MPH Dental Public Health

[Apra0922]

Hi, I'm a dental student from India. I am interested in doing MPH from the States. From what I've read on the internet, MPH in International health is something that interests me,or should I go for Dental Public Health?
I'm quite confused right now regarding the career opportunities. Can anyone give me a better insight?

Would mean a lot, thanks.

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[Solara]

It depends on what you want to do. If dental public health is the only thing you want to do for the rest of your career, then you should do a public health degree that specializes in dental health.

My personal opinion is that you should do an MPH [in international health] because it will broaden your opportunities and perspective. I know dentists from India who did an MPH and then worked with international health agencies on a broad spectrum of topics (infectious and chronic diseases, etc), including those involving dental public health.

It's better to do a general degree that gives you a broad skill set [and study the dental stuff on the side] than to do a very specialized degree. And in the broad scheme of things, to be honest, degrees matter less than experience when it comes to public health.

 

[Apra0922]

It depends on what you want to do. If dental public health is the only thing you want to do for the rest of your career, then you should do a public health degree that specializes in dental health.

My personal opinion is that you should do an MPH [in international health] because it will broaden your opportunities and perspective. I know dentists from India who did an MPH and then worked with international health agencies on a broad spectrum of topics (infectious and chronic diseases, etc), including those involving dental public health.

It's better to do a general degree that gives you a broad skill set [and study the dental stuff on the side] than to do a very specialized degree. And in the broad scheme of things, to be honest, degrees matter less than experience when it comes to public health.

Thanks for your time. Yes, I'd like to agree with what you've suggested since I'm not very sure about sticking only to dentistry myself. Working on a broader platform would definitely help me grow professionally, and would also provide me with better opportunities. The thing is, I'm surrounded with dental health professionals and if I ask any of my seniors they mostly suggest I go for MDPH, believing it's more relevant to my profession, and the chances of getting a student visa are more. Is that really an issue?

 

[Solara]

I'm not sure about the visa thing. There are pros and cons to each degree, but I think for your interests, doing the MPH is better b/c you can always study the dental public health stuff on the side, or as a concentration within your MPH, and get the broader exposure to other principles of public health.

If you're at a dental school and ask your teachers what they think (and if they're all dentists), you might get very biased responses that lean toward going for the Masters in dental public health since that's the big field they are familiar with. Just a thought. I'd also strongly consider MPHs in the UK. I've seen some dentists doing their MPH in the UK and then working for public health organizations. Though if you also do US you'd be fine. Good luck!