Cold Feet

[TheIndecisiveMan]

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So I just put down a deposit to a top notch dental school and am rethinking the entire dental thing. While I do not want to come off as ungrateful (because I know how difficult the process can be) I never felt elated when I received my acceptances, I am actually pretty depressed. I was always interested in omfs, I think the procedures they do are fascinating. On the other hand I know that I will never be happy being a general dentist, and I am not an artistic person. After spending thousands of dollars, and taking two years off after college I am wondering whether I should apply to medical school. I have had this gut wrenching feeling about this entire thing, and it only seems to be getting worse. While I do want to be in a surgical field, I think that I could also be happy in some other specialties in medicine. I really just want to be happy, but I also don't want to keep wasting valuable years in my life. Please share your opinions/advice!

 

[Likkriue]

If you are depressed knowing you have acceptances you might be in the wrong field. It takes alot of courage making it this far and making a switch.

If you really want to go into medicine, then thats what you have to do.

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

So I just put down a deposit to a top notch dental school and am rethinking the entire dental thing. While I do not want to come off as ungrateful (because I know how difficult the process can be) I never felt elated when I received my acceptances, I am actually pretty depressed. I was always interested in omfs, I think the procedures they do are fascinating. On the other hand I know that I will never be happy being a general dentist, and I am not an artistic person. After spending thousands of dollars, and taking two years off after college I am wondering whether I should apply to medical school. I have had this gut wrenching feeling about this entire thing, and it only seems to be getting worse. While I do want to be in a surgical field, I think that I could also be happy in some other specialties in medicine. I really just want to be happy, but I also don't want to keep wasting valuable years in my life. Please share your opinions/advice!

Go with your gut feeling and don't look back.

Also note, this is a big gamble. WHAT IF...... you don't make it into med school. Then what? You lost your seat and wasted "valuable" time.

Discuss with your parents, friends, significant other and yourself.

Just to tell you, medical school kills you. It's miserable and all you do is study. You lose sleep. You lose your sanity and time to live a "normal" life. If you're okay with this, then you're on the right path. Just to tell you, every single girl who sits around me has cried due to grades, depression and/or disappointment.

 

[DDSER1]

Go with your gut feeling and don't look back.

Also note, this is a big gamble. WHAT IF...... you don't make it into med school. Then what? You lost your seat and wasted "valuable" time.

Discuss with your parents, friends, significant other and yourself.

Just to tell you, medical school kills you. It's miserable and all you do is study. You lose sleep. You lose your sanity and time to live a "normal" life. If you're okay with this, then you're on the right path. Just to tell you, every single girl who sits around me has cried due to grades, depression and/or disappointment.

Lol my sisters in her second year of med school at umb and she's having the time of her life. She does say she studies around 10-12 hours a day, but she loves it and still has a great social life. So medical school isn't reaaally as bad as you're saying

 

[Likkriue]

I would hate to be his patient if he for any reason comes out a general dentist with that amount of debt.

You can't always think about yourself, but about the people you might affect around you.

Depression is a BIG deal. Getting it this early before the intense schooling starts is serious. OP has to talk to his family, friends and counselors/advisors.

 

[Michael_Scott]

Go with your gut feeling and don't look back.

Also note, this is a big gamble. WHAT IF...... you don't make it into med school. Then what? You lost your seat and wasted "valuable" time.

Discuss with your parents, friends, significant other and yourself.

Just to tell you, medical school kills you. It's miserable and all you do is study. You lose sleep. You lose your sanity and time to live a "normal" life. If you're okay with this, then you're on the right path. Just to tell you, every single girl who sits around me has cried due to grades, depression and/or disappointment.

Agreed with this. The "what if" should concern you. What if you are not good enough for medicine ?
It is always good to choose what you love especially something dealing with patients lives and welfare but also think about your future here. This may very well be the last shot you have at a dental degree. Also, med school and dental school is what you make of it.
Perhaps, if you have the guts and smarts, you can get a MD after DDS.
My 2 cents and best wishes.

 

[ChillCops!]

Going to be blunt...

I would kill (figuratively) to have an acceptance arrive in my inbox. That being said, if getting your acceptances wasn't the happiest day of your life maybe dental school is not for you. Open that seat for others!

 

[htdt]

If you switch and find out you don't like medicine, you can never go back to dentistry. Most MDs would choose dentistry if they could do it all over again, just something to consider. You made it this far and it might not be smart to drop it for something else. Maybe you'll learn to like the profession once you're in it. And you don't need to think about others, your future patients or other pre-dents who want your seat or whatever. Just be selfish and think about you!

