Happiness in Dentistry

[swainer14]

Hi! I'm currently a junior in college, and I have been set on the field of dentistry for some time now. However, I still feel the allure of pursuing surgery or internal medicine, and I was hoping someone on here could help me figure out if I am in dentistry for the right reasons.

I love dentistry because I find pleasure in working with my hands, creating and fixing things. I also, however, hold family life and being a great father/husband above my career. Which is why I feel it would make more sense to go into dentistry rather than be a surgeon in a hospital: no real family time.

My only hesitation about dentistry is that I feel it may not challenge me enough: intellectually and mechanically. Any thoughts?

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[oralcare123]

Hi! I'm currently a junior in college, and I have been set on the field of dentistry for some time now. However, I still feel the allure of pursuing surgery or internal medicine, and I was hoping someone on here could help me figure out if I am in dentistry for the right reasons.

I love dentistry because I find pleasure in working with my hands, creating and fixing things. I also, however, hold family life and being a great father/husband above my career. Which is why I feel it would make more sense to go into dentistry rather than be a surgeon in a hospital: no real family time.

My only hesitation about dentistry is that I feel it may not challenge me enough: intellectually and mechanically. Any thoughts?

"Lovely" patients will challenge your brains out, if you decide to become a dentist. Since you are, most likely, be the business owner, employees will add to it some more and your wife will totally exhaust you with all kinds of challenges trying to keep up with "dentist lifestyle"
On the serious note, dentists have no less challenges then surgeons

 

[Steins;Gate]

"Lovely" patients will challenge your brains out, if you decide to become a dentist. Since you are, most likely, be the business owner, employees will add to it some more and your wife will totally exhaust you with all kinds of challenges trying to keep up with "dentist lifestyle"
On the serious note, dentists have no less challenges then surgeons

Are you happy with your career in dentistry?

 

[#cariology]

Sounds like you belong here! This is how I think of it for myself: Dentistry allows you to be a business owner and to work with your hands all day. Every patient presents new opportunities and challenges. And if you find you want to add a medical flair into your dental practice, consider a residency in surgery or anesthesiology after dental school. Whatever you choose, the hours are flexible (because you make them for yourself) and you will have the autonomy to be a caring spouse/father.

 

[sanfransunshine91]

Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery

 

[LogOff]

It's as hard as you want it to be. All the hand skills stuff is plenty hard when you are first learning it, but it does become pretty easy eventually through repetition. But there is always something to get better at so don't worry, if you want the challenge it will be there.

 

[swainer14]

Sounds like you belong here! This is how I think of it for myself: Dentistry allows you to be a business owner and to work with your hands all day. Every patient presents new opportunities and challenges. And if you find you want to add a medical flair into your dental practice, consider a residency in surgery or anesthesiology after dental school. Whatever you choose, the hours are flexible (because you make them for yourself) and you will have the autonomy to be a caring spouse/father.

Do you find yourself struggling as far as student debt goes? I am not getting financial assistance from my parents, so it will be entirely based on scholarship from my DAT Score, independent scholarships, and student loans.

One concern I have is the starting salary outside of dental school, and being able to pay off loans.

@LogOff as well

 

[free99]

I think people overestimate the amount of family time dentistry affords and underestimate the amount of family time medicine allows. My brother in law is an emergency medicine physician and has heaps of free time and is rarely on call. Think seriously about medicine... Maybe I've got a "grass is greener" perspective as I slog through the hardest year of dental school, but I think both fields can provide a solid lifestyle.

 

[Typical Average Student]

My only hesitation about dentistry is that I feel it may not challenge me enough: intellectually and mechanically.

lol. You'll learn to appreciate dentistry after your first semester. I know I did, I considered PT school, med school, and many other ventures before pursuing dentistry. Family was my main priority and I found the working life to be so much more lax than that of a physician. Now that I'm finishing up my first year I can't wait to just finish school, I couldn't imagine going another 3-8 years in residency, especially going into a specialty that you might not even like.

 

[oralcare123]

Are you happy with your career in dentistry?

I never questioned my choice

 

[LogOff]

Do you find yourself struggling as far as student debt goes? I am not getting financial assistance from my parents, so it will be entirely based on scholarship from my DAT Score, independent scholarships, and student loans.

One concern I have is the starting salary outside of dental school, and being able to pay off loans.

@LogOff as well

I went the Navy route to pay for school. Couldn't be more happy with that decision. I agree that the student debt is nothing to take lightly, if you aren't doing public service or military I would go to the absolute cheapest school possible, then go live in the boonies somewhere and pay it off as fast as possible before really settling down to enjoy the "doctor lifestyle".

I think people overestimate the amount of family time dentistry affords and underestimate the amount of family time medicine allows. My brother in law is an emergency medicine physician and has heaps of free time and is rarely on call. Think seriously about medicine... Maybe I've got a "grass is greener" perspective as I slog through the hardest year of dental school, but I think both fields can provide a solid lifestyle.

The only thing I can say is that emergency medicine is probably one of the most conducive schedules to family life as you are "on" or "off" with no call, a lot of other specialties have kind of lousy hours.

