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Should I dive into dentistry?
- Thread starter Twixmoment
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I've taken a few bio classes lately, didn't really love them - just seems like a bunch of regurgitation of facts rather than real "learning".
- That's pretty much all of dental school (the first two years). A lot of memorization involved. If you didn't like intro bio (or whichever bio classes you took), you won't like dental school.
Do you really have to love teeth and picking at the inside of a mouth to become a successful dentist?
- No, you only need the proper skills.
Honestly anybody who has anpassion interest during undergrad for picking plaque off a tooth is kinda weird in my book.
- You might be insulting people on this forum... (not me though. I embrace my weirdness).
I'm more interested in growing a dental business/financial side and the solid salary and job security, honestly. Also the reward of helping someone and having social interaction everyday sounds far better than the constant pressure of I banking ( Was thinking about this ) or the cubicle setting of working at a computer science tech company/accounting (an alternative )
- Financial consulting/advising...? Looked up their salary on US News, and it's not too bad... to make the big bucks, you'd probably need great connections. ("Median annual wages were $66,580 in 2011, with the lowest-paid 10 percent earning around $32,810 and the highest-paid 10 percent earning more than $187,199." via US News).
Also, I really hate the sound of dental drills if that means anything. Cool with everything else but dat screech noise.
- You gotta go through a lotta that during your labs/clinical years in dental school. You sure you'll be able to put up with that for at least 2 years?
Is dentistry right for me?
- If you're still wondering about this after you get some responses on this forum (or after doing your own research), you should definitely try job shadowing a dentist who owns their own practice. Maybe for just 2 hours, just to get a feel for what a day as a dentist would be like. Ask them about the business side of their practice, the rewards, etc. And you can see if you can get over the sound of the dental drill.
- That's pretty much all of dental school (the first two years). A lot of memorization involved. If you didn't like intro bio (or whichever bio classes you took), you won't like dental school.
Do you really have to love teeth and picking at the inside of a mouth to become a successful dentist?
- No, you only need the proper skills.
Honestly anybody who has an
- You might be insulting people on this forum... (not me though. I embrace my weirdness).
I'm more interested in growing a dental business/financial side and the solid salary and job security, honestly. Also the reward of helping someone and having social interaction everyday sounds far better than the constant pressure of I banking ( Was thinking about this ) or the cubicle setting of working at a computer science tech company/accounting (an alternative )
- Financial consulting/advising...? Looked up their salary on US News, and it's not too bad... to make the big bucks, you'd probably need great connections. ("Median annual wages were $66,580 in 2011, with the lowest-paid 10 percent earning around $32,810 and the highest-paid 10 percent earning more than $187,199." via US News).
Also, I really hate the sound of dental drills if that means anything. Cool with everything else but dat screech noise.
- You gotta go through a lotta that during your labs/clinical years in dental school. You sure you'll be able to put up with that for at least 2 years?
Is dentistry right for me?
- If you're still wondering about this after you get some responses on this forum (or after doing your own research), you should definitely try job shadowing a dentist who owns their own practice. Maybe for just 2 hours, just to get a feel for what a day as a dentist would be like. Ask them about the business side of their practice, the rewards, etc. And you can see if you can get over the sound of the dental drill.
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or management position.
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You could go into finance. Bankers might quite a bit of $ and require less education than a dentist.
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dental school is nothing like private practice and although you might like private practice...dental school is a drag...i like science but dental school makes it tortuous. the pace of science classes in college is nice and slow making it possible to meander about in a textbook, reading whatever interests you. in dental school, you'll be saying, "do i need to know this for the exam?" all the time. you probably only took cell bio or intro bio which is just fundamental biology where rote memorization is expected.. but when you get into clinical application of basic science, it's all problem solving based on what you know about microbiology (cell biology), physiology (biochemistry), and pharmacology.
if you don't actually like dentistry, why the **** are you even considering it!? gosh...the things people will do for money...
there's one kid in my class who dropped out because he hated dentistry...from talking to him, it was kind of expected since he seemed more interested in stocks, real estate, and business than dentistry.
I would suggest shadowing a dentist for a day or two to see if it's for you. If it is, continue shadowing more, if not, then you can move on without regrets. Most dentists I've talked to are more than willing to let you shadow for a day, it's probably easier if you look for an alum because they'll feel more obligated to help.
As for the drill, it'd be something you have to get used to as a dentist. Shadowing would help you decide if you can put it in the back of your head while you work or if it'll get in the way of your work.
As for the drill, it'd be something you have to get used to as a dentist. Shadowing would help you decide if you can put it in the back of your head while you work or if it'll get in the way of your work.
If I were you I would not do it. Sounds like you should go the business or technology route. There seems to be a lot of people in business who don't have quantitative skills - you should leverage that by working your way up the maths while reciting textbook-business-definitions and landing internships. GL.
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This may be an unorthodox response to this, but I don't think that you are necessarily a bad fit for dentistry.
We seem to share some traits, and I am very happy having chosen this career.
