Dentistry OR Medicine

[RICEman]

This may have been asked....but I'll ask again..

Did any of you struggle to chose between medicine and dentistry? If so, what was the deciding factor?


I'm a non-traditional with 6+ years medical experience and some dental shadowing done.

Thanks.

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[oldpro]

This may have been asked....but I'll ask again..

Did any of you struggle to chose between medicine and dentistry? If so, what was the deciding factor?


I'm a non-traditional with 6+ years medical experience and some dental shadowing done.

Thanks.

Just choose what you really want to do, what you will be happy with.

 

[Pettie Baige]

here comes another question as I hear dentistry
does anybody know the difference in terms of acamemic difficulty of both schools??

 

[Critical Mass]

I wouldn't really want to comment on relative difficulty of medicine vs. dentistry. We have a couple of classes in common at my school, and from what I can tell they are asked the same questions that we are in those classes. The total length of training for medicine is longer.

Do what interests you.

 

[pete0643]

Dental school does seem to be more difficult than medical school, at least it was at my school. I went to dental school in the midwest. It was not uncommon in our 2nd year to be in the lab cutting preps until 9 pm and then go home and study after that. Dental school is over in 4 years and so they try to cram a ton of information in those 4 years. Since you are not required to a residency you have to be competent when you graduate.

Medical students must complete a residency and so they can continue to learn on the job. I am not saying that one career is easier than the other, but the training has different goals in mind. You have to make sure that you will be happy doing one over the other. General dentistry has the perk of being over in 4 years, but then you are limited to the oral structures. The training in medicine is longer, but you have a broader scope of practice. Which one will you be more satisfied with? Only you can decide.

I went into dentistry, but I am now wishing I had done the longer route of medicine. If you decide on dentistry, make sure you do your homework and ask all the questions you can to satisfy yourself and know that is the right career for you. Unfortunately, you will now know for sure if you love dentistry until you are out of school and into private practice. Dental school is completely different than the real work a day world.

Best of luck in your decision.
pete

 

[Kateb4]

If you have the opportunity, see if you can go work in a dentists office, or even shadow for a while. I worked in Oral surgery for a few years and was bored to tears, so obviously it's not for me. But, your best chance is to see what the daily routine is for a dentist, and even check out some of the dental specialties to see if that is something that you can do for the rest of your life.

The one thing that I did notice is that it was alot of the same thing day in and day out, and I'm not saying that a MD/DO dosn't have a monotonous routine at times also, but like Pete said above, medicine will give you a broader scope of practice overall, while dentistry will pretty much be working in peoples mouths every day.

Also, just wanted to add that if you are interested in both and are not in a big hurry, you could do both! My ENT is a MD/DDS and has a particular interest in maxillofacial surgery and facial skeletal deformities. Very smart guy!

 

[RICEman]

Thanks pete, kate and all...

After spending a few hours shadowing, I noticed that dentistry is somewhat boring for me. Don't get me wrong - each field has advantages and disadvantages. I respect both professions.



WHY I'M NOT APPLYING FOR ALLO?
Main reason I picked dentistry is the brevity of the training and the lifestyle it has to offer as a professional which are very important for me ( non-trad with wife and baby, age, etc).

I don't have good grades->.... with GPA barely 3.3 including postbacc. (with upward trend plus tons of upper division biology courses).

However, I have 7 plus years of hospital experience in the lab and some patient contact as an LPN.

WHAT's D.O.?
My wife suggested that I should consider DO. I don't know much about the requirements for DO/MD. I've been preparing for the DAT (academic and etc) for at least 3 months now. I've taken all courses except ORGO 2. My physics (2 years old) were engineering based (3)series. And my CHEM 1&2 was 3 years ago. I haven't taken biochemistry and some of my courses come from CC's (which I noticed will rule out several dental schools).



I was never bored observing doctors doing primary care stuff. But I would probably work so hard to become and ENT or something - since I always wanted something like that instead of primary care routines.

 

[oldpro]

Seems like DO would be the right thing based on what you posted. DO and MD are very simular with some differences like OMM. I'm an MD student so maybe a DO student can explain that one. But your grades seem more in line for them and they ar more forgiving for accepting you. Good Luck

 

[Kateb4]

Yeah, DO training is very similar to MD training, same amount of time and same education with the addition of the OMM stuff. Check out the Pre-Osteopath board for more FAQs and stuff.

From your stats, I think that you would make a good candidate to a DO program, and possibly to a MD even. Schools really like to see clinical experience, and you have been there already as a LPN, and your GPA could be remedied by a good MCAT. The prep for the DAT I think would be comparable to the MCATs. If you are on the fence why not take the MCAT to see how you score and see where things go from there.

Regardless, I think that you should do whatever you like, and you can see yourself doing for the next 40 years. With regards to lifestyle, there are so many different options as a MD/DO that I'm sure that you could find a specialty that would meet your lifestyle needs.