There definitely is a limit of how much in loans one should take out when getting a dental degree. And yes, it does cost an outrageous amount of money, look at it more so as an investment in yourself. You're getting a highly technical, and terminal degree. But I do agree, 400k is a lot, and around how much I will have to take out just to attend dental school not accounting for loans I took for undergrad. But I'm going to rebuttal and play devils advocate with a few comments based on what you've laid out:
- Saturation is purely dependent on where you are. California & the east coast have a ton of schools so the saturation will be higher than say the midwest or central USA where there aren't nearly as many schools in each state, if any at all. You don't exactly have to live in rural areas to make good money, but staying in the cities as a fresh grad is a recipe for getting paid less. I plan on living on the outskirts of the city and traveling further out to, yes, a more rural area to get paid better and get more experience. I'll be 45-60 min outside the city which is perfect for me. Suburban life is what I want.
- Demand is what you make of it, while dentistry is cheaper outside of the US, some of the quality isn't as good and I've seen horror stories on social media of patients leaving to get cheap work done and having to pay a ton of money back here to fix the mistakes of foreign dentistry. Some of it is good, some of it is pretty bad, and that's a huge risk. But the demand will always be there. The number 1 diseases for adults and kids are periodontitis and carries respectively, and who treats those? Dentists. And until patients start brushing and flossing, the demand will always be there for oral healthcare. A lot of the procedures done outside the US is moreso cosmetic and less prevatative care. I don't think a patient would fork out traveling thousands of miles to get a few fillings. But full mouth crowns, maybe...but bye-bye tooth structure, ouch.
- Also, you should think about the different aspects of the industry. Dentists are more autonomous, we can pick and choose cases, we can set our limits, we can perform to the full scope of practice. We also don't have to report to anyone, we are the highest educated person in the clinic. CRNA's aren't as autonomous, you will be in a hospital reporting to MD's. You won't necessarily have a say about your hours and playing devils advocate again, who knows how the outlook will be, by the time you're applying it could be saturated too. Right now it is a great field, but you still have to go to nursing school, graduate, and then work in a hospital setting for a few years before you can go back and apply and enroll in CRNA school. I don't think you can enter CRNA school directly after graduating as a nurse like you can apply to dental school before/after graduating undergrad.
Also, dentist salary isn't capped like I'd imagine CRNA's is. You will reach a ceiling, dentists can make a lot more by owning multiple practices and doing procedures that pay more and are more complex if they have the training to do them.
See if you can shadow a CRNA and shadow a few dentists to get a feel for both professions. Both are unique and different in their own right, and which one is best for you will have to be decided by you. Good luck on your journey!
