, prognostics, and planning. And learning. Daily learning. There's a 70-something recent-retiree working as faculty at my school who said that he made the decision to retire when he realized that he was content showing up to work every day and doing the same thing -- he lost interest in learning new things and didn't want to subject his patients to stale dentistry. Point is, there's a lifetime's worth of learning available to a dentist if you're interested in it.

That said, I agree with everyone else. You want to be an RD (real doctor). Go for it and good luck.

 

[dentalWorks]

As an extended note, to the original poster and others who are deciding:

For me, with medicine when I was shadowing, there was a constant feeling of "Wow, how do you do this every day?" I felt that way with cardiology, neurology rounds and oncology. GI specialists told me to avoid the profession entirely, and Primary Care seems like a political hotbed right now that everybody, including my shadow-ees, want to avoid. But as PC doctors, they couldn't get out if they wanted to.

Orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgery seemed more my style, but as the general advice is not to marry yourself to a specialty, and the general sentiment is that working for a hospital is the wave of the future, I realized that pursuing doctorship probably wasn't my cup of tea.

I took a year off and did an editorial internship; I did some teaching and some tutoring and looked at jobs in finance and consulting (where practically all my friends are). I came to the conclusion that one of the primary goals in life was autonomy, not just 'lifestyle', 'money', or 'intellectual stimulation' in and of itself.

I came across Dentistry randomly - a friend suggested it as a profession that might be good for me. I shrugged and said 'why not?', and started shadowing. It wasn't until I shadowed and talked to a few General Dentists that I really felt "this is something I can do for the rest of my life". I'll cite the usual reasons, autonomy, working with hands, the instant gratification of treating patients in a visit or two, patient interaction (double-edged sword, patients are people and people can be 'ducks')... but dentistry just gave me a very positive vibe that let me know this is a profession I should chase.

I think people are too quick to judge dentistry as "lol u fill teeth all day". There's a diagnostic process . There's practical skill development. There's business management.There are patients. You will see procedures that are an extremely varied level of complexity. You will have the ability to affect your community in a variety of ways, including teaching, encouraging thorough shadowing programs and talking to prospective dental students, taking on associates as mentees, doing charity and community service work, getting involved with the schools. Oral health is completely downplayed for some weird reason in American society.

If you're bored with a DDS, you have the option to change up your game. Focus on the stuff you like. Implants. Cosmetics. Restorations. Or do some of it all if you want.

What exactly is the difference in "intellectual stimulation" between doing eye surgeries for 50 years and doing mouth surgeries for 50 years? There will be a limited number of procedures for any profession you choose. Being a doctor isn't like what you see on TV. You're likely not going to be "saving lives" with "groundbreaking radical new surgeries".

Keep in mind that all of this comes "From Below" - was I 100% right in my assessment of doctorhood versus dentisthood? Probably not. But again, it came down to the "vibe" and the "educated prediction", and I believe I made the right choice for myself. And ultimately it just comes down to choosing for yourself.

thats a great post

Another thing to consider, I've heard more doctors tell me to go into dentistry than dentists telling me to go into medicine.... But thats probably because I've spent more time talking to physicians since I volunteered at a hospital for 1.5 years

 

[Enamelize]

thats a great post

Another thing to consider, I've heard more doctors tell me to go into dentistry than dentists telling me to go into medicine.... But thats probably because I've spent more time talking to physicians since I volunteered at a hospital for 1.5 years

I know a cardiologist, and when I told him I want to go to dental school, know what he said? "That's what I wish I had done."

 

[dl9006]

I know a cardiologist, and when I told him I want to go to dental school, know what he said? "That's what I wish I had done."

lol a dermatologist told me the same thing. told me that's a smart choice.

maybe he was just flattering me. his job seemed pretty laid back. treating acne patients and botox doesn't seem too stressful (he was running a cosmetic clinic/ no trauma cases) . but he must have worked his butt off to get to where he was.

i guess for the amount of time/effort we invest and the compensation we get in dentistry is pretty good compared to how much MDs study and get compensated..

 

[DrReo]

Many physicians will think the grass is greener on the other side. Ask other dentists, those on dentaltown, and they will tell you business/production is down. More dental schools are opening up and astronomical tuition prices. The metro areas are extremely saturated with dentists. Not to play the devil's advocate, but if you feel dentistry will not be intellectually stimulating and you'll limit yourself to the oral cavity- dentistry may be a tough road. As others have said, shadow. I met a cardiologist who absolutely loved his job, despite the 60 hour work weeks. Take your shadowing with a grain of salt, everyone has their bad days.