For one, your bio classes are going to mainly be fact regurgitation. In the higher levels, such as biochem, you have some application-based stuff. However, for the majority of your classes, it is going to be mainly memorization. With biology, until you actually start applying the stuff you learn on real humans, it is just getting a whole lot of facts into your head.
I'll admit that I didn't think biology classes were all that wonderful during undergrad. I was able to do well, though, and I knew it would open the door for dental school. Yes, I'll be in more science classes in dental school, but I am hoping they will be at least somewhat more tailored to the human body. You don't have to love the entirety of biology--I sure as heck don't.
Like you, I don't love teeth. However, I do think that teeth--and how a smile can affect a person's overall psyche--are quite interesting. Also like you, I'm not passionate about scraping off plaque. What I am passionate about, though, are all of the opportunities that dentistry presents. Other careers (particularly those in the medical field) present similar opportunities, but I think dentistry has a fantastic work-life balance and is not terribly high stress. I have always wanted to work in healthcare. I want to use my intellect and abilities to do some "good" in the world by improving peoples' daily lives. I also care about aesthetics and am a person who pays attention the fine details. (Honestly, had I not chosen dentistry, I'd have probably aimed to go into plastics.) I think that by being a dentist, I will have ample family time--I want a child. I also want an income that will allow me to live very comfortably. I want to be my own boss. I want to be a contributing member of my community. I want to volunteer and be able to provide something that is both skilled and useful. I like learning new things, and I like being on the cutting-edge of technology. I want to be able to build lifelong relationships of trust and friendship with my patients. I have been told that I am quite self-aware, and I know that dentistry will allow me to live a life that I find very fulfilling.
I'm not a fan of screeching noises--is anybody? I'm also not a fan of needles. I thought it might gross me out to see someone being cut into. However, I quickly found that when you're actually "in the moment," applying these tools to help somebody, they aren't bothersome. You are so focused on the task at hand that they are just in the background. Granted, I've only shadowed assisted, but it still allowed me to realize this.
If you're up for it, the military is totally a sweet deal. Go for it.
You might not have to study 24/7, but dental school sure as heck isn't going to be easy. Getting there won't be, either. Be prepared for that.
I strongly encourage you to shadow and see how you feel about the field. You won't know until you try. It may not be perfect, but you seem like a realist. I am a realist as well. Is this career perfect? Heck no, but nothing would be. I am very excited for what is to come.
We seem to share some traits, and I am very happy having chosen this career.
For one, your bio classes are going to mainly be fact regurgitation. In the higher levels, such as biochem, you have some application-based stuff. However, for the majority of your classes, it is going to be mainly memorization. With biology, until you actually start applying the stuff you learn on real humans, it is just getting a whole lot of facts into your head.
I'll admit that I didn't think biology classes were all that wonderful during undergrad. I was able to do well, though, and I knew it would open the door for dental school. Yes, I'll be in more science classes in dental school, but I am hoping they will be at least somewhat more tailored to the human body. You don't have to love the entirety of biology--I sure as heck don't.
Like you, I don't love teeth. However, I do think that teeth--and how a smile can affect a person's overall psyche--are quite interesting. Also like you, I'm not passionate about scraping off plaque. What I am passionate about, though, are all of the opportunities that dentistry presents. Other careers (particularly those in the medical field) present similar opportunities, but I think dentistry has a fantastic work-life balance and is not terribly high stress. I have always wanted to work in healthcare. I want to use my intellect and abilities to do some "good" in the world by improving peoples' daily lives. I also care about aesthetics and am a person who pays attention the fine details. (Honestly, had I not chosen dentistry, I'd have probably aimed to go into plastics.) I think that by being a dentist, I will have ample family time--I want a child. I also want an income that will allow me to live very comfortably. I want to be my own boss. I want to be a contributing member of my community. I want to volunteer and be able to provide something that is both skilled and useful. I like learning new things, and I like being on the cutting-edge of technology. I want to be able to build lifelong relationships of trust and friendship with my patients. I have been told that I am quite self-aware, and I know that dentistry will allow me to live a life that I find very fulfilling.
I'm not a fan of screeching noises--is anybody? I'm also not a fan of needles. I thought it might gross me out to see someone being cut into. However, I quickly found that when you're actually "in the moment," applying these tools to help somebody, they aren't bothersome. You are so focused on the task at hand that they are just in the background. Granted, I've only shadowed assisted, but it still allowed me to realize this.
If you're up for it, the military is totally a sweet deal. Go for it.
You might not have to study 24/7, but dental school sure as heck isn't going to be easy. Getting there won't be, either. Be prepared for that.
I strongly encourage you to shadow and see how you feel about the field. You won't know until you try. It may not be perfect, but you seem like a realist. I am a realist as well. Is this career perfect? Heck no, but nothing would be. I am very excited for what is to come.