 

[Dr.p53]

Dentistry will surely challenge you machanically. If you want high grades and specialize in OMFS then it will surely challenge you intellectually since this specialization require you to be on top of your class and board exam. Dentistry will give you a lot of freedom in managing your time and career. If you want the freedom of dentistry plus the action of surgery, then Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is for you.
Why choose between being a dentist and a surgeon if you can be both. "Dr. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon"

 

[Medin2017]

Dentistry will surely challenge you machanically. If you want high grades and specialize in OMFS then it will surely challenge you intellectually since this specialization require you to be on top of your class and board exam. Dentistry will give you a lot of freedom in managing your time and career. If you want the freedom of dentistry plus the action of surgery, then Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery is for you.
Why choose between being a dentist and a surgeon if you can be both. "Dr. Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon"

low odds would be a major factor.

 

[Dr.p53]

low odds would be a major factor.

If he can't land to OMFS, he still has general dentistry with a lot of freedom and time for his family. Of course do what you want if your time is favorable to you. Internal medicine is very brutal when it comes to time. IM will wake you up in the middle of the night due to lab results, cardiac arrest etc. Surgery may or may not that harsh when it comes to time. To sum it all, if you want to be a great family man over your work then dentistry is for you.

 

[charlestweed]

The job that challenges you more intellectually and mechanically tends to give you more headaches and worries than the easier one. The more difficult and risky procedures you perform, the more you have to worry about and the less time you have for your wife and kids. Many dentists have to refer the difficult cases to the specialists because they want to avoid the headaches and potential lawsuits if things go wrong with their patients. They want to sleep better at night and have quality time with their kids. Nobody wants to go home and still has to constantly think about things that he/she did at work....and wonders if he/she has to drive back to the office to take care of the post op complications. That's why some OS residents left in the middle their training or switched to ortho for a better lifestyle. If you want to be a good father and a husband, I think it's better to pick the job that has a lower liability risk.

 

[Medin2017]

The job that challenges you more intellectually and mechanically tends to give you more headaches and worries than the easier one. The more difficult and risky procedures you perform, the more you have to worry about and the less time you have for your wife and kids. Many dentists have to refer the difficult cases to the specialists because they want to avoid the headaches and potential lawsuits if things go wrong with their patients. They want to sleep better at night and have quality time with their kids. Nobody wants to go home and still has to constantly think about things that he/she did at work....and wonders if he/she has to drive back to the office to take care of the post op complications. That's why some OS residents left in the middle their training or switched to ortho for a better lifestyle. If you want to be a good father and a husband, I think it's better to pick the job that has a lower liability risk.

wait but isn't OS post residency just as good lifestyle wise as any other specialty but on average with better pay and stability (provided you're doing T&T in private practice or corp)? There's less saturation to deal with if I'm not mistaken too. Do you mean leaving training because the lifestyle of residency was bad?

 

[gn4]

I think people overestimate the amount of family time dentistry affords and underestimate the amount of family time medicine allows. My brother in law is an emergency medicine physician and has heaps of free time and is rarely on call. Think seriously about medicine... Maybe I've got a "grass is greener" perspective as I slog through the hardest year of dental school, but I think both fields can provide a solid lifestyle.

my gf's father is an EM doctor. He works like 13 days a month. My gf is also going into EM for the lifestyle. Work 13-16 days a month and have no call and make money. Not a bad gig. If I had gone to medschool, that is the specialty I would try to go into

 

[charlestweed]

I don't know about other regions of the country, but here in CA, the OS's face oversaturation problem as well. When an OS has his own practice, he has to work hard to please both the referral GPs and the mutual patients in order to stay successful. GPs usually refer out hard cases....ie a medically compromised patient, who is on Coumadin and needs full-mouth extractions.... an 80+ yo person, who is on multiple meds and needs extraction under IV sedation etc. That means that the OS has to spend extra time dealing the patients' physicians to get a medical clearance. He can't just take things easy by rejecting too many cases that are referred to him because the GPs will start losing trust and refer their patients to another OS.

I don't know the answer to your last question about why some of the OS residents quit. But I did meet a few of these ex-OS residents during the ortho interviews. My son's classmate's dad dropped out of OS residency....and currently practices as a GP.

Edit: I tried to respond to Medin2017's post above. I forgot to quote his/her post.

 

[Medin2017]

I don't know about other regions of the country, but here in CA, the OS's face oversaturation problem as well. When an OS has his own practice, he has to work hard to please both the referral GPs and the mutual patients in order to stay successful. GPs usually refer out hard cases....ie a medically compromised patient, who is on Coumadin and needs full-mouth extractions.... an 80+ yo person, who is on multiple meds and needs extraction under IV sedation etc. That means that the OS has to spend extra time dealing the patients' physicians to get a medical clearance. He can't just take things easy by rejecting too many cases that are referred to him because the GPs will start losing trust and refer their patients to another OS.

I don't know the answer to your last question about why some of the OS residents quit. But I did meet a few of these ex-OS residents during the ortho interviews. My son's classmate's dad dropped out of OS residency....and currently practices as a GP.

Edit: I tried to respond to Medin2017's post above. I forgot to quote his/her post.

yea i heard residency is tough regular 80+ hr weeks. Seems like in CA though, everyone faces oversaturation problems. Not a good state for future practitioners. Local native, an OS on this board, said he may practice at an office a few days a week and then drive around for corporate a few days a month. Seems to solve the problem of referral only based OS?