Non-trad practicing PA interested in dental school

[Beantown27]

Hi everyone,

I am currently a practicing PA in dermatology, and I am considering a career switch to dentistry. I need a bit of help figuring out the right steps to take before preparing my application. I would appreciate any advice y'all could offer!

-Given that my pre-reqs were all completed about 10 years ago, will I need to redo these courses? Is there a chance there is some leeway given that I completed a master's in a medical field?

-How do LORs work for non-trads? I would be able to have one from a couple docs I work with closely, an adviser from PA school, and the dentist that I've shadowed. Would this be sufficient given that my traditional science courses were completed so long ago?

-What is the general expectation for exposure to the dental career (ie volunteering, shadowing, etc)? Many of the programs for PA school required direct patient contact in the form of EMT, ED scribe, etc. But I'm finding it difficult to get dental experience outside of shadowing a dentist in my area.

Thanks for the help! I hope I posted this in the right section.

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[schmoob]

These sound like questions to ask the schools since it is a very unique case.
Out of curiosity, I've heard anecdotally that Derm PA is a really great job. Do you mind if I ask why the switch?
Good luck!

 

[Pro-Dentite19]

Hi everyone,

I am currently a practicing PA in dermatology, and I am considering a career switch to dentistry. I need a bit of help figuring out the right steps to take before preparing my application. I would appreciate any advice y'all could offer!

-Given that my pre-reqs were all completed about 10 years ago, will I need to redo these courses? Is there a chance there is some leeway given that I completed a master's in a medical field?

-How do LORs work for non-trads? I would be able to have one from a couple docs I work with closely, an adviser from PA school, and the dentist that I've shadowed. Would this be sufficient given that my traditional science courses were completed so long ago?

-What is the general expectation for exposure to the dental career (ie volunteering, shadowing, etc)? Many of the programs for PA school required direct patient contact in the form of EMT, ED scribe, etc. But I'm finding it difficult to get dental experience outside of shadowing a dentist in my area.

Thanks for the help! I hope I posted this in the right section.

Shadowing is all you need. If you have the time you could also try to find when/if your state does volunteer clinic days so you can volunteer. Unless you can convince the schools to do otherwise, you will need to retake your pre-requisites

 

[doc toothache]

Just woke up one morning and decided dentistry is the way to go, or is there more to the story?
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2015-job-shadowing-requirements-recommendation.1139813/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2015-prerequisites.1138351/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2012-credit-allowance-for-md-ph-d-dh-other.944369/

 

[allantois]

Why? Derm PAs make as much as dentists. Save the cost of education as well as the opportunity cost, and stay in the field.

 

[RuffDay]

Dermatology PA is a really great profession to be. It is hard to get a job there because of the competitiveness. Honestly, I thought about getting into dermatology PA but I find that it would be too competitive and I shouldn't want to get into PA school just to specialize in dermatology.

Overall, both dentistry and dermatology PA are similar. I would stay in the field. What are your reasons of why you want to do dentistry? I imagine the autonomy?

 

[DentalLonghorn2014]

Dermatology PA is a really great profession to be. It is hard to get a job there because of the competitiveness. Honestly, I thought about getting into dermatology PA but I find that it would be too competitive and I shouldn't want to get into PA school just to specialize in dermatology.

Overall, both dentistry and dermatology PA are similar. I would stay in the field. What are your reasons of why you want to do dentistry? I imagine the autonomy?

I agree.
Btw RuffDay...something tells me we know each other... do we???

 

[Beantown27]

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay, it's been a crazy week. Being a derm PA is a pretty sweet gig, yeah. I work 4.5 days per week, make a decent salary, do occasional small procedures, etc. However, I've quickly found out that there's more to being satisfied than a healthy salary. I have also realized that playing second fiddle isn't something I can deal with throughout the rest of my career. I love working with patients, I get along great with co-workers, etc., but not being the final decision maker or dealing with the higher acuity patients has been tough to deal with. Plus, it's been a pain in the butt dealing with arrogant providers outside of our practice. The lack of respect is frightening, just due to the two letters after my name. It gets tiresome dealing with this; peruse these forums and you'll know what I mean.

I've always been interested in working closely with patients, while also being able to use my hands doing fine surgeries (dental, derm, ophtho, etc). I'll be honest, if there was an abbreviated PA-MD or PA-DMD bridge program, I would jump ship in a heart beat to pursue ophthalmology/dentistry. I have plenty of experience shadowing dentists, and it seems like a career I would thoroughly enjoy. Continuity of care, being an expert in a specific part of the body, working with my hands, etc. I was hesitant to make the decision to go to med/dental school early on due to the length of training...but after going through PA training and learning to be a provider, I'm excited at the chance to pursue what once I aspired to do. However, having to retake my pre-requisites might complicate this process.

Thank you all for your help thus far!

 

[benzyne]

There's an accelerated program at LECOM for PAs who decide to go to medical school. It's probably worth checking out bc it's shorter than regular med school.

 

[xkc9126x]

Dermatology PA is a really great profession to be. It is hard to get a job there because of the competitiveness. Honestly, I thought about getting into dermatology PA but I find that it would be too competitive and I shouldn't want to get into PA school just to specialize in dermatology.

Overall, both dentistry and dermatology PA are similar. I would stay in the field. What are your reasons of why you want to do dentistry? I imagine the autonomy?

hi can you explain how dentistry and dermatology PA are similar? I am currently a pre-dental student but I was 50/50 on pursuing PA school (wanting to be in the dermatology/pediatrics/family care) or Dental school (for ortho but of course that requires to be in the top of the class ><). thank you! i would really appreciate it

 

[8_man]

hi can you explain how dentistry and dermatology PA are similar? I am currently a pre-dental student but I was 50/50 on pursuing PA school (wanting to be in the dermatology/pediatrics/family care) or Dental school (for ortho but of course that requires to be in the top of the class ><). thank you! i would really appreciate it

You necromancer.

