DMD vs. MD, why did you choose MD?

BU Medical Sciences
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haha.. you are not alone! I change my mind every single day!
either dental or med... hmmm.... i shadowed a dentist and I really loved the atmosphere of the office.(flexible hour,salary, etc.) But, I dont know if i truely passionate about "Dentistry." Medicine seems more broad. Also, MD schools are harder to get in for some reason than DMD. MCAT is harder than DAT also... it's hard decision...
 
sddat said:
I agree that mouths are gross. But...isn't surgery more gross? Aren't bloody arms and broken limbs, "gross"? I mean isn't it all the same? This..I don't understand. Not trying to start a debate, just in need of some clarification.
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Dismembered arms and shattered legs are gross, but in an awesome way.

Rotting teeth and gum disease are gross, in a sad way.
 
drizzt3117 said:
Here's the number of applicants... now to find the # of seats...

http://www.dentalstudentbooks.com/applicants.html
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all right all right...i went through to every school on that list and added up the seats... got 4426 (could be 50 or so off due to my error)

applicants - 11365 (I assumed overlap and did not use the numbers at each individual school, but instead that big number from 2007, im hoping there system is like amcas and that number is from a central application)

percent accepted 38.94%
applicants per spot-2.567781

how does this rack up against med school? the stat I posted earlier was 5 applicants for every 2 spots, or about 2.5/1...I checked the book i grabbed it from and it does not have a reference.
 
While we're considering all the alternatives to medicine, what about podiatry? Podiatry is much, much easier to get into than medicine : I saw an article posted on the wall in the Scholl school of podiatry saying that they actually had to close podiatry spots due to a shortage of applicants.

Further, it seems like podiatry offers comparable advantages to dentistry. Pay is high, podiatric emergencies can wait until morning, and podiatry students are de facto guaranteed a plum gig doing surgery from day 1 of podiatry school. (while many M.D.s end up in family practice/internal medicine, which you could credibly argue are harder jobs with worse hours)
 
Stixman28 said:
I just used amcas numbers and got 2.34 for med

Are we willing to concede then that it is harder to get into dental school? Im sure im just opening a can of worms
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lol no need to debate this. The average GPA of a dental enrolee is about 3.54 whereas its about a 3.65 for med. So I think the winner of the competitiveness debate is clear since the numbers speak for themselves. Any dental student who claims dental school is more competitive because we only have 50ish schools is an idiot. However, dental school certainly has more competition because there are much more applicants than seats available, but as we see here, more competition does not always mean more competitive.
 
Why don't you get both? DMD/MD. I know a student at UConn doing this. Maybe you should be an oral-maxillo surgeon.
 
yellowtibby said:
Why don't you get both? DMD/MD. I know a student at UConn doing this. Maybe you should be an oral-maxillo surgeon.
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wild, I never heard of this kind of program: http://dental.case.edu/dmdmd/features.htm

"The program length will be five years
- Graduates of this new program will be uniquely qualified for:
- Expanded general practice dentistry that includes selected aspects of primary care medicine
- Careers in academe
- Careers that meld oral health and general health concepts
- Further training in medicine"




(I am completely uninterested though personally, professionally though, it's an interesting step in the professional world)
 
Stixman28 said:
wild, I never heard of this kind of program: http://dental.case.edu/dmdmd/features.htm

"The program length will be five years
- Graduates of this new program will be uniquely qualified for:
- Expanded general practice dentistry that includes selected aspects of primary care medicine
- Careers in academe
- Careers that meld oral health and general health concepts
- Further training in medicine"




(I am completely uninterested though personally, professionally though, it's an interesting step in the professional world)
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Yeah, that's a lot better than doing 4 years of med school than 4 years of dental school.
 
