Dentist Questions, Please Answer

[Tyler Reichard]

Okay,

I have one year of High School left and my plan until now was to go for Dental Hygiene.

BUT.....

I'm thinking I'd be more protected in life as a Dentist...

I'm not sure if I could pull teeth... or do a root canal...

Are they hard to accomplish? or do you get use to it while in schooling...

I'd appreciate any information from the Dentist out there who have experienced doing these procedures.

Any other information or personal experiences would help a lot!


Thank you,

-Tyler

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[Screwtape]

Are you new to english/ is english a second language for you?

 

[Tyler Reichard]

Are you new to english/ is english a second language for you?

Thanks, I appreciate you being so kind to me.. Can someone please, with some knowledge respond to this.

Thanks

 

[toothfixeralex]

Okay,

I have one year of High School left and my plan until now was to go for Dental Hygiene.

BUT.....

I'm thinking I'd be more protected in life as a Dentist...

I'm not sure if I could pull teeth... or do a root canal...

Are they hard to accomplish? or do you get use to it while in schooling...

I'd appreciate any information from the Dentist out there who have experienced doing these procedures.

Any other information or personal experiences would help a lot!


Thank you,

-Tyler

Great to see you on here while you're still in high school!! You'll be protected either way would be my guess. Depending on your state, dental hygene can be very well paying especially if you are in a state where an associates degree in hygene is common. Having said that, being a dentist will definitely come with a higher salary.

My suggestion would be to start your undergrad experience with a science program so you'll be getting your prereqs done for either dental hygene or dental school and while you're doing that work part time as a dental assistant.

When I was assisting I realized that dentistry is tons of fun and honestly if you're worrying about being grossed out hygene will probably have more gross out moments than filling or root canals .

 

[Tyler Reichard]

Great to see you on here while you're still in high school!! You'll be protected either way would be my guess. Depending on your state, dental hygene can be very well paying especially if you are in a state where an associates degree in hygene is common. Having said that, being a dentist will definitely come with a higher salary.

My suggestion would be to start your undergrad experience with a science program so you'll be getting your prereqs done for either dental hygene or dental school and while you're doing that work part time as a dental assistant.

When I was assisting I realized that dentistry is tons of fun and honestly if you're worrying about being grossed out hygene will probably have more gross out moments than filling or root canals .

THANK YOU.. I really appreciate your response. You're giving me the assurance I need.

 

[Contach]

As a teenager, the most powerful tool you have, is hard work. Don't sell yourself short by thinking you can't do something that someone else can. You may not be able to pull your first teeth by yourself, or your second, or your third, but you can always keep trying. Eventually all dental students can extract teeth - their skills improved. No one was competent at root canals or extractions at the start.

As for the work being 'gross' - I think you get desensitized to it. I used to be queasy at the sight of blood (highschool), now I assist for 4 hour long facial trauma surgeries on an empty stomach, no problem.

 

[Nectarp17]

I know this is an old post but I though I might reply, a little bit about myself, I was first a dental hygienist with always having the plan of going to dental school. Dental hygiene is a great field but I found after working for only a couple years is that is becomes very monotonous. Yes you will see different cases but you are always basically doing the same thing which is debridement, SRP. Even though, it is a great field should you choose to do it. I am now in my second year o dental school and ill tell you it does require more skill and an eye for perfection. Dental school is more stressful than I remember hygiene school ever being but that being said it is very interesting and you are constantly doing different things, not just learning about perio. I think anyone is very capable of doing either its just what you want to do and what drive do yo u have. Both are great fields that offer different amounts of stress and benefits, you could always do hygiene first like I did and if you like it apply to dental school right out of hygiene, it will also give you a leg up in dental school depending on where you live. Going into dental school I already knew a little bit about how to manage patients, giving anesthesia, everything you'll need to know about perio, and just a crap ton of first hand experiences.