dentistry? or optometry?? I'M SO CONFUSED

[xenomblack]

hey guys..
I'm a sophomore pre-dent..
until recently.. I was so SURE that I wanted to be a dentist
having a dentist uncle and all..
but after shadowing an oral surgeon and a couple of other dentists..
I'm not so sure if looking at other people's mouths will give me a happy and rewarding life..

I know I hate going to dentists personally.. and I certainly don't want to be the one who gets hated by most of the patients he meets..

I've been interested in optometry for a quite a while..
last winter, i got LASEK vision corretion surgery and stuff.. so I know optometry (i know surgery isn't exactly what eye doctor's job description says.. but some other reasons.. i can't go to medical school) provides some aspects that i really enjoy... like giving patients good visions and satisfying them without much pain.. (LASEK wasn't that painless... but anyways... )

Does anyone who's been shadowing an eye doctor and know both positive and negative aspects about the job they observed??

I'm going to see my advisor soon and talk about my problem, but I would greatly appreciate other students' perspectives on why optometry is great compared to other health-related professions (cause sometimes i feel like advisor's don't really help you in deep enough level that you can trust.. you know?)

thanks alot guys...

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[Envision]

hey guys..
I'm a sophomore pre-dent..
until recently.. I was so SURE that I wanted to be a dentist
having a dentist uncle and all..
but after shadowing an oral surgeon and a couple of other dentists..
I'm not so sure if looking at other people's mouths will give me a happy and rewarding life..

I know I hate going to dentists personally.. and I certainly don't want to be the one who gets hated by most of the patients he meets..

I've been interested in optometry for a quite a while..
last winter, i got LASEK vision corretion surgery and stuff.. so I know optometry (i know surgery isn't exactly what eye doctor's job description says.. but some other reasons.. i can't go to medical school) provides some aspects that i really enjoy... like giving patients good visions and satisfying them without much pain.. (LASEK wasn't that painless... but anyways... )

Does anyone who's been shadowing an eye doctor and know both positive and negative aspects about the job they observed??

I'm going to see my advisor soon and talk about my problem, but I would greatly appreciate other students' perspectives on why optometry is great compared to other health-related professions (cause sometimes i feel like advisor's don't really help you in deep enough level that you can trust.. you know?)

thanks alot guys...

sorry, but i am a little confused. you do know that lasik is not within the scope of optometry right? i mean unless your in Oklahoma.

 

[BentalScholar]

You only live once, so I think choosing what you should practice for the rest of your life is a huge decisio. My family were all farmers, does that mean I should be a farmer (if a farmer makes millions)? So why should a dentist have the advantage of having his child get in before all the other competitors?But that's another issue what i mean to say is, you should be what you think will make you happy for all your life, not what pays you well or makes your family happy about for the rest of their lives. Sit down and think about it, ask yourself what do you see yourself doing in 10 years? have your hand in one's eye? mouth? vagina (gynocologist) I am only joking but this issue is serious. gl

 

[cpw]

sorry, but i am a little confused. you do know that lasik is not within the scope of optometry right? i mean unless your in Oklahoma.

LASIK isn't even in scope in OK. The only refractive surgery available to ODs in OK is PRK.

 

[Envision]

LASIK isn't even in scope in OK. The only refractive surgery available to ODs in OK is PRK.

oh right, thanx!

 

[chemgirlie]

hey guys..
I'm a sophomore pre-dent..
until recently.. I was so SURE that I wanted to be a dentist
having a dentist uncle and all..
but after shadowing an oral surgeon and a couple of other dentists..
I'm not so sure if looking at other people's mouths will give me a happy and rewarding life..

I know I hate going to dentists personally.. and I certainly don't want to be the one who gets hated by most of the patients he meets..

I've been interested in optometry for a quite a while..
last winter, i got LASEK vision corretion surgery and stuff.. so I know optometry (i know surgery isn't exactly what eye doctor's job description says.. but some other reasons.. i can't go to medical school) provides some aspects that i really enjoy... like giving patients good visions and satisfying them without much pain.. (LASEK wasn't that painless... but anyways... )

Does anyone who's been shadowing an eye doctor and know both positive and negative aspects about the job they observed??

