Reasons you want to be a dentist

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taKgaHxiA

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Hey I was just wondering what were the main reasons people on here are pursuing dentistry, aiside from the positive work conditions, high pay, and helping people. What are your passions for the field specifically?

thanks.....
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HAHAHAHA... seriously, nice way to disguise the true question: "Please tell me why I want to be a dentist?"
 
Members don't see this ad :)
armorshell said:
Write your own personal statement
Click to expand...

Aight you got me. I've finished my draft, and had people look over it. They all say that i don't specifically talk about my passion for dentistry. My main reason for going into it, is to be able to go to third worlds to give assistance......i got nothing specific for it though.....i'm just looking for some ideas...
 
:laugh: You are sharp armor!
 
Hey thanks for the input armorshell. That is my theme, helping people. But my friends are asking why dentistry specifically to help others? they're like you can be a doctor or anything else for that matter to go out and help others.....

so i'm kinda stuck...
 
taKgaHxiA said:
Hey thanks for the input armorshell. That is my theme, helping people. But my friends are asking why dentistry specifically to help others? they're like you can be a doctor or anything else for that matter to go out and help others.....

so i'm kinda stuck...
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you can go into why you want to invest time into third world countries as a dentist and not a medical doctor.... i.e. the importance of dental needs are under rated?!
 
After shadowing an endodontist, I don't think I'd be happier doing much else...its interesting...some things you can't really explain.
 
dexadental said:
After shadowing an endodontist, I don't think I'd be happier doing much else...its interesting...some things you can't really explain.
Click to expand...

Very true. I know a ton of reasons why I wouldn't want to be anything else, but to pin-point out how dentistry exactly does it for me is rough. There's really not one earthshattering experience that told me "yes, I am to be a dentist"; everyday I find another little reason why it would be the coolest thing to do with most of my life.
 
hmmm...seems like no one wants to admit it, so putting all this "i want to help out poor innocent souls in south africa with no dental care" bulls**t and be the man around here and say it, its all ABOUT THE MONEY (in contrast to amount of work). no ands, ifs, and buts about it. if u truely want to help cure periodontal disease then why take that lucrative 100,000+ salary a year, why dont u move to some poor community and work for 30,000 while charging everyone 15% of what would be charge elsewhere so that u know theyll be able to afford it??? 30,000 is easily enough to live on, if u truly have a caring heart (watch the crap about paying off loans and needing 300,000 a year salary come in) . but of course u wont do it because the reason u got into dentistry is for the money, everyone knows, ur not fooling anyone. just say it, live with it, and be free of that evil burden u have on ur shoulder

EDIT- i believe dentists and its specialties are some of the most evil people, recommending procedures just to rake in the cash, i cant wait to be one!!
 
americanpierg said:
hmmm...seems like no one wants to admit it, so putting all this "i want to help out poor innocent souls in south africa with no dental care" bulls**t and be the man around here and say it, its all ABOUT THE MONEY (in contrast to amount of work). no ands, ifs, and buts about it. if u truely want to help cure periodontal disease then why take that lucrative 100,000+ salary a year, why dont u move to some poor community and work for 30,000 while charging everyone 15% of what would be charge elsewhere so that u know theyll be able to afford it??? 30,000 is easily enough to live on, if u truly have a caring heart (watch the crap about paying off loans and needing 300,000 a year salary come in) . but of course u wont do it because the reason u got into dentistry is for the money, everyone knows, ur not fooling anyone. just say it, live with it, and be free of that evil burden u have on ur shoulder

EDIT- i believe dentists and its specialties are some of the most evil people, recommending procedures just to rake in the cash, i cant wait to be one!!
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I hope the adcoms read this, you know they surf these boards right? :laugh:
 
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taKgaHxiA said:
Aight you got me. I've finished my draft, and had people look over it. They all say that i don't specifically talk about my passion for dentistry. My main reason for going into it, is to be able to go to third worlds to give assistance......i got nothing specific for it though.....i'm just looking for some ideas...
Click to expand...