My dad is a very good general dentist, and I can tell you he's one of the least artistic people I've seen. He literally cannot fix anything around the house, he can never help me with my art projects (because he'll mess it up). But he's good at fixing teeth. So yeah you don't need to be artistic to do this job.

 

[Likkriue]

Most MDs would choose dentistry if they could do it all over again, just something to consider.

You can say most MDs you've talked to might've done so. But saying most MDs in general would have chosen dentistry is not true.

He has said that he enjoyed medicine more. The only part of dentistry he likes is OMFS where you for the most part pull out 3rd molars. Trauma cases give very low reimbursement however exciting they may be to do.
So if he wants to be selfish, he should go to medicine.

 

[blablabla1]

Agreed with this. The "what if" should concern you. What if you are not good enough for medicine ?
It is always good to choose what you love especially something dealing with patients lives and welfare but also think about your future here. This may very well be the last shot you have at a dental degree. Also, med school and dental school is what you make of it.
Perhaps, if you have the guts and smarts, you can get a MD after DDS.
My 2 cents and best wishes.

This is not very good advice no offense to you personally.

OP clearly stated he is in a depressive state. What if it gets worse in dental school as he battles all the "what if" scenarios? Depression is serious business. Also going into that much debt with the thinking that you are likely to be unhappy with your career if he ends up as a general dentist is insane.

Also about the whole MD and DDS thing, do you really think it's practical to ruin 10+ years of earning potential AND get into massive debt + interest just so OP can get both degrees so he doesn't have to worry about whether "he is good enough for medicine?"

OP, I personally think you should go with your gut and try medicine. It's going to take some huge balls to step away from dental at this stage, but if you're actually unhappy before even stepping into a D school, id get out of it now before you start paying tuition + fees. Dental school is one of those things where if you graduate and decide it's not what you want to do, you're kinda stuck with it because of the debt you have to deal with afterwards. Going to D school with the mindset of "OMFS or bust" isn't the way to go.

Also about the whole Medicine being more difficult to get into than dental.. not sure how true that is. I know their GPA averages are a little higher but acceptance rates are about the same.


With all that said though, take a little more time to think about it. You've already sent in the deposit so you have a good amount of time to still think about this decision. And most importantly, keep a positive mindset. Don't think "oh no I'm screwed because I don't know what I want to do," instead just think "alright, what decision should I make that will leave me with no regrets when everything is said and done?"

 

[NavyDDS1990]

This is not very good advice no offense to you personally.

OP clearly stated he is in a depressive state. What if it gets worse in dental school as he battles all the "what if" scenarios? Depression is serious business. Also going into that much debt with the thinking that you are likely to be unhappy with your career if he ends up as a general dentist is insane.

Also about the whole MD and DDS thing, do you really think it's practical to ruin 10+ years of earning potential AND get into massive debt + interest just so OP can get both degrees so he doesn't have to worry about whether "he is good enough for medicine?"

OP, I personally think you should go with your gut and try medicine. It's going to take some huge balls to step away from dental at this stage, but if you're actually unhappy before even stepping into a D school, id get out of it now before you start paying tuition + fees. Dental school is one of those things where if you graduate and decide it's not what you want to do, you're kinda stuck with it because of the debt you have to deal with afterwards. Going to D school with the mindset of "OMFS or bust" isn't the way to go.

Also about the whole Medicine being more difficult to get into than dental.. not sure how true that is. I know their GPA averages are a little higher but acceptance rates are about the same.


With all that said though, take a little more time to think about it. You've already sent in the deposit so you have a good amount of time to still think about this decision. And most importantly, keep a positive mindset. Don't think "oh no I'm screwed because I don't know what I want to do," instead just think "alright, what decision should I make that will leave me with no regrets when everything is said and done?"

Well said. I second this

 

[Likkriue]

My best friend dropped her acceptance from one of the best PharmD programs in this country because she wasn't sure if pharmacy is the right career for her. Now she gets stuck in a limbo with a Bio degree. It breaks my heart. I would hate to see anyone else in the same situation.

Is she applying to something else?

 

[DC206R]

I say go with your gut.

 

[Likkriue]

She's actually in the process of re-applying to the same PharmD program. What's the likelihood of getting a second acceptance after you turned down the 1st one because you weren't sure? Just something for you to seriously consider OP.

