do people go into dentistry for the exact same reasons as medicine?

[ronaldo23]

just wondering, bc it seems from reading the pre-med forums, that theres some strange attitude that "if you in it for the money , just go into dentistry as they make more than family docs etc and dont have to deal with crap" but i feel like docs and dentists go into there fields for the same reasons

true or false...any differences? does one have better reasons than the other?

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[TheWiredNerv]

If people want money than there are much better routes to make money than medicine or dentistry. It is a common misconception that every dentist and doctor are bathing in money. Heck in NY, plumbers can match the average medical doctor salary.
So I can only conclude that most people go into health professionsy 1. To become more educated.
2. They have some connection to the health professions
3. They want to have a respectable professional job.

Though I think there is some truth to dentists having higher salaries than medical doctors but either way there are many other careers out there that make more money.

 

[barami0113]

3. They want to have a respectable professional job.

I like #3.

 

[armorshell]

Regardless of the attitudes and conceptions of the people on this forum, there are still some (oblivious in my opinion) people out there who go in to the medical professions for money.

 

[shamrock2006]

Regardless of the attitudes and conceptions of the people on this forum, there are still some (oblivious in ny opinion) people out there who go in to the medical professions for money.

sad but true

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Regardless of the attitudes and conceptions of the people on this forum, there are still some (oblivious in ny opinion) people out there who go in to the medical professions for money.

/Agree

 

[Meatwad]

People suggest going into dentistry "for the money," as opposed to medicine because you can run your practice as a business. In medicine, the insurance companies tell you what your services are worth. Very, very doctors practice with a no-insurance, cash-only policy. So it's only natural that if you love healthcare, as well as money and business, medicine is probably a poor match. The closest field that could satisfy both of your interests would probably be dentistry.

I think a common misconception with pre-meds is that every dentist, even the first year out of school, is making $150,000. I'm sure plenty of fresh grads do make this, but I've heard even more are making slightly less than $100,000 as an employee. I'd say first-year earnings of any doctor, even a family medicine doctor, is going to be greater than an associate dentist. However, that family medicine doctor's income will also probably remain more static over the years, or perhaps dip due to the uncertain future of healthcare in the US. Dentistry, due to the business aspect, seems to give one a much higher practical ceiling (or none at all).

 

[mindquick]

it's not the same. dentists have to like working with teeth, while doctors do not.

 

[Meatwad]

it's not the same. dentists have to like working with teeth, while doctors do not.

That is an astute observation, indeed.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

I'd imagine super specialized MDs would probably rake in more than any dentist. I could be wrong but I think neurosurgeon, cardio surgeons and some cosmic plastic surgeons have very very fat pay checks. I suppose that is why it is so competitive to get residency for any.

 

[DrSmiles12]

Regardless of the attitudes and conceptions of the people on this forum, there are still some (oblivious in my opinion) people out there who go in to the medical professions for money.

Yes this is sad and true, I think its because they are not clever enough to think of anything else to do.

 

[Montserrat]

Dentistry might not offer a massive accrual of monetary wealth over a career as some other professions, but few other professions match the stability in returns.

As for the reasons between medicine and dentistry ... a family member of mine mentioned that he considered dentistry because he liked working with his hands, until he saw and freaked out over the way blood covers teeth. Oddly enough, he's finds being a urological surgeon less gross.

 

[Regmata]

People go into different fields for different reasons...the differences are based on the people more so than the fields.

Personally, I view dentistry as a not too distant form of medicine. Dentistry offers the personal satisfaction associated with diagnosing and curing someone's ailment, the ability to perform surgical procedures on a daily basis, autonomy, hours well suited for having a family and sufficient financial compensation for the time put into becoming a dentist.

 

[SugarNaCl]

I'm sure I am off here, but it seems to me that there are 3 kinds of people.

1. People that go into medicine and dentistry to help people and contribute to society.

2. People that go into dentistry for the money.

3. People that go into medicine for their parents approval.

Currently, it makes no sense to go into medicine for the money (malpractice is so high and training after school is so long) or to go into dentistry to please your parents (as medicine is often still seen as the more 'prestigious' of the 2.)

 

[dental0903]

I think that people that choose to go into medicine or dentistry (or any of the other health professions) have some common goals in mind for what they want to to accomplish with their careers, but there are aspects of medicine and dentistry that appeal to differently to different people.

There are many many reasons why people choose to pursue dentistry, both directly related to what a dentist actually does and related to the lifestyle that dentists have. I actually think out of all the non-dentistry related reasons, people choose to pursue dentistry because of the number of hours that most dentists work, not because of the money. I know many people that are interested in medicine, but would never like to have the lifetsyle of a physician because of the amount of hours that most (not all) work per week. Generally, dentistry is just a much more conducive lifestyle to having a family and pursuing other interests outside of your career than medicine is. (I know that there are excpetions to this. It was a very general statement)

 

[lemoncurry]

People choose dentistry over medicine for the same reason craftsmen choose carpentry over plumbing: they don't want to get poo all over themselves.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

lol

 

[dr.rex]

dr. cox puts it best, he says he went in to medicine for 4 reasons:
-chicks
-money
-power
-chicks

in the end he says he ends up with none of them. from what i have experienced so far through lectures and talking with profs that at on time practiced is that you will make plenty of money but you will work for it.

 

[johntara04]

I'd imagine super specialized MDs would probably rake in more than any dentist. I could be wrong but I think neurosurgeon, cardio surgeons and some cosmic plastic surgeons have very very fat pay checks. I suppose that is why it is so competitive to get residency for any.

I dunno...Oral surgeons, Orthodontists, and Endodontists take home a ton of money.

 

[dontwakeme]

As bleak as this sounds, I think a lot of it has to do with the lifestyle dentistry affords, which should really have little influence on your choice of career.

We need dentists who have a passion for treatment and dentistry as a whole, not a passion for money.

 

[Meatwad]

I dunno...Oral surgeons, Orthodontists, and Endodontists take home a ton of money.

True. I'd argue most dental specialists make more than most MD surgical specialists. Neurosurgeons, for example, make good money; around $400,000 per year in New York, on average. Great money, but realize this is after a 6 to 8 year residency, and most likely a 70 hour work week with loads of on-call time. There are some other things that should come into mind too, like stress factor, the fact that the divorce rate for neurosurgeons is 85%,...

No matter what specialty you are in (except for ones that allow lots of elective surgeries), you are getting told by insurance companies what yo ucan charge per procedure. It's not hard to see, then, that there is a practical limit to how much you can make. A dentist, for the most part, doesn't have to deal with these limits. The real limit is the amount of time in a day he/she wants to be at work.