Is dentisty really worth it?

[Mr. Pretentious]

Hey, just stopped by to insult:
a. your profession (oh whiter teeth for everyone, how noble)
b. your motivations for your career (either money or a substitute for unfulfilled dreams of becoming a real doctor)
c. your academic credentials (anyone can get into dental school)

DDS - "doctor" of dental surgery

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[logistical99]

Yeah, I guess you're right, but I have a different story. Medicine was my first choice and I got into two med schools. I applied to several dental schools as back up and got accepted to those too.

But I had to forfeit medicine due to pressure from my health and personal issues.

I admit I kind of feel upset that, after I become a dentist, no one will really recognize me for all the hard work I did in college for successfully getting into med school. I did all that for nothing and I don't feel too good about it, but I'm trying to give myself the benefit of doubt that things will turn alright, hopefully, with a job after graduation and a lot of free time.

But, most people do not consider internists to be real "doctors" because all they do is talk, give referrals, and do holistic physical checkups. So good luck getting into surgery, which is being filled with foreign doctors because it is being unpopular with US docs.

 

[dentalvibe8881]

EDITED: I edited my post because I didn't want to contribute to the flame element.

I had the opportunity to go to medical however I chose dentistry instead. The only field of medicine that appealed to me was surgery. However, I don't want to endure a general surgical residency. If you want to do surgery, you have to endure a surgical residency of some type and with the exception of opthalmology, they are all bad. Surgical residencies involve hazing, long work hours, and poor pay. General surgeons do the work that other surgeons don't want (read scutwork). They perform most surgeries related to the GI. If you think working in people's mouths are disgusting, consider working in someone's ass and colon.

If you want to do "cool" surgery, then you will have to enter neurosurgery(8 years), orthopedic surgery(5 years), ENT(5 years) or optho(5 years). Only ENT and optho offer reasonable working conditions. Coincidentally, ENT and Optho are nearly impossible to acquire as well. They have very limited spots. Although they are 5 years long, they aren't a torturous 5 years like Orthopedics, and General surgery. Neurosurgery means that you can't have a life outside your work. If you become a neurosurgeon, don't plan on having a family because they won't see you. If you want to do cosmetic surgery, you have to do General surgery FIRST!!! ha ha, You can't escape that.

Regarding the other fields of medicine, I didn't want to write prescriptions for a living. To me, that is boring. I want to work with my hands. I want to see the results of my work. I wouldn't get any satisfaction writing some a prescription for Singulair or Viagra.

So dentistry offers me everything I like in a career. I get to do surgery of the mouth. I get to work limited hours. And I can make a lot of money.

Regarding reputation, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Of course, an MD will look down upon you. However, MD's are only one segment of our population. Most of the general public will admire what you have done. They know it's not easy graduating from dental school. So to heck with what MD's think. They look down upon DO's and every job in life possibly outside the presidency.

 

[LestatZinnie]

your points may be valid in the USA, but here in Canada getting into dent is just as difficult as med since we do not have a plethora of private schools and enrollment is limited to less than 50 seats per school. so to say that everybody can get in is B.S.. I for one was never interested in med-parents were pushing for it but I said DMD is way cooler. Sure, doctors may make more on the whole, but on a salary per hour basis there is nothing more blissful than dentistry. Even working PART TIME, a new dent grad can make 50-70K, compared with the 2h per day of sleep and 40k med interns get. if you go to rural areas, as one of my friends did, he's making 100k and he just graduated a year ago. (all figures in CND. family doctor's salary is capped at about 15k in Canada, so dentists have vastly more growth potential) It's pretty hard to beat that, in my opinion, and I will have both TIME and MONEY, rather than just money and no time to enjoy it ^^

just my 2 cents CND

 

[ddstothecor]

Originally posted by Mr. Pretentious
Hey, just stopped by to insult:
a. your profession (oh whiter teeth for everyone, how noble)
b. your motivations for your career (either money or a substitute for unfulfilled dreams of becoming a real doctor)
c. your academic credentials (anyone can get into dental school)

DDS - "doctor" of dental surgery

Oh that's priceless Mr. Pretentious. We're striving to be the inadequate, inferior practitioners based on failed attempts at what we really want to achieve.

BTW, anyone can become a "doctor" with 4 years of school. Further, our schooling can create competent dentists in just 4 years without the need for residency which necessitates that the dental school experience be as rigorous--most likely more so--than any M.D. training.

It appears that the only one who is unhappy with their career choice is logistical99--so if you're speaking to that person, your comments are entirely appropriate. The rest of us here are comfortable, and quite satisfied that if we wanted to strive for other goals, that there's no doubt we could achieve them.

 

[Austin1]

I am not even going to sink to the level of which to give you a negative response. We are a classy forum, classy profession, and classy people. So please stay on the pre med forum for all of your insults, because we are all fullfilling our dreams of becoming a dentist and really don't want to hear it. Thanks and good luck.