Well that just blows my mind. I understand declining something to pursue another. But declining without being 100% sure she wants to pursue something else is another thing altogether.

 

[fellowstudent92]

I dont like to post in these types of topics, but I'll give you an n=1 experience of me: initially I wanted to go to med school but then switched completely to dental school (although i hadn't applied and gotten accepted to med school yet but I did take the MCATs). Anyways, once I got my dental school acceptance, I was not really 100% sure about dentistry either and became more sure of medicine lol (crazy right?). I'm glad I didn't make the switch-it turns out my original fears were just fears and my instinct was wrong. I started loving dentistry the deeper I got into it! So glad I didn't switch.

 

[itsJazz]

OP, I suggest you shadow some MDs if you haven't yet, just to get a feel of the field and the different specialties it has to offer. I also think you should really sit down and evaluate what it is exactly about dentistry that is getting you down in the dumps. If you can pinpoint the reason(s) why, I'm sure you will be able to make a sounder judgement because it would be based on a decision made from understanding yourself rather than an "I don't know, I just feel it ain't so." I also have a tendency to go with my gut feeling, but for something as life-changing as this decision you would be making, you need to know where and why your heart is in one place and not the other.

And sometimes the gut is wrong and your worries were for nothing! Or the thing(s) that's given you cold feet in dentistry is also something that'll give you cold feet in medicine. You can always ask dentists if what's holding you back is really something that'll hinder your happiness as a dentist.

 

[TheIndecisiveMan]

Thank you all for your input! I do think I am going to get some more exposure in the medical field. I am also under the impression that watching someone perform a procedure vs you doing the procedure are two completely different things. You may be completely bored watching while fall in love when you actually get to do it yourself. People always say ask those in the medical/dental field if they are happy....but just because someone is happy/upset with their career does not mean you will be. It will take some time to make this decision

 

[Likkriue]

Thank you all for your input! I do think I am going to get some more exposure in the medical field. I am also under the impression that watching someone perform a procedure vs you doing the procedure are two completely different things. You may be completely bored watching while fall in love when you actually get to do it yourself. People always say ask those in the medical/dental field if they are happy....but just because someone is happy/upset with their career does not mean you will be. It will take some time to make this decision

Good, take your time and think this out! You already have the deposit down. You have many months to continue to decide.

 

[schmoob]

Just go to dental school. You have the freedom of doing what you want.

Don't forget there are residencies not just OMFS. Perio is a surgical specialty as well. Oral Medicine is also a residency you can do if you want to really get into the weeds of things. I know someone who's done both of those and that guy knows freaking everything.

Think about this, you may not be happy as a GP. But can you answer what kind of physician exactly you will be on your first day of med school? How do you know you won't hate that more?

Either way, best of luck to you and I hope you figure things out soon.

 

[super frank]

What if you can't hack it in medical school and you are forced to become a family doctor......

 

[Toothout]

What if you can't hack it in medical school and you are forced to become a family doctor......

😵 Wait what? Isn't a family doctor someone who went to MS?

 

[blablabla1]

😵 Wait what? Isn't a family doctor someone who went to MS?

Yeah, but people usually say it like a bad thing because it's one of the less desired (and most common) specializations. It's usually the default specialization if you're not very competitive in med school

 

[oOKawaiiOo]

Lol my sisters in her second year of med school at umb and she's having the time of her life. She does say she studies around 10-12 hours a day, but she loves it and still has a great social life. So medical school isn't reaaally as bad as you're saying

She must have her life together, naturally smart/gifted, cheating in some sort of ways, taking drug(s), or a combination of them.

I'm the dummy who partied 3x a week throughout undergrad. Who thought it was WAY more important to breakdance 6 hours a day than to study. I could hop on 1 hand 30x with ease (55 was my best) and had a killer toprock (breakdance term- just means I danced very fluently to the music). Who thought it was cool to style my hair for an hour every day and to dress nice (You know Kpop? I get that a lot 😉. A lot of people thought I was an art major by my appearance.

Now transitioning to medical school, can you imagine how hard school is to me?

 

[Faux]

I had doubts about dental school from the day of my first interview, to the last day of my first semester of my second year. I appreciated it more and more as school progressed, but those doubts were still there until this semester. I just hope I feel as positive as I begin work on real patients in a few moths.

Its a big choice. But if you knew you would never be happy as a general dentist, why didnt you just go into medicine and hop onto one of the surgery specialties?

And seeing and doing are two different things. Shadowing was a snorefest, doing is a lot more interesting and engaging.