Confused after shadowing a Dentist

[Jack-of-all-trades]

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So I'm sure this has been asked many time before but I'm confused on what I want to do so I thought I'd try to get some advice on here

I've always planned on going to medical school practically my whole life. This all changed when I shadowed a dentist a few days ago and absolutely loved it. I have shadowed doctors too and while I did like it a lot I wasn't as impressed or as excited as I was when I shadowed the dentist.

So here's my problem. I'm worried that I'm actually not as interested in dentistry as I think I am and I'm just being drawn to it because of the better lifestyle and hands-on aspect on dentistry. I think that I am more interested in medicine than I am dentistry as I'm very interested in the human body. Anatomy and physiology have been my favorite classes so far.

So I think that maybe the science of medicine interests me more than dentistry but the practice of dentistry is more appealing to me. Both lifestyle and working with my hands have always been things that have been very important to me and I definitely enjoyed shadowing the dentist more than I did the physician. I guess I'm having second thoughts because I've planned on doing medicine my whole life so I'm afraid if I do dentistry I'll regret not doing what might be my real passion or what I thought it was.

I was just wondering if anybody has ever been through this same situation before and what advice they got and what they ended up doing. Thanks for all the advice in advance!

 

[Oso]

A few thoughts:
- drop the "I've wanted to do medicine my whole life" thing, because it really doesn't matter
- what kind of doctor did you shadow? If you want more hands on, I would try to shadow a surgeon or other procedure-oriented docs
- the science/foundation of medicine is important, but so is the day to day work - I mean it's your life, after all. If you think you would enjoy working as a dentist more than working as a physician then I would go with dentistry

advice: I would shadow a dentist a bit more (sounds like you've only gone once) + shadow some procedure oriented docs/surgeons

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

what kind of doctor did you shadow? If you want more hands on, I would try to shadow a surgeon or other procedure-oriented docs

This. There are tons of procedural specialties. Like, you know, surgery. Or EM. Or gas. Or you get the picture.

 

[Jack-of-all-trades]

Thanks for all the responses so far!

I shadowed family medicine docs. The reason I haven't really considered surgery is because of lifestyle reasons because like I said before lifestyle is very important to me. It is very important to me to have sufficient time to spend with my family outside of work which is another reason why I am considering dentistry

 

[DrRedstone]

My dentist also went to a maxillofacial fellowship (which I guess they can do?) so he can do more surgical procedures along with the normal dental procedures. Plus you don't have to do a residency after dental school, so that's a plus. I'd echo everyone else who says that you should do more shadowing. It may be something you change your mind about. Dentistry is not a bad choice by any means!

 

[BadHorse]

My dentist also went to a maxillofacial fellowship (which I guess they can do?) so he can do more surgical procedures along with the normal dental procedures. Plus you don't have to do a residency after dental school, so that's a plus. I'd echo everyone else who says that you should do more shadowing. It may be something you change your mind about. Dentistry is not a bad choice by any means!

This is typically a hyper-competitive 6 year combined residency and MD program completed after dental school-- if you know you wanna be a surgeon there are easier ways. Also different states have different requirements, NY and Delaware require residency after dental school. Agree dentistry is a great profession if you're passionate about the work and the day to day is appealing.

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

My dentist also went to a maxillofacial fellowship (which I guess they can do?) so he can do more surgical procedures along with the normal dental procedures. Plus you don't have to do a residency after dental school, so that's a plus.

That's a four (without MD) or six year (with MD) surgical residency after dental school - surgical as in 80 (wink wink) hours a week as a scrub who trades call with ENT, rotates with gen surg/anasthesia, and lives at the mercy of the chiefs and attendings.

It seems to be that op is trying to avoid that kind of thing.

If he wants procedures, GPs can do implants, grafts, etc just having a DDS/DMD (though these are best learned in a 1-2 year general practice residency), otherwise he can specialize in the above by doing a three year periodontal residency (which is not as brutal as a surgical program like described earlier).

 

[The Unburnt]

Not to confuse you even more, but you said the reason you don't want to do surgery is because of the lifestyle but there are a lot of surgical subspecialties/more procedural specialties that are really laid back (derm, EM, vascular surgery for example). Like other people have said, I would do more shadowing with the dentist and try to shadow different surgeons/more procedural specialties and see what you like best!

 

[mimelim]

Not to confuse you even more, but you said the reason you don't want to do surgery is because of the lifestyle but there are a lot of surgical subspecialties/more procedural specialties that are really laid back (derm, EM, vascular surgery for example). Like other people have said, I would do more shadowing with the dentist and try to shadow different surgeons/more procedural specialties and see what you like best!

In what universe is vascular surgery considered laid back? It is generally known as the opposite...

 

[Oso]

there are a lot of surgical subspecialties/more procedural specialties that are really laid back (derm, EM, vascular surgery for example).

 

[The Unburnt]

lol if you do outpatient you have reasonable hours for a surgeon........

 

[The Unburnt]

In what universe is vascular surgery considered laid back? It is generally known as the opposite...

Alright not the best choice of words on my part I admit, I just meant if you're in an outpatient setting you'd have more reasonable hours than other types of surgery

 

[mimelim]

lol if you do outpatient you have reasonable hours for a surgeon........

Alright not the best choice of words on my part I admit, I just meant if you're in an outpatient setting you'd have more reasonable hours than other types of surgery

That doesn't make any sense. I don't think you understand/know what surgeons do or how their practices are setup.

The vast majority of practices in the surgical disciplines require both inpatient and outpatient work to be done. It isn't always in the power of the physicians to decide explicitly what they will and won't do unless they are in a purely elective practice which is quite rare.

There are vascular surgery practices that are exclusively outpatient. They tend to have good lifestyles. But, the same can be said of many if not most surgical disciplines. There are usually avenues to go for well reimbursing outpatient work. All of that having been said, vascular surgery work hours are always among the highest. The control over lifestyle is always among the worst. Are there exceptions? Of course. But, those can be found in virtually every specialty.

 

[The Unburnt]

That doesn't make any sense. I don't think you understand/know what surgeons do or how their practices are setup.

The vast majority of practices in the surgical disciplines require both inpatient and outpatient work to be done. It isn't always in the power of the physicians to decide explicitly what they will and won't do unless they are in a purely elective practice which is quite rare.

There are vascular surgery practices that are exclusively outpatient. They tend to have good lifestyles. But, the same can be said of many if not most surgical disciplines. There are usually avenues to go for well reimbursing outpatient work. All of that having been said, vascular surgery work hours are always among the highest. The control over lifestyle is always among the worst. Are there exceptions? Of course. But, those can be found in virtually every specialty.

That's fair, I was just going off my experience with all 3 of my mom's vascular surgeons which were all strictly outpatient and expressed to me that they had reasonable hours and enjoyed their work since they knew I was going into medicine. I honestly was not aware that outpatient settings were normal for most surgical specialties. You learn something new every day, thanks so much for the info!

Sorry OP, I was just going off my own experiences, obviously these other people are way more qualified than myself so their opinion should be trusted over mine on these matters. My original point still stands: that there are plenty of specialties in medicine that will allow you to have a good lifestyle while still being hands-on and I recommend you shadow more of these doctors along with dentists to see what you like best!