I'm going to see my advisor soon and talk about my problem, but I would greatly appreciate other students' perspectives on why optometry is great compared to other health-related professions (cause sometimes i feel like advisor's don't really help you in deep enough level that you can trust.. you know?)

thanks alot guys...

I have to say your question sparked my interest because I was in the same situation a while back, though I decided to just go to optometry school-and I really wish I would've put in more effort and gone on to dental school.
In your case you really need to decide whether you like working with your hands...if you do and mouths don't gross you out, go on to dental school...OD school will not satisfy you if you really want to learn about the whole body, or if you want to do any kind of hands on procedure don't go OD, for the most part you'll be be spinning dials all day-but for a lot of people it is great because patients aren't grouchy to see you and for the most part you only see healthy people.

 

[L8DYV]

Oh wow this is interesting...I had lasik done back in 2000 and the surgery lasted only 5 mins!! No doubt if you you can specialize in vision correction surgery, there is way more money in it than dentistry!!

 

[jc812]

Don't do dentistry just because your Uncle does it...
esp after you shadowed, you realized that it wasn't all that you wanted to do.

i suggest you shadow an OD and see if that's more of what you'd like. If you're looking into the corrective surgery, you're looking at many more years of school.. so that's all up to you.

 

[zer0el]

If you want to do surgery, you need to get an MD and then match into optho. If you're just generally interested in the eye but don't want to deal with the pressure of med school and optho matching, then go to opto. Don't do dentistry as you obviously have no interest in the mouth. I don't know why you stated that you can't go to med school as getting into dental school is almost as competitive.

 

[xenomblack]

sorry, but i am a little confused. you do know that lasik is not within the scope of optometry right? i mean unless your in Oklahoma.

right
That's why i said I knew Lasek isn't within the scope of optometry...
I wanna go to medical school and become an ophthalmologist..
but there's a regulation on foreign students from entering the U.S. medical schools..

 

[xenomblack]

Oh wow this is interesting...I had lasik done back in 2000 and the surgery lasted only 5 mins!! No doubt if you you can specialize in vision correction surgery, there is way more money in it than dentistry!!

wait... is there something that I don't know???

Can you do vision correction surgery WITHOUT going to medical school???

 

[still_confused]

wait... is there something that I don't know???

Can you do vision correction surgery WITHOUT going to medical school???

no, surgery is for medical doctors, primary care is for optometry doctors

 

[EricaOD]

hey guys..
I'm a sophomore pre-dent..
until recently.. I was so SURE that I wanted to be a dentist
having a dentist uncle and all..
but after shadowing an oral surgeon and a couple of other dentists..
I'm not so sure if looking at other people's mouths will give me a happy and rewarding life..

I know I hate going to dentists personally.. and I certainly don't want to be the one who gets hated by most of the patients he meets..

I've been interested in optometry for a quite a while..
last winter, i got LASEK vision corretion surgery and stuff.. so I know optometry (i know surgery isn't exactly what eye doctor's job description says.. but some other reasons.. i can't go to medical school) provides some aspects that i really enjoy... like giving patients good visions and satisfying them without much pain.. (LASEK wasn't that painless... but anyways... )

Does anyone who's been shadowing an eye doctor and know both positive and negative aspects about the job they observed??

I'm going to see my advisor soon and talk about my problem, but I would greatly appreciate other students' perspectives on why optometry is great compared to other health-related professions (cause sometimes i feel like advisor's don't really help you in deep enough level that you can trust.. you know?)

thanks alot guys...

Get accepted to both programs first, and begin worrying what's best for you then ...

 

[M.Berekeleyopt]

i wonder what you did this post is 8 years old.

 

[ucbsowarrior]

if you have a strong back and don't like to talk much, become a dentist

if you like to talk and make less money, become an od

these are generalizations, there are always outliers to the rule

 

[BabyShades]

if you have a strong back and don't like to talk much, become a dentist

if you like to talk and make less money, become an od

these are generalizations, there are always outliers to the rule

I have to completely disagree with you about dentists not talking as much. Dentists are usually communicating their patients before their treatment and after their treatment. In fact, they usually talk to their patients quite often.