uhmmm my personal statement is going to be better than yours: I'm from a third world country...came here for a better dental education..then I'll take some time off to go back and help the country.
-beside that, i'm going back to get all the girls there too! :laugh: :smuggrin:
 
taKgaHxiA said:
That is my theme, helping people. But my friends are asking why dentistry specifically to help others? they're like you can be a doctor or anything else for that matter to go out and help others.....

so i'm kinda stuck...
Click to expand...

if you honestly cant answer that question on your own, are you sure you want to get into this field?
 
taKgaHxiA said:
Aight you got me. I've finished my draft, and had people look over it. They all say that i don't specifically talk about my passion for dentistry. My main reason for going into it, is to be able to go to third worlds to give assistance......i got nothing specific for it though.....i'm just looking for some ideas...
Click to expand...

LOL do u HONESTLY think u can pull that one pass the adcoms... r u honestly kidding me... hthe last thing the people there have to worry about is their teeth, why not become an MD, get a degree in social work or whatever u get if u wanna do that kind of stuff, do what angelina jolie does
 
americanpierg said:
LOL do u HONESTLY think u can pull that one pass the adcoms... r u honestly kidding me... hthe last thing the people there have to worry about is their teeth, why not become an MD, get a degree in social work or whatever u get if u wanna do that kind of stuff, do what angelina jolie does
Click to expand...

haha! i don't know....at least it shows he's thinking about it. For me, the only reason why I said something about the third world is because I've been there and experienced it myself. But if you're not from there and you're honest about your intention then you should say it.

Hey man, everybody worries about his teeth...ain't matter how poor you are...hell you need something to chew with. Remember good oral health=good overall health (i got that from some TV commercial)
 
I want to be a dentist because my mommy told me when I grow up if I'm a good dentist then I might get to meet the tooth fairy!
 
taKgaHxiA said:
Aight you got me. I've finished my draft, and had people look over it. They all say that i don't specifically talk about my passion for dentistry. My main reason for going into it, is to be able to go to third worlds to give assistance......i got nothing specific for it though.....i'm just looking for some ideas...
Click to expand...
Well, first, I don't think you should use the term "third world" in your essay. Some people consider that mildly insulting now, and your interviewers might notice. Use developing country.

It's sort of hard to write an entire essay about your passion for dentistry. Most dentists probably couldn't do that. I think that a good way to approach your essay is to detail some of the things you've done in your life, and how they helped steer you towards dentistry or how they've helped prepare you for dentistry (i.e. managing stress). Dental schools like to see that you've considered other careers (they want to make sure you're legit into dentistry, not legit into money). Don't list off a bunch of crap though, you've got to talk about yourself and your development. Hope i haven't been to vague. :p
 
americanpierg said:
LOL do u HONESTLY think u can pull that one pass the adcoms... r u honestly kidding me... hthe last thing the people there have to worry about is their teeth, why not become an MD, get a degree in social work or whatever u get if u wanna do that kind of stuff, do what angelina jolie does
Click to expand...

Please refrain from making comments about things which you know nothing about. You are basically saying that because someone is poor, they won't be bothered by an abscessed molar? This is clearly ridiculous. I have spent a significant amount of time in South America on dental mission trips, and I can tell you that the people we help are always incredibly appreciative of the help we can give them. People are willing to take a whole day off from work and wait for 8+ hours to get treatment, and for many of them it will be their first time seeing a dentist in their whole life. I don't think they would bother waiting for that long if they weren't "worried" about their teeth. As a doctor holding clinics in a third world country, your ability to help is quite limited. You will have to bring all the medicine which you will need with you, which means you will have a very limited supply and won't be able to bring a broad enough range of drugs to be able to help every patient you see. Even worse, you will only be able to give the people a months supply of medicine at most. This means that the patients will have relief for a short period of time, but their problems, in most cases, will return when you leave and they run out of medicine and cannot afford more. At any rate, you can certainly do an enormous amount of good as a dentist volunteering in the 3rd world. In the future, I suggest you get some exposure to medical or dental mission trips before being so eager to belittle someone else's desire to help the less fortunate.
 