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I thought teeth was stupidly boring but once i started working on restorations with amalgam and composites, i started to appreciate dental anatomy with all its ridges, cusps, grooves, and fossa. it's like art class except you're under time pressure, you're using indirect mirror vision, and you're sculpting with both hand and power tools. your daily work life as a dentist can't divorce itself from science. people expect dentists to be perfectionists and attentive to detail but you gotta ask yourself, what is perfection and what is this detail? detail is how much minutiae you know about gross anatomy, dental anatomy, neuroanatomy, and histology, which all have their roots in cell biology. you reach functional and aesthetic perfection by knowing how your dental material behaves and what contributes to proper retention and resistance form to increase the life of the restoration.
you'll get used to the screeching noise real fast. before my first semester of d1, i thought about getting ear plugs. halfway into the semester, i found out that i don't even notice the noise anymore and that i kind of want to hear it so that i can gauge how fast my bur is cutting. i'd say being a people person is as important as liking science enough to find dental school tolerable for four years.
shadowing is stupid...there's no way you'll know what it's like to be a dentist because there's nothing outside of dentistry that remotely emulates picking up a #330 and making a class 2 prep on a #14 MO using indirect vision.NOTHING! So there's no way you can know if you'll actually enjoy dentistry or not. it sucks as a predent that you have to wait til you start dental school to find out if you like dentistry but life is rarely convenient. my best advice is to come to school open minded and accept the challenge to develop this skill. once you get the hang of it, you might like it. once you master it, with a DDS after your name as proof, you'll get another thing to worry about and that is people. the hardest part of this job after dental school is dealing with people...dentists will more likely end their career early just to get away from patients than because they hate dentistry.
if you've got a knack for neat technology that you find in medicine be prepared to the archaic BS that is known as dentistry....some of the things we're doing is the same thing dentists before the 1950's have been doing....you'll notice it once you get in school when your professors start talking about evidence based dentistry...i asked myself, what other kind of dentistry is there besides one that is evidence based and it turns out a lot of dental techniques used to be anecdotal...no ones going to spend r&d money on a field of medicine that, in general, does not save lives...this is just something to think about while you're setting up your rubber dam (which has been known to have been used as early as the Civil war) or pouring impressions or charting a full mouth with an inaccurate perio or PSR probe. compare all this to the tools of modern medicine and you'll see dentistry is at least 50 years behind.
you'll get used to the screeching noise real fast. before my first semester of d1, i thought about getting ear plugs. halfway into the semester, i found out that i don't even notice the noise anymore and that i kind of want to hear it so that i can gauge how fast my bur is cutting. i'd say being a people person is as important as liking science enough to find dental school tolerable for four years.
shadowing is stupid...there's no way you'll know what it's like to be a dentist because there's nothing outside of dentistry that remotely emulates picking up a #330 and making a class 2 prep on a #14 MO using indirect vision.NOTHING! So there's no way you can know if you'll actually enjoy dentistry or not. it sucks as a predent that you have to wait til you start dental school to find out if you like dentistry but life is rarely convenient. my best advice is to come to school open minded and accept the challenge to develop this skill. once you get the hang of it, you might like it. once you master it, with a DDS after your name as proof, you'll get another thing to worry about and that is people. the hardest part of this job after dental school is dealing with people...dentists will more likely end their career early just to get away from patients than because they hate dentistry.
if you've got a knack for neat technology that you find in medicine be prepared to the archaic BS that is known as dentistry....some of the things we're doing is the same thing dentists before the 1950's have been doing....you'll notice it once you get in school when your professors start talking about evidence based dentistry...i asked myself, what other kind of dentistry is there besides one that is evidence based and it turns out a lot of dental techniques used to be anecdotal...no ones going to spend r&d money on a field of medicine that, in general, does not save lives...this is just something to think about while you're setting up your rubber dam (which has been known to have been used as early as the Civil war) or pouring impressions or charting a full mouth with an inaccurate perio or PSR probe. compare all this to the tools of modern medicine and you'll see dentistry is at least 50 years behind.
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Dentistry is a great profession. You set your own hours, usually working short hours on a 4 day work week. If you keep your business hat on, instead of letting your ego tell you to build a palace of an office, you can potentially earn close about what a cardiac surgeon earns. Keep it simple, simple, simple with low OH.
Source: Graduated 10 years ago. Opened 3 offices in Florida (check it out BanyanDental.com), I run them lean and simple. Can completely retire at any time, but then what would I do?
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I'm curious, where'd you graduate from and how long after did you buy your first practice? I fear that for many new grads, their massive student loans may be prohibitive when seeking an additional practice loan. Won't some banks refuse to lend to you if your income/debt ratio is too low?
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also being in south florida, did you find there was much competition in your location? do you need to use specific marketing tactics for new patients? props on opening three practices within a decade of graduation.
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University of Tennessee. 6 months to purchase 1st practice. Back then when we graduated our loans would be about $110K. I know the dental finance companies will still find a way to finance you. Overall, if you are a hard working, smart, and a very down to earth person you will have a very very nice and easy living.
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There is always competition. The trick is to outcompete them. Low overhead, better job, better prices, be their friend. Dentists are notoriously poor business people and most are arrogant. They do my job for me.
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