Life as a Dentist

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Hey Guys,

So I was premed, and still sort of am, but I have a few questions because I'm considering transferring to pre-dental.

(1) Is it too late to apply to start dental school in Fall 2016?

(2) I have a 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT (10/7/10, I know i need to take DAT, but...yeah). WAMC?

(3) What are job prospects like after graduating? Will it be like medicine where you have multiple job offers after residency, or like pharmacy where you have to send 100 applications for 1 interview?

(4) What are the true starting salaries for a graduating dentist?

(5) For #3 and #4, how much would that change if I did it with an Army scholarship? It seems like if you have 4-5 years of dental experience already from your payback time, and are a military officer, finding a job should be a piece of cake, and salary should be higher.

(6) Why did you chose dentistry over medicine?

thanks!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

 

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(7) What is lifestyle like after dental school? How is lifestyle in military payback years?

 

[romoxx23]

Lifestyle after dental school is what you make out of it. There are some predental videos on dentalmaverick.com This is a guy who became a general dentist, created a 1million dollar a year producing practice, and sees 4 to 5 ppl max a day. Low volume high profit. I'd recommend watching his free videos and recognizing what kind of practice you want in your future.

 

[NewTab]

I guess my biggest question - what is the minimum salary for a guy who completes the schooling with good grades and is not a good businessman? How hard would it to join a practice as an associate? Salary?

 

[Frank22]

I guess my biggest question - what is the minimum salary for a guy who completes the schooling with good grades and is not a good businessman? How hard would it to join a practice as an associate? Salary?

You can reasonably expect to earn a healthy six figure salary, and will have little to no problem finding work. The average general dentist works approximately 38 hours a week, while specialists average 32 hours a week and earn more.

 

[PlasmaMembrane]

You might as well just have written "I was pre-med but couldn't get into med school so now I'm looking at dentistry but I'm mainly just interested in the money".

 

[hellofuturedentists]

I'll just answer question #1: yes it's too late for this cycle. You haven't taken the DAT, filled out AADSAS, or shadowed (I'm assuming).

 

[NewTab]

You might as well just have written "I was pre-med but couldn't get into med school so now I'm looking at dentistry but I'm mainly just interested in the money".

Exactly. 100%. All I care about is $$$$, and I don't want to work hard like a surgeon, and I don't want to study for the MCAT or do a postbacc. I'm lazy and entitled to a big paycheck.

 

[NewTab]

I'll just answer question #1: yes it's too late for this cycle. You haven't taken the DAT, filled out AADSAS, or shadowed (I'm assuming).

are there such things as guaranteed acceptance DMD schools?

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

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[hellofuturedentists]

are there such things as guaranteed acceptance DMD schools?

There are some universities that may guarantee your acceptance straight from undergrad, provided you maintain a certain GPA and any other requirements. That's something you probably have to get when you begin undergrad, so it's probably too late for you.

Whatever you plan on doing, go shadow and see if you think the money is worth it.

 

[NewTab]

There are some universities that may guarantee your acceptance straight from undergrad, provided you maintain a certain GPA and any other requirements. That's something you probably have to get when you begin undergrad, so it's probably too late for you.

Whatever you plan on doing, go shadow and see if you think the money is worth it.

Do you think it's worth it, missy?

 

[hellofuturedentists]

Do you think it's worth it, missy?

Doesn't matter what I think. It's a personal opinion, missy

 

[darknightzzz]

(2) I have a 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT (10/7/10, I know i need to take DAT, but...yeah). WAMC?

(3) What are job prospects like after graduating? Will it be like medicine where you have multiple job offers after residency, or like pharmacy where you have to send 100 applications for 1 interview?

(4) What are the true starting salaries for a graduating dentist?

(5) For #3 and #4, how much would that change if I did it with an Army scholarship? It seems like if you have 4-5 years of dental experience already from your payback time, and are a military officer, finding a job should be a piece of cake, and salary should be higher.

(6) Why did you chose dentistry over medicine?

I choose dentistry over medicine because I can't get into med school like you.

I like the mula.

 

[Incis0r]

Hey Guys,

So I was premed, and still sort of am, but I have a few questions because I'm considering transferring to pre-dental.

(1) