Is it possible to practice dentistry and psychiatry?

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dentennis1206

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This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?

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You should sell kitchenware also.
 
There is plenty of psychiatry in dentistry. You will spend lots of time talking to patients about their fear of some evil past dentist in their life, listening to their fear of needles and talking them through injections. There are many scared patients out there to talk to as a dentist. When the procedures are finally over, you'll write post-op prescriptions.
 
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This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?

yes its possible

4 years of undergrad: possible debt from there
4 years of dental school: 200 K + interest
4 years of medical school: 200K + interest
4 years of psych residency: 50K salary

overall debt: 500K +

Then, you'd have to work part time in both fields assuming you wanted to practice both at once, unless you are a spartan and want to work 80 hours a week. Odds are that by working part time in both, you'd be making less money than you would have earned working individually in one.

That being said, there are a few DO programs that have a combined DO/DDS degree (I think in 6 years rather than 8). Nova Southeastern has one..it's intended for people who want to work in rural or underserved area and in primary care, but you could do that and then specialize in psychiatry. I'm not sure I see the overlap in the fields that you are referring too though...
 
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That being said, there are a few DO programs that have a combined DO/DDS degree (I think in 6 years rather than 8). Nova Southeastern has one..

Makes me ill to think this is an option at Nova.

Seriously, the worst part of my job is dealing with the psychoanalysis part of crazy patients. Best part is mechanical (preparing, impressions, restoring) and satisfaction of major improvements in esthetics and function.

Why focus on parts nobody wants to figure out. But then again, I'd be happy to refer you some of the "psychoanalyzing" and you can fix the patient and send them back ready to start prepping and restoring 😉.
 
This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?

Working as a psychiatrist, you will be able to bill every minute that you have to listen to the person's sob story all day long... However, as a dentist, you won't be able to... you only get paid for the procedure done! I know several good dentists who complain that their regular patients can't stop talking about their personal problems and take up too much of their chair time!
 
There is plenty of psychiatry in dentistry. You will spend lots of time talking to patients about their fear of some evil past dentist in their life, listening to their fear of needles and talking them through injections. There are many scared patients out there to talk to as a dentist. When the procedures are finally over, you'll write post-op prescriptions.

there are no CPT codes for "counselling", so while you may qualm neurotic patients, you make nothing from it. hence, we are still only dentists.
 
This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?

I'm always supportive of interesting or novel ideas but this one is odd.

Psych is a full blown specialty. They take themselves very seriously and are constantly pushing their field forward and past the 'sit in a chair or lie on your couch' stereotype. Actually, they are far past that already.

Dentistry also requires full professional commitment.

You can be a dentist and further educate yourself in principles that have been developed in psych to aid those patients in your community that would benefit. You can be a psych and educate yourself on dentistry to the point where you can really understand what's up. But you would find it difficult to practice as both.
 
This is a bad idea. Psychiatry requires conversation with patients. Most dental procedures involve working in the mouth with instruments. I could envision good patient anxiety control but you could probably be just as effective as a dentist with CE instead of formal psychiatry training.
 
Figure out what you want to do first BEFORE you commit your career to something.

And no, you cannot do both.
 
This is a bad idea. Psychiatry requires conversation with patients. Most dental procedures involve working in the mouth with instruments. I could envision good patient anxiety control but you could probably be just as effective as a dentist with CE instead of formal psychiatry training.

So... could you charge for "giving psychiatric advice" while also doing dental procedures? Double dipping, so to speak?
 
Just use D9999.

How about:

D2975 - coping

D6940 - stress breaker

I think those would be perfect for a dentist psychiatrist. :laugh:


---------


Seriously though, I would imagine these two codes would really apply:

D9430 - office visit for observation (during regularly scheduled hours) - no other services performed

D9920 - behavior management, by report
 
This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?
Need to keep on top of CE credits for both, plus state licenses.
 
This may sound like a terrible idea, but I was wondering could you practice both dentistry and psychiatry? I love dentistry but I am also interested in psychiatry and I feel overlapping these two professions would be very interesting with the same patients. If it is possible, how would one even approach being able to practice both?

48÷2(9+3) = ????

a)2
b)288

That, good sir, is my answer to your question.
 
Perhaps you could satisfy your interest in psychiatry by becoming a psychiatric nurse. I don't know if or how you could combine dentistry and psychiatric nursing in the same practice, and you certainly wouldn't have the same power and autonomy as a psychiatrist would have. But it would cost less money and take less time than going to med school and completing a residency in psychiatry.

There's also the possibility of getting a master's degree in psychology or social work, and becoming a psychotherapist through that route.

No matter what path you take, you'll take on a lot of debt, you'll be in training (schools, residencies, internship, etc.) for many years, and you probably won't advance as far in either field as you would if you focused your energy on one field. If it is what you want to do, it may work out. I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Look into the unrecognized TMD specialty. May be what you are looking for
 
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