Dentists vs doctor

[Sportsfan29]

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I'm in sophomore year of high school and want to become a dentist or general physician(or cardiologist down the road). I'm going to be taking college classes next year my junior year. Im stuck between dentist or general physician. Heres some questions:

Is dentistry or pre med harder?
Better hours/lifestyle?
Less complex job?

And in all, what's a better road to take, dentist or general physician?

Thanks!

 

[bandgeek0295]

Being only a high school student, I can't really comment on which is harder, or has a better lifestyle, or anything like that, having never experienced it. However, which career is better is completely subjective and a personal preference. Most dentists will tell you dentistry is the way to go. Most general practitioners or cardiologists will tell you GP or cardiology is the way to go. Why? They did what they wanted to. Volunteer in a hospital. Shadow a few doctors and shadow a few dentists. The only way to find out which one is a better fit for you would be to go and get a taste of it for yourself. Best of luck.

 

[paintballdoc]

The road to be a M.D./D.O. or D.M.D/D.D.S. is similar. Both medicine and dentistry requires doing well in basic math/science courses. The road used to be more difficult for medicine in terms of getting into med school vs. dentistry, but I believe that is changing. The one thing I wish I would have done differently is take (or even major) in a business degree/economics/finance. This would make you very important in the long run with a doctor or dental degree.

The good (or bad thing) about dentistry is you know what you are going to be doing once you are done--working on teeth. You can specialize, but many general dentists gravitate to procedures that they enjoy doing w/o specializing. If you love dentistry, your path is set but if not, it is hard to do anything different since dental school only teaches you about teeth.

Not so much with medicine. You may have a love for neurosurgery but if you are middle of your class or worse, NO chance. You may wind up being a pediatrician or a family practice doc. Peds and FP have my upmost respect, but your class ranking greatly influences what you will be doing the rest of your life.

The flip side is a medical degree is sowewhat more versatile in terms of getting into the medical-business arena. There are not many jobs for dentists if you decide to do business.

My main advice would be to shadow a dentist or doctor. You have to make up your own mind but do so with obtaining as much knowledge/experience about the fields. Then go with what you would enjoy doing the rest of your life.

 

[PMPMD]

I'm in sophomore year of high school and want to become a dentist or general physician(or cardiologist down the road). I'm going to be taking college classes next year my junior year. Im stuck between dentist or general physician. Heres some questions:

Is dentistry or pre med harder?

Assuming you mean PRE-dental vs pre-med. Both are challenging and will require excellent grades and respective board scores.

Better hours/lifestyle?

Depends. I would venture general dentistry has better hours than many medical specialties, but also consider than you are >10 years out from finishing dental or medical school (which would put you at least 13 years out from finishing the shortest medical residency) so things could be very different by then.

Less complex job?

If you're looking for a non-complex job, try NEITHER.

And in all, what's a better road to take, dentist or general physician?

There is no way anyone can answer this question for you. You have a LONG way to go until you need to decide this. As the above posters said, go out and shadow some real dentists/physicians.

Thanks!

 

[chidoman]

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[Sportsfan29]

Well I actually meant which is harder of Med school or dentistry. Trying to rush the post, my bad. I heard Med School is harder, is that right?

Thanks for the help

 

[Sportsfan29]

Any other help?

 

[SLC]

Well I actually meant which is harder of Med school or dentistry. Trying to rush the post, my bad. I heard Med School is harder, is that right?

Thanks for the help

I'm a first year medical student, at a campus which also houses a dental school. As far as the basic and clinical sciences (i.e. first two years) are concerned, I doubt very much that the difference in difficulty is significant between the two. In fact, I would say that the difficulty isn't necessary that the classes we take are hard, but that we take so many of them.

In fact, I'd say that the coursework is generally quite simple now. You have to realize that we've all taken 4+ years of undergraduate college work, most of it quite science heavy. By now we're very comfortable with most biology and biochemical concepts, and we're at the point where we apply that knowledge to learn as much about our respective fields (dentistry or medicine) as possible. None of our classes are hard per-se, but we take an awful lot of them. In high school terms, it'd probably be like taking all of high school in a month. But worry not, we've built up to this in college etc, it doesn't seem that tough anymore.

After the first two years, I'd imaging that medical school might be tougher than dental school. But I say that with only a cursory knowledge of what dentistry is all about. Medical students in their 3rd and 4th years have to take a lot of different clinical rotations including Family Medicine, Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, etc. Dental students train only in dentistry.

Anyway, I've probably gone off topic. Just know that both require essentially identical classes before starting (i.e. if you do the pre-med curriculum you would also have the courses completed to apply to dental school) there are two different admissions tests (think of them as the SAT's for professional school (medicine requires the MCAT, Dental requires the DAT), and they are both extremely difficult to get into.

Work hard, you'll know which you're more interested in (or you'll find out you're not interested in either) within a few years.

 

[SLC]

Any other help?

Oh and you should probably change your status away from "attending", which means a physician who's been through medical school, and residency. In other words, it means you're already a doctor.

 

[Sportsfan29]

Ok, thanks man and sorry bout the status.

 

[PMPMD]

Well I actually meant which is harder of Med school or dentistry. Trying to rush the post, my bad. I heard Med School is harder, is that right?