If I tell anyone why I want to be a dentist, then I bet they'll stare at me like I'm crazy (at first) ...OK, I'll tell you the truth why I want to be a dentist ...

When I was dating this guy, I really into him and willing to do anything to make him happy. He told me that his parents want him to be a dentist because all his cousins are dentist or doctors. But he couldn't because he's not into dentistry field, he can't learn chemistry or biology stuff ... after listen to his story, I was thinking, why can't I be a dentist, to complete his parents dream just for him ... Then I pursued dentistry ... but then later on, his parents tried to separate us, they chose the other girl, a rich girl over me (cuz I'm poor), and he listened to his parents ...

After that I still thinking I should go to dentistry, but for different reason, I wanted to be rich, I want to proove to his parents that I will be rich and someday they'll wrong about me, I'll be rich, making money by my own, not like growing up from a wealthy family like other girl ... sigh ...

But now I think different, I want to be rich so I can help my family first, I want to change my life, not to be poor, not to let other people look down on me, and I want to have a better life, I want my children to live in a wealthy family, I want my kids to have everything that I don't have :( ..... so people won't look down on my kids, like they looked down on me ...

Also, I want to be rich because I'll be able to help a lot of poor people in my country ... do charity stuff ... eventhough I don't have that much money now, but I always save money, and everytime I went back to my country I always bought rice, foods to give away to poor people, and give money to people who needed help ...

That's my reason ... maybe you think I'm too materialistic but in the real world, poor people always think of things like that, or at least I'm one of them ... I haven't shadow at dentist office yet, so I do'nt know how is it, or works good with hands or why people like dentistry ... but I hope after I shadow at their office, I'll have different perspective ... like "yes I like to work with my hands ...???" ... or whatever reason, but I believe everyone have their own reason, nothing's wrong or right ...

But I can't tell my interviewer that I pursued dentistry because of that guy (eventhough it was at first)... what reason you think I should tell them ? sigh ... still thinking ...
 
I think you could be rich pursuing something that is less stressful if that is why you want to be a dentist!!!

moonlight123 said:
If I tell anyone why I want to be a dentist, then I bet they'll stare at me like I'm crazy (at first) ...OK, I'll tell you the truth why I want to be a dentist ...

When I was dating this guy, I really into him and willing to do anything to make him happy. He told me that his parents want him to be a dentist because all his cousins are dentist or doctors. But he couldn't because he's not into dentistry field, he can't learn chemistry or biology stuff ... after listen to his story, I was thinking, why can't I be a dentist, to complete his parents dream just for him ... Then I pursued dentistry ... but then later on, his parents tried to separate us, they chose the other girl, a rich girl over me (cuz I'm poor), and he listened to his parents ...

After that I still thinking I should go to dentistry, but for different reason, I wanted to be rich, I want to proove to his parents that I will be rich and someday they'll wrong about me, I'll be rich, making money by my own, not like growing up from a wealthy family like other girl ... sigh ...

But now I think different, I want to be rich so I can help my family first, I want to change my life, not to be poor, not to let other people look down on me, and I want to have a better life, I want my children to live in a wealthy family, I want my kids to have everything that I don't have :( ..... so people won't look down on my kids, like they looked down on me ...

Also, I want to be rich because I'll be able to help a lot of poor people in my country ... do charity stuff ... eventhough I don't have that much money now, but I always save money, and everytime I went back to my country I always bought rice, foods to give away to poor people, and give money to people who needed help ...

That's my reason ... maybe you think I'm too materialistic but in the real world, poor people always think of things like that, or at least I'm one of them ... I haven't shadow at dentist office yet, so I do'nt know how is it, or works good with hands or why people like dentistry ... but I hope after I shadow at their office, I'll have different perspective ... like "yes I like to work with my hands ...???" ... or whatever reason, but I believe everyone have their own reason, nothing's wrong or right ...