 

[dentalWorks]

I know a cardiologist, and when I told him I want to go to dental school, know what he said? "That's what I wish I had done."

thats strange... I always saw cardiologist as one of the only medical specialty where they actually LOVED what they did.... I don't remember ever talking to one who didn't love it, and I spent a good 4 months volunteering in the cardiology wing.

I even noticed alot of them were easier to talk to, they were very conversation-friendly (complete opposite to surgeons)

 

[Andrew324]

Why didnt you just do a 5 year DDS/MD?

 

[UltimateHombre]

Why didnt you just do a 5 year DDS/MD?

Do these actually exist? I have heard of a couple programs that do DDS/DO, but i thought they were 6 years?

Not to mention, would a MD or DO be of much more value as a dentist? Would it be worth the time from a cost-reward standpoint?

 

[DrReo]

Do these actually exist? I have heard of a couple programs that do DDS/DO, but i thought they were 6 years?

Not to mention, would a MD or DO be of much more value as a dentist? Would it be worth the time from a cost-reward standpoint?

Case had one a few years ago,not sure if it's still around.

 

[ugashaun]

As an extended note, to the original poster and others who are deciding:

For me, with medicine when I was shadowing, there was a constant feeling of "Wow, how do you do this every day?" I felt that way with cardiology, neurology rounds and oncology. GI specialists told me to avoid the profession entirely, and Primary Care seems like a political hotbed right now that everybody, including my shadow-ees, want to avoid. But as PC doctors, they couldn't get out if they wanted to.

Orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgery seemed more my style, but as the general advice is not to marry yourself to a specialty, and the general sentiment is that working for a hospital is the wave of the future, I realized that pursuing doctorship probably wasn't my cup of tea.

I took a year off and did an editorial internship; I did some teaching and some tutoring and looked at jobs in finance and consulting (where practically all my friends are). I came to the conclusion that one of the primary goals in life was autonomy, not just 'lifestyle', 'money', or 'intellectual stimulation' in and of itself.

I came across Dentistry randomly - a friend suggested it as a profession that might be good for me. I shrugged and said 'why not?', and started shadowing. It wasn't until I shadowed and talked to a few General Dentists that I really felt "this is something I can do for the rest of my life". I'll cite the usual reasons, autonomy, working with hands, the instant gratification of treating patients in a visit or two, patient interaction (double-edged sword, patients are people and people can be 'ducks')... but dentistry just gave me a very positive vibe that let me know this is a profession I should chase.

I think people are too quick to judge dentistry as "lol u fill teeth all day". There's a diagnostic process . There's practical skill development. There's business management.There are patients. You will see procedures that are an extremely varied level of complexity. You will have the ability to affect your community in a variety of ways, including teaching, encouraging thorough shadowing programs and talking to prospective dental students, taking on associates as mentees, doing charity and community service work, getting involved with the schools. Oral health is completely downplayed for some weird reason in American society.

If you're bored with a DDS, you have the option to change up your game. Focus on the stuff you like. Implants. Cosmetics. Restorations. Or do some of it all if you want.

What exactly is the difference in "intellectual stimulation" between doing eye surgeries for 50 years and doing mouth surgeries for 50 years? There will be a limited number of procedures for any profession you choose. Being a doctor isn't like what you see on TV. You're likely not going to be "saving lives" with "groundbreaking radical new surgeries".

Keep in mind that all of this comes "From Below" - was I 100% right in my assessment of doctorhood versus dentisthood? Probably not. But again, it came down to the "vibe" and the "educated prediction", and I believe I made the right choice for myself. And ultimately it just comes down to choosing for yourself.

That is a beautiful post! Can't wait to go to dental school...now if i could only get in....

 

[wizinstick]

thats strange... I always saw cardiologist as one of the only medical specialty where they actually LOVED what they did.... I don't remember ever talking to one who didn't love it, and I spent a good 4 months volunteering in the cardiology wing.

I even noticed alot of them were easier to talk to, they were very conversation-friendly (complete opposite to surgeons)

You must be joking. Cardiologists are work horses who make a lot of money because they are miserable from being on call all the time. I worked with a whole department full for almost 2 years and rarely was there more than 2 that were usually happy. Okay, out of all the groups who practiced at our hospital, there were 3!

 

[wizinstick]

If you are going to Western U, you will intern at Arrowhead more than likely. My sister works for Kaiser and she is tired of it. She thought being a dentist should have been what she chose instead of the MD route. Then again, all the other MDs who I know love their job. So, to each their own.

 

[drhobie7]

Having done both and seen residency life for both, I can unequivocally say dentistry.

 

[dentalWorks]

Having done both and seen residency life for both, I can unequivocally say dentistry.

whoa... are you OMFS?

Perhaps you can post your opinion in this thread, we'd love to see what you have to say:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=812118