 

[FiXToofs]

In resonse to the previous posts, my father is a physician and I always thought i would follow in his footsteps. however when i started my undergrad he started pushing me towards going to dental school instead. like a lot of people i told him, "but i would have to work in peoples mouths all day." since then i remember his advice and i am passing it on to all the anti-dentites. "would you rather be a dentist that looks in peoples mouths all day, work 40 hours a week and make a lot of money, or would you rather be a physician and have to look at peoples a$$e$ and get $h!t." Think about it.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Cool. I just stopped by to tell Mr. Pretentious how bad his breath is with his head up his ass.

Troll postings are a poor substitute for a lack of sex.

 

[dentalvibe8881]

I think medicine is a very noble field. I think it is even more noble now than ever before. In the past, they used to get compensated quite well for the crap that they endured. Now, their income is falling and they are told by others what they can and can't do. You would have to be noble to enter a field where managed care, complaining patients and long work hours prevail.

 

[Supernumerary]

Dentistry Rocks!

 

[millmm]

Hey, Mrs. pretentious,


F*&K OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are an idiot, have fun sticking your fingers up peoples tar stars checking for blood while I am doing Le Forts (look it up if you dont know what it is).

 

[Austin1]

nevermind...erase what i just said

 

[Frank Cavitation]

Austin1, LOL
I guess as a whole pre-dents aren't too shabby when it comes to trash talk! Unleash the fury!

and from looking at the post Mr.P put up on the meds forum it doesn't look like he's working very hard to make friends there either

 

[Yah-E]

C'mon my fellow dental medical doctors, Mr. Pretentious is obviously testing our "professionalism" here with his mighty "insults". Now we all know that (s)he probably goes to her/his dentist regularly and (s)he loves her/his dentist. When (s)he does have children, again, s(he) will bring them to a dentist yearly for routine check ups. (S)he's just little irritated how much $$ (s)he's got to pay us in the many years to come while we don't pay her/him crap!

Mr. Pretentious (if in fact you're a Mr.), I'll take your "insults" as your way of saying "thank you" to this amazing profession we call dentistry and that you're a just little jeaulous of what we as dentists can provide to our society and community and be so highly respected in return. Admitted, you brush your teeth, you want them whiter, and you simply can't live without us!

 

[Plugger]

Its just like a med student to have to put someone else down in order to feel good about the decision they made. Dental students on the other hand may do it in self defence, but worry not my fellow pre dents and current dental students we will be the one's laughing when dental school is over and the med students still have 5 more years of school in order to make a decent salary. Here is a good way to look at it..
Physicians Live to Work
Dentists Work to LIVE (and LIVE LARGE we will!)

 

[monkeyfist529]

"Mr. Pretentious"...greaaaaat. Hey, while you were thumbing through the dictionary looking up your weekly dime word, I am curious to know if you stumbled upon "CBDB"...it's an acronym for "carbon based douch bag"? I suspect that the Word-a-Day your mom gave you for christmas didn't have that in there. Eh, you win some you lose some - moving on...

a) The dental profession IS quite noble actually. We, as dental practitioners, restore self-confidence to millions of people everyday - be it whitening teeth or rebuilding the jaws and gums with bovine-derived xenografts. Bovine...that's a cow (re: your mom - ahhhh ****!!)

b) Ahhh yes...our motivations. Of course, that's why we became dentists! Phweeew!! For a second there I thought I enjoyed what I did - my bad! Since this is TRUE, I can finally understand why my garbage man does what he does - it's gotta be for monetary recompense or for unfulfilled dreams of becoming a janitor. Sweeeeet!!!

c) "Anybody can get into dental school"...I better drop the FYI to the crack adict I saw taking a dump behind the library the otherday - he will certainly be thrilled to hear the good news! And to think...all those poor kids with 3.9 GPA's in the ortho lab could have went on to do something "noble" like medicine. Sucks to be them.

Well...at least you got DDS right. And, if what they say about dentists and suicide rates is true - then I'de become a dentist and kill myself just so I could cheat "real" doctors out of doing the job for me. "Why fix it? We can just cut it off!!"

PEACE KID ----M

PS. a general dentists make more than a general physician.
PSS. I don't know how operations were run at the community college you went to, but dental students take the same classes as med students...only we take the labs too.

 

[Richard R Scherf]

OK people, let's do the right thing here. Ignore the poster. Yes, I will keep my eye on the dental forums and I have his cookie tracks in my computer, so I know where his posting are coming from.

If you respond in kind and add profanity, even if it is misspelled, I will ban _you_.
And if you respond in kind you will only delight and encourage this person.

No banning of this person. Grow up people, and ignore him. His greatest frustration will be the absence of any attention coming his way.

This thread is closed.

Richard R. Scherf, DMD, FAGD