These are all direct quotes from my posts in this forum.
"There are a concrete, limited number of seats, and applicants with stats that would have gotten them in 5 years ago but now leave them on the outside looking in. This doesn't mean they're "dumb" or "useless""
"By no means am I belittling your accomplishments, nor am I making any assumptions or insinuations about what type of dentists Touro will graduate,"
"Touro is not the only school I have an issue with. They didn't start this trend; they are exacerbating it."
"There are 12,000 applicants every year for dental school; for the sake of the 0ther 322,930,000 people in this country, we can't be increasing the number of seats over which they're fighting.
I do agree that we should all show each other respect regardless of the schools we attend."
"so while you may be better in soliciting a reaction out of them I don't think this encourages instructive dialogue at all. I know you worked hard to be a very strong applicant and I'm not asking you to agree or empathize with these people because I'm not going to either but please at least show some sympathy and respect"
"I'm not afraid of competition, I'm afraid of what it's going to do to patients when we have more and more debt-burdened dentists running around trying to make it out of the red."
"Who knows, maybe there are 110 people out there who are good applicants, just applied too late for other schools, and are willing to attend a school not yet accredited rather than wait until next cycle. I'm not worried over the lack of quality of the school or its dentists. I'm worried about the number of dentists with enormous debt burdens who will end up working for corporate, regardless of which new, unnecessary school they attended. The patients are going to suffer most and you can't say that's not true with a straight face."
It was not my intention to offend you, but to suggest that I'm not empathetic or personable enough to enter the profession of dentistry is not exactly a conclusion I'd draw from this.
http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science and Research/HPI/Files/HPIBrief_1114_1.ashx
This is where it states 22.9% of adults have not been to the dentist within a year, 40% of which said inability to afford the care as the reason. So there is a large number of people who cannot afford to go to the dentist.
http://www.ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/data-center/supply-of-dentists
This link contains an excel file that gives each state's number of practicing dentists. Let's talk about population to provider ratios. Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are all comparatively densely populated, well served metropolitan areas. They are small so there isn't much variation within the stats, other than more rural areas and inner cities.
Maryland: 1,408 people/dentist
New Jersey: 1,238 people/dentist
Connecticut: 1,309 people/dentist
Massachusetts:1,298 people/dentist
Now do you think that newly graduated dentist are graduating in Cumberland, MD/ inner-city Baltimore? Or Bethesda and Chevy Chase?
How about inner-city Boston, Chicoppee, Holyoke, Springfield, Fall River, New Bedford, and Glouceseter, MA? Or Newton, Acton, Lexington, Concord, and Hopkinton?
Camden, Elizabeth, Newark, NJ? Or Cherry Hill and Voorhies, Bergen and Essex Counties, NJ?
Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Willimantic, CT? Or Avon-Farmington-Simsbury, and Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan?
You tell me. Please use some common sense.
All traditionally ranked as among the wealthiest states by most metrics. Now for Mississippi and West Virginia, traditionally among the poorest by traditional metrics:
Mississippi: 2,337 people/dentist
West Virginia: 2,022 people/dentist
So my "opinion" that new grads flock to traditionally well-served areas and will continue to do so looks pretty grounded in fact. They don't go to traditionally undeserved areas.
As for my opinion of corporate. Please read all of these.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012...s-see-big-profits-adults-who-cant-afford-care
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013...ds-ouster-large-dental-chain-medicaid-program
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012...ehind-dental-treatment-america-s-poorest-kids
Looks like US Senate Report agrees with my opinion.
If you don't believe my interpretation of what constitutes as undeserved or well served, check this out. You can type in dentistry and see how severe the need is at each public health clinic. Look at where they are; inner-cities, or rural and economically depressed areas. Not where grads are moving without encouragement/incentive, such as the NHSC that offers a very small number of loan repayment scholarships.
https://nhscjobs.hrsa.gov/external/search/index.seam
I have tried to explain my positions in a well-thought out and respectful manner. You asked me to provide proof so I did. I don't think that I'm entering the wrong profession; I actually think I'm very well suited for dentistry.
You don't have to agree with me, but I stand by every word I've said. I wish you the best of luck in your career and will be honored to have you as a colleague, as I will be honored to be a colleague with anybody who shows respect to others, which is what I've been doing this entire thread, and as evidenced by the direct quotes I provided to begin this post.