deciding

[decidingg]

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Hi guys, I have been reading some of the posts here. I am trying to decide between podiatry school and dental school. Could you please give me the pros and cons for both of these career. Which is one is more stable and has brighter future? Could you also tell me about avg salary for both dentist and podiatrist? I know....I used the search forum but ....didnt get the complete answer I was looking for ....Like all the pros and cons for both of these career. I wouldn't mind doing either one of them. Give me some insight in it, if you will. Thanks.

 

[dtrack22]

Lol, this is getting ridiculous. This has to be a bunch of med students who make up SDN profiles and post on these forums with the same question to watch everyone get riled up. Classic.

 

[215353]

hi guys, i have been reading some of the posts here. I am trying to decide between podiatry school and dental school. Could you please give me the pros and cons for both of these career. Which is one is more stable and has brighter future? Could you also tell me about avg salary for both dentist and podiatrist? I know....i used the search forum but ....didnt get the complete answer i was looking for ....like all the pros and cons for both of these career. I wouldn't mind doing either one of them. Give me some insight in it, if you will. Thanks.

no!

 

[g squared 23]

Hi guys, I have been reading some of the posts here. I am trying to decide between podiatry school and dental school. Could you please give me the pros and cons for both of these career. Which is one is more stable and has brighter future? Could you also tell me about avg salary for both dentist and podiatrist? I know....I used the search forum but ....didnt get the complete answer I was looking for ....Like all the pros and cons for both of these career. I wouldn't mind doing either one of them. Give me some insight in it, if you will. Thanks.

Not to be a jerk, but you kinda have to do your own research and can't expect someone to do it for you. And how the hell are we supposed to know which is more stable and has a brighter future? Unless you fire up a time machine and take it for a spin, you're not going to get a credible answer.

But if you're looking for the positives of the professions, contact a Pod school's admissions office: they'll have plenty good things to tell you. For the negatives, search out and shadow podiatrists who are barely scraping by.

A bit of advice: don't go into podiatry unless you really, really like it. That applies to any career that involves such a large investment of time and money (which includes dentistry).

 

[Dental Jarry]

Hi guys, I have been reading some of the posts here. I am trying to decide between podiatry school and dental school. Could you please give me the pros and cons for both of these career. Which is one is more stable and has brighter future? Could you also tell me about avg salary for both dentist and podiatrist? I know....I used the search forum but ....didnt get the complete answer I was looking for ....Like all the pros and cons for both of these career. I wouldn't mind doing either one of them. Give me some insight in it, if you will. Thanks.

I recently switched from pre-dental to pre-pod so I can tell you the reason I switched. I was first interested in dentistry because it allowed me to work with my hands, perform surgeries, and connect closely with patients. Shortly after I had sent my apps in, I discovered podiatry, applied, and was recently accepted. Like dentistry, podiatry allows you to work with your hands, form close relationships with your patients and also affords the opportunity to perform surgeries. The main selling point for me was the difference in surgery opportunities between podiatry and dentistry. As a general dentist, you do things such as root canals, fillings, extractions, and implants. As a podiatrist on the other hand, you can do things like bunionectomies, amputations, reconstructive surgeries, and countless other operations. To me, these procedures seemed so much more interesting and appealing that pursuing podiatry became a no brainer. Unlike me, you may not be interested in performing invasive surgeries. You can also look into the opportunities in wound care and sports medicine, which are both also very interesting.

Some questions to ask yourself are do you like talking with patients as with podiatry or to patients as with dentistry? Would you be happier removing corns & calluses or filling cavities? casting for dentures or casting for orthotics? pulling teeth or amputating toes? You get my drift?
Find which one will maintain your interest and make you happy.

As far as salary goes, with both you are going to live a very comfortable life. I recently saw Forbes' top 25 paying jobs in the US for 2009 and general dentist was ranked 14 and podiatrist was ranked 15.

 

[rowsdower]

I'll try to come up with a few pros and cons from what I know of podiatry. I work for a podiatrist and get to see a lot of the billing/patient issues. As a podiatrist you are going to have a tremendous amount of diabetic patients (likely with other health professions too) Many are retired. This can be a good thing if they have decent insurance. Unfortunately the office I work at is contracted with some terrible Retiree plans. So you can get stuck in these capitated plans and see these patients many times over and over for procedures you will not get paid for. I know your not supposed to worry about money as the motive, but there are several claims that are denied and as a skilled professional you would expect some compensation for your work. If you are contracted with a busy hospital, plan on having many late nights on call. I also don't know how podiatry will be effected with possible major cuts to medicare. Most of our patients are retired.

A pro is the variety of cases you see day to day. Usually patients are very thankful and leave much happier after you see them. There is a lot of poential to work with professional athletes. Last week one of our doctors went down and casted a bunch of orthotics for some MLB players. So you can make some pretty cool connections. You play a very important role for those individuals who are on their feet all day (retail, chefs etc) After awhile you will be pretty quick and efficient in dealing with ingrown toenails. With the right insurance, these procedures compensate very well. There is always someone that will have an issue with ingrown toenails. So when you become an associate make sure you understand the billing codes and exactly how you are compensated. Overall I think podiatry is very rewarding. Every podiatrist will find their niche. One of our doctors likes to be in the surgery center all day, while the other would prefer to remove ingrown toenails.

 

[Feli]

The key is just finding what you want to do. I'd suggest extensive shadowing... at least a few area professionals in each specialty you're considering. GL

Dental has a more secure core patient base IMO: people can walk past a pod's office with heel pain or a bunion, but few people will go around with crazy looking teeth or can stand the pain of cavities. That said, I certainly don't know the latest dent epidemiology research, but I'd be curious about the long term benefits of municipal drinking water flouridation (more and more widespread since circa 1950). I've never had a cavity... neither has my wife. In my dad's generation, that was totally unheard of.

On the counter argument, most of a dentist's "high ticket" items (veneers, whitening, braces, etc) might be viewed as cosmetic semi-luxury items in a down economy, and most of them are only well covered by Caddilac insurance plans. A well trained pod from today's residency models has "high ticket" surgery skills for trauma, wounds, infections, deformities, etc which are better covered by the avg health insurance and people have a tougher time going without. The old days where orthotics were about the only "high ticket" for a podiatrist are getting further and further in the rear view mirror. An OMFS dentist would have similar trauma, impacted molar, infection, etc "can't live without it" surgery skills and a secure income in any economy, but they are definitely a small % of dents. JMO