 

[xkc9126x]

You necromancer.

hi @8_man, I didn't mean to be riding two ships. i truly am grateful for your advice in my other threads in dental. I was only here to know what's the difference and see if I'm making the right decision. ok hear me out, I swear PA was part of my list of potential careers. Thank you for not calling me something negative instead. I am a hard-core dreamer, thinking anything is possible and sometimes I go too far into space that my friends have to bring me back to reality on earth. PA was on my mind in 2010 during the beginning of my college years, I even made a PA dream folder with ALL my research on the requirements, schools and the career but I had personal/academic issues from junior year of high school to sophomore year of college. In highschool I wanted to be an ortho (bc of my braces experience, cliche I know) but I was definitely not ready mentally, I was an emotional wreck, that's why my academics suffered, so I made the decision to put my everything academics on pause. Prior to college, I was always the person that had to get approval from others instead of doing things for myself, but right now I am more rational and went back to school, so proud of my upward trend and am in focus with my future, currently at a 3.7 GPA.

I have been working at a dental office now for the last 3 years and it was my motivation to start my pre-dental path. sometimes I think to myself is it because i work at the dental office that influenced me to start or because I will actually like working on teeth everyday. It was only the past 2 days after going to class and work that i was reevaluating my decision for my future and I went back into the PA dream folder and re-researched everything. I'm not young anymore .. and I have to face reality because my transcript is very long. I have my grades averaged out in an excel sheet and it's not looking even worthy to try, but I am trying to bust my ass for a better future because of the mistakes I've made in the past on myself. I just turned 26 and still finishing my bachelor's, but graduating next year (finally). But I know I want to be a part of the healthcare field one way or another. For the last 2 years, I've envisioned myself/set myself for dental, talking about preparing for it with friends and family (i shouldnt have done that -.-)but I was skeptical in my ability. I was speaking with my best friend and we were just talking about how if i can do a career path change, it's best for me to reevaluate all my decisions and research now before i actually invest huge amounts of time and money on the tuition.

idk if you said it in a joking way or whether you're offended, but I wanted to clear my actions up that I'm just trying to know what I'm getting myself into and make sure I'm not pretending everything will be rainbows and butterflies

 

[8_man]

hi @8_man, I didn't mean to be riding two ships. i truly am grateful for your advice in my other threads in dental. I was only here to know what's the difference and see if I'm making the right decision. ok hear me out, I swear PA was part of my list of potential careers. Thank you for not calling me something negative instead. I am a hard-core dreamer, thinking anything is possible and sometimes I go too far into space that my friends have to bring me back to reality on earth. PA was on my mind in 2010 during the beginning of my college years, I even made a PA dream folder with ALL my research on the requirements, schools and the career but I had personal/academic issues from junior year of high school to sophomore year of college. In highschool I wanted to be an ortho (bc of my braces experience, cliche I know) but I was definitely not ready mentally, I was an emotional wreck, that's why my academics suffered, so I made the decision to put my everything academics on pause. Prior to college, I was always the person that had to get approval from others instead of doing things for myself, but right now I am more rational and went back to school, so proud of my upward trend and am in focus with my future, currently at a 3.7 GPA.

I have been working at a dental office now for the last 3 years and it was my motivation to start my pre-dental path. sometimes I think to myself is it because i work at the dental office that influenced me to start or because I will actually like working on teeth everyday. It was only the past 2 days after going to class and work that i was reevaluating my decision for my future and I went back into the PA dream folder and re-researched everything. I'm not young anymore .. and I have to face reality because my transcript is very long. I have my grades averaged out in an excel sheet and it's not looking even worthy to try, but I am trying to bust my ass for a better future because of the mistakes I've made in the past on myself. I just turned 26 and still finishing my bachelor's, but graduating next year (finally). But I know I want to be a part of the healthcare field one way or another. For the last 2 years, I've envisioned myself/set myself for dental, talking about preparing for it with friends and family (i shouldnt have done that -.-)but I was skeptical in my ability. I was speaking with my best friend and we were just talking about how if i can do a career path change, it's best for me to reevaluate all my decisions and research now before i actually invest huge amounts of time and money on the tuition.

idk if you said it in a joking way or whether you're offended, but I wanted to clear my actions up that I'm just trying to know what I'm getting myself into and make sure I'm not pretending everything will be rainbows and butterflies

LOLOL no worries, it was a joke. I was just pointing out that this thread is a year old, so the original poster is probably long gone.

If you want my two cents, I would thoroughly read up about the pros and cons of both fields. From off the top of my head...

Dentistry provides the opportunity for autonomy, but PA doesn't. PA route allows you to earn a respectable living with much less debt than the dental route, but your salary will have little room for growth down the line. PA is more holistic in scope of practice, and dentistry is more focused/hands-on. Both are great professions and I'm sure no matter your decision, you are making a good choice.

And dermatology is one of the hardest specialties to get into for medical school, so I can only assume its the same for PA.

 

[xkc9126x]

@8_man oh woops i didn't even realize the post said 2016 for the year, i just saw February so I thought it was last month. Ty


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[benzyne]

hi can you explain how dentistry and dermatology PA are similar? I am currently a pre-dental student but I was 50/50 on pursuing PA school (wanting to be in the dermatology/pediatrics/family care) or Dental school (for ortho but of course that requires to be in the top of the class ><). thank you! i would really appreciate it

I thought that you were trolling because of this line (you gunner, you!) and then I remembered that orthodontics are a thing