Dental school for me?

[CaffineDoc24]

Hi guys, so recently I have been considering dentistry instead of medicine. I shadowed my dentist, and his work seems interesting, but honestly its really hard for me to know if I like something unless I’m the one who’s actually doing it, which of course isn’t possible.

When watching vlogs and stuff of dental students, I see they usually start with waxing, then move on to working on dummies, then actual patients. I wanted to know, if you seem to like waxing and working on the dummies, does that mean you’ll like being a dentist, working on real patients? To me it seems like it can be very different/way harder. I’m already committed to patient care and stuff like that because of medicine, so I’m ok with the social work/overall healthcare aspects. Asking about the actual task of dentistry itself.

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[Awisdomtooth]

Well to me dentistry is all about hand skills, social skills and your business knowledge. At least for the first couple of years after graduation.
Of course once you start dental school, you will do wax ups and work on dummies bcz it’s literally not ethical touching patients with out practicing on fake teeth first. Some like wax ups and some dont but that doesn’t say anything about the whole field of dentistry.
To me there is a huge difference between what you do in dentistry and medicine. Some might say one is easier than the other but you should figure that out yourself. I would recommend spending more time in dental office and shadow both the front desk and the dentist.Get the actual feeling of how does it feel if you were the actual OWNER of that office

 

[luisfigo]

waxing sucks, dummies are boring. Patient care is vastly different and so much more rewarding and challenging. It just takes practice, you just have to get used to working upside down with a mouth mirror or a microscope. To me it's enjoyable, it's nice working with your hands because it makes successful treatment tangible. It is hard to know if you'll like it unless you try it, which you really cant do, that's why people choose it for many reasons other than the work such as lifestyle and business.

 

[2TH MVR]

Dentistry is hands-on stuff. Over time the the procedures will become easy and straightforward. The real question you have to ask yourself is why are considering dentistry? If your goal is lifestyle .... then dental practice ownership with all the perks of owning your own business trumps medicine. But Corporate dentistry has been increasing over the years. If you have no plans of practice ownership and plan on being an employee the rest of your life .... I would stick to medicine.

 

[CaffineDoc24]

Dentistry is hands-on stuff. Over time the the procedures will become easy and straightforward. The real question you have to ask yourself is why are considering dentistry? If your goal is lifestyle .... then dental practice ownership with all the perks of owning your own business trumps medicine. But Corporate dentistry has been increasing over the years. If you have no plans of practice ownership and plan on being an employee the rest of your life .... I would stick to medicine.

Haha you read my mind. Yes whatever field I go into, I wanna own my own business, this is a must have. I was concerned about the lifestyle in medicine in that respect. Shadowing a periodontist this week!

 

[Molar Whisperer]

I would highly suggest you shadow crown and denture lab technicians. When I was in school, we had to do almost all of our lab work except for ceramics and processing dentures. The faster you pour up impressions, wax, etc, the sooner you go home.

Read more posts in the dental forums. The oversaturation of dentists, decreasing insurance reimbursements, and skyrocketing student loans should be a major consideration whether to proceed in the dental field. If you can secure loan assistance thru the military or NHSC, maybe find less saturated areas to practice and establish numerous sources of income such as spousal, side gigs, and passive, dentistry can be rewarding.

 

[TanMan]

Hi guys, so recently I have been considering dentistry instead of medicine. I shadowed my dentist, and his work seems interesting, but honestly its really hard for me to know if I like something unless I’m the one who’s actually doing it, which of course isn’t possible.

When watching vlogs and stuff of dental students, I see they usually start with waxing, then move on to working on dummies, then actual patients. I wanted to know, if you seem to like waxing and working on the dummies, does that mean you’ll like being a dentist, working on real patients? To me it seems like it can be very different/way harder. I’m already committed to patient care and stuff like that because of medicine, so I’m ok with the social work/overall healthcare aspects. Asking about the actual task of dentistry itself.

Waxing and working on mannequins have nothing to do most of what you'll do in dentistry. Maybe enduring that BS will help determine how much you can handle/tolerate through the whole hazing process and eventually, difficult patients.

IMO, dentistry is better than medicine for the following reasons: More money (if you own your own practice), better lifestyle, less schooling, and less administrative BS than medicine. Also, less liability. What's not to like, compared to medicine. It's hard to know if you will hate/like/love dentistry, but you can be rest assured that you'll like making easy money in the very least.