An honest question for the dentists...

[NDBeast]

---

Members do not see this ad.

If you had your CHOICE... would you go to dental school or medical school?

 

[gryffindor]

definitely dental

 

[Bickle]

Honestly...dental. No question about it.

 

[UBTom]

Dental. And this is coming from someone whose siblings and relatives are physicians.

 

[critterbug]

If you want to get a response from more practicing dentists you might want to visit www.dentaltown.com and ask your question over there.

I am assuming that you want to know whether or not dentists regret not goin to medical school. There are many practicing dentists that will answer your question over there. But I can almost assure you that the majority will say that if they had it to do all over again, they would STILL go the dental route.

A better question would be to ask physicians, if they could do it over again, would they choose medical school or dental school. You might get more of a mixed response. Especially from residents 😉

 

[StarGirl]

medical j/k!

i think med school is easier than dental school until you reach the 3rd yr (at least it is here from what it seems)... then the rest of our life it seems like we have it a lot easiser (scheldule, time commitment etc etc etc)

but i guess it's all personal perference... have MD, Optometry, and Nursing in the family and they all see to like it as well...

i think the only thing i don't like about dental school is that it doesn't give you enough time to "experience" or do to many different things while you're in school (at least so far...)

 

[Midoc]

100% Dental

 

[NDBeast]

Originally posted by critterbug

I am assuming that you want to know whether or not dentists regret not goin to medical school. There are many practicing dentists that will answer your question over there. But I can almost assure you that the majority will say that if they had it to do all over again, they would STILL go the dental route.

I don't know, man. I keep telling my parents I want to do dental and my mom (a general dentist) keeps steering me away. She says that "95% of dentists would rather have gone to medical school."

 

[NDBeast]

Originally posted by StarGirl

i think med school is easier than dental school until you reach the 3rd yr (at least it is here from what it seems)... then the rest of our life it seems like we have it a lot easiser (scheldule, time commitment etc etc etc)

My mom would disagree with that, too. She says that dentistry fluctuates with the economy, and most dentists have more headaches than doctors. also, maintaining a practice is a huge pain in the ass.

Whenever I ask these questions to you guys, I'm always looking for ammunition to use against my mom, lol.

 

[critterbug]

Originally posted by NDBeast
I don't know, man. I keep telling my parents I want to do dental and my mom (a general dentist) keeps steering me away. She says that "95% of dentists would rather have gone to medical school."

Well, no offense, but your mom is wrong. It seems like she has "the grass is greener" syndrome. From all of the dentists that I've talked to and my fellow pre-dents and dental student friends, have all said that they are happy with their choice.

Notice that I said "choice". That means the people that I am refering to all had what it took to get into both medical school AND dental school. It seems like the 95% of those dentists that your mom is refering to consist only of the people who could not get into medical school and chose dental school as a backup. Then yes, most of those dentists are disgruntled and unhappy because they are not doing what they truly wanted to do.

But, most of us on these forums are people who have willingly chosen dentistry over medicine, and cannot be happier with our choice. I, for one, had great stats in college, even better than my buddies who are now in med schools.

Times have changed since your mom probably went to school. Statistically speaking, the competition to get into dental school is almost, if not just the same, as that of getting into medical school. So for those going into dental school now it is most likely a choice and not a backup plan.

Bottom line, no one can make this decision for you. Not even your mom. You have to do your own research and find out what career best suits YOU. Get out and talk to other dentists. Visit dentaltown.com and talk to some of those dentists over there. In fact, I am curious to see how they react to the comment your mother made

I'm sure they will provide you with all the "ammunition" you need

 

[Midoc]

NDBeast, this may be both a misguided generalization and inflammatory but know that I mean no disrespect to your mother. Having said that I have noticed a larger percentage of the older (in thier 40's and 50's) female dentists are very bitter people, at least in regards to their opinions about dentistry. I may be totally off base but I think this has a lot to do with the amount of hazing that female dental students received 20-30 years ago. If you want to be a dentist don't let anyone talk you out of it, if you don't want to be a dentist don't let anyone talk you into it. In either case you'll wonder the rest of your life what things would have been like if you had/had not done what you wanted to do.

As Critterbug mentioned www.dentaltown.com is a great place for information from/for real dentists. They're quite open to dental students as well. I just checked the site and they have 26,351 registered users and 575 online at midnight EST. From the posts that I have seen the vast vast majority of the dentists on this site are very enthusiastic about dentistry and would recommend it highly.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by NDBeast
I don't know, man. I keep telling my parents I want to do dental and my mom (a general dentist) keeps steering me away. She says that "95% of dentists would rather have gone to medical school."

That's quite the other way around these days. By no means do 95% of physicians wish they had gone to dental school, but I believe that currently a much larger number of physicians wish they had attended dental school than dentists wishing they had attended medical school.