Thanks for the help

I would not underestimate dental school (and I'm an MD). I had friends in dental school while I was in med school, and I was surprised how much of medicine (outside the teeth/mouth!) they were tested on. You could say it's easier b/c they're not required to do a residency for general dentistry, but I got the impression they worked very hard in those 4 years.

 

[Sportsfan29]

As of right now I'm leaning towards dentist, I like the hours they work better. And no residency, seems like dentistry is a little easier, atleast years 3-4.

If you guys could tell me what it is like to be in Dentistry/med school, like what you guys do every week, how many tests, how much studying, how the professors are, etc.

Thanks

 

[anbuitachi]

dental school is 'easier' to get into and easier to get through. Why?

road to becoming a dentist is shorter than doctor
dentists make a crap load of money for the amt of time they are in school
DAT is generally accepted to be easier than MCAT
At university i attended, there was a significant gpa difference between students accepted to med and dental (if i remember correctly it was almost 0.2)
Less likely for dentist to be sued, which prob results in lower premium costs (not sure)
Like everyone said, 3rd and 4th year will probably be tougher for medical students.
More competition among medical students in medical school

 

[Sportsfan29]

Anybody know if Ohio state has a good dental school?

 

[Sportsfan29]

.......

 

[TortuousVein]

As of right now I'm leaning towards dentist, I like the hours they work better. And no residency, seems like dentistry is a little easier, atleast years 3-4.

Choose the profession for which you have true passion. Spending 4 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars on professional school is remarkably easier when you are happy and excited about being there.

If you guys could tell me what it is like to be in Dentistry/med school, like what you guys do every week, how many tests, how much studying, how the professors are, etc.

Thanks

That will be very, very institution-dependent.

 

[absolutdokta]

Doctors all the way....they can get the dentist from a distance by throwing their scalpels while the dentists have to get up close to get em' with their drills.

 

[Toothshucker]

Maybe you should go to the dental forums for questions on dentistry. Someone who is a dental student could give you better information than a medical student, usually.

 

[The Coon]

You should go into dentistry because you enjoy the mouth and teeth, not because it's easier to get into than medical school and not because you will have better hours. If I recall correctly, dentists had the highest suicide rate among all professions in one study....like I said you really need to enjoy the mouth. Derm has a great lifestyle and pays well, but I would be bored out of my mind looking at moles all day. Surgery has a much worse lifestyle, but to me the time I am there is much more fun.

 

[Deepa100]

Hmm..
It was easier for me. I never ever wanted to become a dentist.

 

[longhornpride]

Second year dental student here. I'm taking a break from studying for my boards so I'll share my 2 cents.

Both schools are very difficult to get into. 15 years ago, I would have said that dental school was much easier to get into than med school, but I think the gap has significantly closed in recent years. I would still say med school is slightly more difficult to get into. For example, if a student has a 3.7 or 3.8 with decent test scores... you're most likely getting into both schools. If a student has a 3.5 with decent scores, you probably have better chance of getting into a dental school than med school. Obviously that isn't an absolute, so don't look at everything in a vacuum. With that said, a 3.5 is still plenty difficult to achieve if you go to a top 50 undergrad school or major in something difficult like biomedical engineering.

As far as the difficultly of both schools, I think the first year is very similar. At my school, the subjects are taught by the same professors at the med school and dental school for the most part. I'd also say that every year gets more challenging at both schools. The amount of information you need to know can be overwhelming. I'd wager to bet that most students that get through dental school, would probably get through med school and vice versa. I have the utmost respect for people in both fields because they are both truly challenging and time consuming.

As far as medicine, there is much more variety. If you graduate in the top 25%, you'll probably get into a good specialty... at least I would assume. There are also specialties in dentistry although they are all with in the scope of the oral cavity (ortho, OMFS, pedo, prostho, endo, perio, etc).

Medicine has a mandatory residency, while dentistry doesn't require one after 4 years (not counting post docs and specialty residencies). However, I'd say about anywhere between 25-50% of students at most schools do a GPR or AEGD residency to try and perfect their clinical skill and to learn procedures you might not learn in dental school such as implants, 3rd molars, etc. This residency is not as long as the residency required for physicians.

Both make great money and have stable jobs.

In the end, the road to medicine is longer and I'd wager to bet a little more stressful when you get out. You are dealing with life and death in some situations and being on call can be a hard and difficult lifestyle. It takes a lot of mental strength to be a physician. Most physicians I know told me the same thing... if you don't have the passion for medicine, do something else because there will times where you will have to miss your kids birthday parties, graduations, etc. It can be hard on you.

I'd say dentistry is a bit more relaxing and doesn't come with as many headaches as medicine. But at the same time, you better have a passion for looking at teeth all day, because if you don't... you'll be just as miserable.

 

[deleted357625]

I'm in sophomore year of high school and want to become a dentist or general physician(or cardiologist down the road). I'm going to be taking college classes next year my junior year. Im stuck between dentist or general physician. Heres some questions:

Is dentistry or pre med harder?
Better hours/lifestyle?
Less complex job?

And in all, what's a better road to take, dentist or general physician?

Thanks!

denstist = all about $$
physician = long path, rewarding, and $$

hours/lifestyle vary with physicians due to the different specialties

 

[scarshapedstar]

hours/lifestyle vary with physicians due to the different specialties

Also true for dentists, to a lesser extent.

 

[deleted357625]

Also true for dentists, to a lesser extent.

true and they can also specialize in surgery