In my opinion what sucks about going dental is that a lot of time dentists are unfairly hated by their patients. For example if a patient goes in to see the doctor with pneumonia and gets it fixed up, they are usually grateful. If someone goes into see the dentist about a tooth issue and gets a root canal and feels better after, they still hate the dentist for giving him the treatment. Dentist do good work but definitely don't get the credit they often deserve
 
Here's my take on the whole thing (I'll be starting med school in the fall):

1. B.S. (in bio, dental hygiene, whatever) vs M.S. (bio, PA, NP, PT) vs. PhD/MD/DMD
- Earning potential
- I'd like to know as much as possible about my field and not just be a technician.
- I've felt I have the capability to do a terminal degree so I should do as much as I can and not settle for less. I don't think I would be satisfied knowing I could have done more.

2. PhD vs MD vs DDS/DMD
- For me the debate was really between PhD and MD
- I didn't shadow any dentists so my knowledge of the field is limited. I suppose I don't have a good understanding of the profession when all I see is the dentist spending 30 seconds poking my teeth at the end of a visit and filling a cavity or two. It'd be similar to thinking an MD was limited to swabbing my throat for strep and performing physicals for high school sports.
- Dentistry didn't interest me, plain and simple. I didn't see the mouth as all that intriguing nor did I want to be so limited (yes there's orthodontics, periodontics, etc.) I can do absolutely anything with medicine from peds to surgery to research to teaching to epidemiology to radiology to ER. Again, maybe I haven't seen enough of dentistry but it just seemed that it wouldn't be that challenging or stimulating.
- I don't want to run my own business. I don't plan on entering independent clinical practice as an MD. I don't want to have to spend $1 million to open my own dental practice and worry about running it.

What I see as pros for dentistry:

- Shorter training (less lost earning potential)
- Less stressful work
- Good income
- Good hours
- No call
- Long term patient contact. It was nice to see the same dentist and hygienist for 10 years as a kid.
- Not so worried about "defensive dentistry" and malpractice as MDs.
- Reduced insurance woes
- Somewhat less competitive to get in
 
Hi folks, just figured I'd throw in my 2c. One of my direct supervisors is a very knowledgeable DMD Pathologist. He doesn't see patients but specializes in head and neck pathology with an interest in salivary gland abnormalities (he's even co-authored a few books). I'm sure this is not the norm but I think it just goes to show that earning a degree in one discipline doesn't completely exclude another. Also in the same vein (and hitting close to home) is this article I recently read in the NY Times that discusses adding some dental training to medical curriculums:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03dentist.html

Best of luck in your decision.
 
Californian said:
haha.. you are not alone! I change my mind every single day!
either dental or med... hmmm.... i shadowed a dentist and I really loved the atmosphere of the office.(flexible hour,salary, etc.) But, I dont know if i truely passionate about "Dentistry." Medicine seems more broad. Also, MD schools are harder to get in for some reason than DMD. MCAT is harder than DAT also... it's hard decision...
Click to expand...

I feel ya. But I don't think the MCAT is too much harder. I have no basis for this though. Definitely not trying to start a debate! 🙂
 
circulus vitios said:
Dismembered arms and shattered legs are gross, but in an awesome way.

Rotting teeth and gum disease are gross, in a sad way.
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what?! I know a lot of people must feel this way because so many people think teeth are gross, but are interested in medicine. Thank you for the post though!!
 
NyCzPeter said:
lol no need to debate this. The average GPA of a dental enrolee is about 3.54 whereas its about a 3.65 for med. So I think the winner of the competitiveness debate is clear since the numbers speak for themselves. Any dental student who claims dental school is more competitive because we only have 50ish schools is an idiot. However, dental school certainly has more competition because there are much more applicants than seats available, but as we see here, more competition does not always mean more competitive.
Click to expand...

Love this! So many good points.
 
yellowtibby said:
Why don't you get both? DMD/MD. I know a student at UConn doing this. Maybe you should be an oral-maxillo surgeon.
Click to expand...

hm..I'm just worried about getting in my state school. I can't imagine the competition to get in this program. I have a really good GPA, but haven't yet taken the DAT. I'll have to sit on that one. Thank you for your input. 🙂
 
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