Dentistry is just embarking on its golden age, and aside from individual cases, there isn't much to detract from the profession right now. Technology is amazing, hours are great, pay is on the rise like it has never been before, many are bringing back medical aspects into dentistry, the autonomy of the profession allows for an intriguing practice. The list really goes on and on.

This is not a generalization, but a personal experience: my father, a practicing physician since 1979, is VERY envious that I'm in dental school. He says that if he weren't too old he would apply.

My uncle, a prominent pediatrician, practicing since 1982, echoes those sentiments.

Another uncle, a prominent dentist, is very much happy with his career decisions.

Just my observations.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Oh, and my choice: dental.

I get to touch upon the medical aspects of science that I truly love, and I don't have to buy in to the current trappings of medicine as it stands right now.

 

[StarGirl]

that's funny... but my best friend's daddy who's a MD told me exactly the opposit...

er... i don't think your mommy's right about 95% of dentist wanting to be MDs.... i wouldn't... I would have rather been many other things than a MD.... or maybe i am of the 5% 🙂

I think it has a lot to do w/ personal preference...

Originally posted by NDBeast
My mom would disagree with that, too. She says that dentistry fluctuates with the economy, and most dentists have more headaches than doctors. also, maintaining a practice is a huge pain in the ass.

Whenever I ask these questions to you guys, I'm always looking for ammunition to use against my mom, lol.

 

[ckent]

I am fourth yr medical student, but knowing what i know now, if I had the manual dexterity and was more procedural oriented, I might have picked dental over medical too. You get a higher pay for the amount of training (don't have to do a 5 yr general surg residency before starting to work), much better hours, less to no call, less stress in terms of dealing with life and death issues, and less paranoia about being sued. You also don't have to deal with things like declining reimbursement from insurance companies and medicare/medicaid (where many reimburse less then the cost to provide the care, even before counting your salary), and dealing with all that paper work because most patients pay out of cash. Not a bad deal at all. I have no regrets about choosing medical over dental though, because I will never have the ability to steadily hold a drill to one tooth regardless how much I practice and I don't think that there is a large market out there for dentists who only take histories and write scripts for their patients. 🙂

 

[tanwe461]

Well, one year ago I would say Medical..but now, I would definitely say Dental? Hey, who wouldn't eh? I mean, come on, the pay is lucrative and the working hours nice! 😀 We should be proud that we are Dentists...because we are specialised health professionals!

 

[dudelove]

3 years ago I would have said medical. After practicing for a couple of years, I can say that I love what I do. Definitely dentistry.

 

[drPheta]

Dental no doubt about it.

If I wanted to do medical more than dental, and I was rejected by med schools (if I applied) my backup plan would have been off-shore med school or DO school...not dental school. I think anyone who chooses dental school as a backup plan is a fool.

I can assure you, MOST of the people here are here because this is their passion.

On that note, the older/more experienced dentists who claim that they wish they had done med are probably from the era where dentists actually were MD's who couldn't get into the med school. In the past, dentistry was regarded as the place to go when your med school plans went wrong.

Today, it's a totally different story. Dental school is just as hard to get in as med school, it's just as rigorous as med school, it costs just as much as med school (relating to time and money combined), teaches you practically the same things as med school. As a result, those who chose dental are damned sure they want to do dentistry.

 

[NDBeast]

Nice answers guys... thanks!

Although in my mom's defense, most of you guys are either in dental school or just out of it, so you really don't know what practicing is like, yet, right?

 

[NDBeast]

Thanks, pro. I saw it and think people from this site should go and read it. There are interesting replies.

 

[NDBeast]

We can only hope.....

 

[DrRob]

Medical. Only because my city is very short on Family doctors - and there are many incentives for practicing here. I like diagnosis more than actually doing procedures-while I still enjoy dentistry - I think once I get more experienced with dental procedures I will enjoy it more and it will be less stressful.

 

[quantumhead]

It was never a choice of one or the other. Dentistry was my choice. I left a good career to return to school for Dentistry.

I have never met a Dentist who whished he/she did something else. However I have met some unhappy MD's. As the same time there are many MD's that love their jobs and would never change for the world.

I think as a business decision Dentistry has an advantage. Money and autonomy. Other than that the two professions have some major diffrences.

I am glad that my Physician loves his work! I woulden't want to goto someone who didn't. He is frustrated with the business side of Medicine but loves being an MD.

 

[cusp of carabelli]

Originally posted by SDN9876
i've heard something very interesting. A dean an unnamed dental school was interviewing my friend and said "your numbers are really good, why don't you try for med school instead"

I think he might have been just asking him this question to see his response and make sure he was really dedicated to being a dentist...