Is dentistry interesting , or does it get monotonous?

[Zakaria12345]

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Im debating between going pre-dent or pre-med. I know any career gets a little repetitive , but Can dentistry keep you on your toes and interested , and be intellectually stimulating ? Do you enjoy going to work everyday ?

 

[OMFS48]

General dentistry is repetitive and not stimulating, its just glorified manual labor

 

[Cold Front]

General dentistry is repetitive and not stimulating, its just glorified manual labor

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[schmoob]

I guess private practice OMS is not repetitive AT ALL and super stimulating.

 

[FutureDent020]

It’s a job

 

[ibuprofen400mg]

I don't find my job repetitive at all.

 

[2TH MVR]

The dentistry (orthodontics) is repetitive. The individual patients are not.

 

[charlestweed]

I love to do things that are easy and repetitive.....less chance of making mistakes, fewer patient complaints, lower chance of getting a lawsuit, and better sleep at night. That's why I love my job....get paid well and not have to think nor have to work very hard. And best of all, the assistants do all these repetitive manual labors for me. I keep myself entertained by bringing the laptop to work to watch movies/youtube and read sdn posts. Life is beautiful.

 

[Cold Front]

General dentistry is the least repetitive: all kinds of adult and pediatric dentistry, hygiene exams, emergencies, follow-ups, whitening/bleaching, pathology cases, sleep apnea, invisalign, Endo, 3rd molars (easy ones), and millions of other things - what can “literally” be so repetitive about it? Unless a general dentist limits their practice to drill and fill, you can easily see all walks of life in dentistry.


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[FutureDent020]

Do you enjoy going to work everyday ?

I enjoy getting home from work everyday

 

[allDAT]

It depends what you mean by intellectually stimulating/what your expectations are. If by intellectually stimulating you mean using critical thinking to solve complex problems, the answer is no. You probably won’t find that practicing modern medicine within a large hospital either.

 

[TanMan]

Im debating between going pre-dent or pre-med. I know any career gets a little repetitive , but Can dentistry keep you on your toes and interested , and be intellectually stimulating ? Do you enjoy going to work everyday ?

There's a fine line between repetitive, stimulating, challenging, and boring/interesting. Stimulating/challenging does not mean fun. I don't find the work challenging, I find the patient challenging. The work is not stimulating, but reading about dentistry is stimulating for me. Repetitive doesn't mean it's boring either. Repetitive within a spectrum/range of case complexity can be fun and engaging at the same time.

As I get older, I am starting to like predictable and repetitive more and more. That's why my practice is limited with the philosophy of easy money. If it's a procedure that is difficult and/or drops my hourly, I just don't do them at all. Another procedure I'm striking off my list is complex anterior fills. That is what's great about general dentistry - you do what you want. I don't do any removables, no all on X's, no hybrids, sleep apnea, TMD, OFP, pathology, sedation, or impacted 3rds. Hopefully someday phase out anterior fills completely. Those have been the bane of my existence recently and it's just not worth the time anymore.

 

[CGtoDentistry]

As I get older, I am starting to like predictable and repetitive more and more. That's why my practice is limited with the philosophy of easy money. If it's a procedure that is difficult and/or drops my hourly, I just don't do them at all.

From my observations of the tech industry so far, the above is a fantastic reason for pursuing dentistry as a profession. I've met tons of engineers who have to constantly keep learning to maintain job security, well into their 40s and 50s. Don't get me wrong., I love learning. I think having to learn constantly when the market prefers younger engineers is a real job scare. At least with dentistry you have choice for the types of procedures/work you want to do and can read the market appropriately

 

[Torshammer]

General dentistry is repetitive and not stimulating, its just glorified manual labor

I have thought this as well

 

[TanMan]

General dentistry is repetitive and not stimulating, its just glorified manual labor

Highly paid glorified manual labor... there, fixed that for ya!

No shame in manual labor. It's a dirty job, someone's gotta do it.

 

[2TH MVR]

Highly paid glorified manual labor... there, fixed that for ya!

No shame in manual labor. It's a dirty job, someone's gotta do it.

Exactly. There are far more worse jobs in life compared to dentistry. I think some of us get spoiled as dentists and think there should be more to our "jobs". It's a job. It's not your life. A good job affords most of us an opportunity to live a happy, fulfilling life.

Yes. Dentistry is labor. I know it sounds like a cliche .... but you are treating patients .... not teeth. Look beyond the teeth and mouth and realize you are making some small part of a fellow human being BETTER. And you are paid very well for this opportunity.

 

[Svart Aske]

Most jobs can be repetitive and lose freshness after a while. It's up to you to keep it meaningful and interesting to you.

 

[drseplo]

You think dentistry is repetitive and boring go shadow an internal medicine or family medicine physician 🙄.

Dentistry gives you something to do with your hands. Makes you active, that's what I enjoy the most about it, it doesn't matter for me if I've done it a lot as long as I'm doing something.