But I can't tell my interviewer that I pursued dentistry because of that guy (eventhough it was at first)... what reason you think I should tell them ? sigh ... still thinking ...
Click to expand...
 
moonlight123 said:
like what ????
Click to expand...

Financing, own a business, lawyer, business manager..they make around 10k a month or more and that is what you start to make when you graduate from dental school if you are lucky and it takes around 5 yrs to be able to make good money and in order to be rich in dentistry you need to own a practice and that has lots of headaches + the loans of the dental school and everything else. Besides the market is saturated in some areas of US that if you are not great you can't be rich..I am sure you would be a great dentist if you pursue this career but dont pursue this career to prove to someone else you can do it...do something that you love to do..think it like this...you have to do this job everyday for the rest of your life and if you are not happy with the work your life would become hectic..just an advise..but for sure shadow with a dentist and try to be realistic than emotional..good luck :)
 
Hey Hokie, that's awsome to hear. Your one of the first people to be positive on this aspect. Your really giving me hope that this is something that will really help others. What were some of your dental missions experiences like?

hokiedds said:
Please refrain from making comments about things which you know nothing about. You are basically saying that because someone is poor, they won't be bothered by an abscessed molar? This is clearly ridiculous. I have spent a significant amount of time in South America on dental mission trips, and I can tell you that the people we help are always incredibly appreciative of the help we can give them. People are willing to take a whole day off from work and wait for 8+ hours to get treatment, and for many of them it will be their first time seeing a dentist in their whole life. I don't think they would bother waiting for that long if they weren't "worried" about their teeth. As a doctor holding clinics in a third world country, your ability to help is quite limited. You will have to bring all the medicine which you will need with you, which means you will have a very limited supply and won't be able to bring a broad enough range of drugs to be able to help every patient you see. Even worse, you will only be able to give the people a months supply of medicine at most. This means that the patients will have relief for a short period of time, but their problems, in most cases, will return when you leave and they run out of medicine and cannot afford more. At any rate, you can certainly do an enormous amount of good as a dentist volunteering in the 3rd world. In the future, I suggest you get some exposure to medical or dental mission trips before being so eager to belittle someone else's desire to help the less fortunate.
Click to expand...
 
hokiedds said:
Please refrain from making comments about things which you know nothing about. You are basically saying that because someone is poor, they won't be bothered by an abscessed molar? This is clearly ridiculous. I have spent a significant amount of time in South America on dental mission trips, and I can tell you that the people we help are always incredibly appreciative of the help we can give them. People are willing to take a whole day off from work and wait for 8+ hours to get treatment, and for many of them it will be their first time seeing a dentist in their whole life. I don't think they would bother waiting for that long if they weren't "worried" about their teeth. As a doctor holding clinics in a third world country, your ability to help is quite limited. You will have to bring all the medicine which you will need with you, which means you will have a very limited supply and won't be able to bring a broad enough range of drugs to be able to help every patient you see. Even worse, you will only be able to give the people a months supply of medicine at most. This means that the patients will have relief for a short period of time, but their problems, in most cases, will return when you leave and they run out of medicine and cannot afford more. At any rate, you can certainly do an enormous amount of good as a dentist volunteering in the 3rd world. In the future, I suggest you get some exposure to medical or dental mission trips before being so eager to belittle someone else's desire to help the less fortunate.
Click to expand...
Amen to everything here. Just a few weeks ago, a dozen classmates and I spent spring break in Ecuador seeing & treating 250 patients instead of sitting on the beach. Everything you've said here is spot-on. :thumbup:
 
aphistis said:
Amen to everything here. Just a few weeks ago, a dozen classmates and I spent spring break in Ecuador seeing & treating 250 patients instead of sitting on the beach. Everything you've said here is spot-on. :thumbup:
Click to expand...


Yo that's tight! Are you in dental school right now?
 
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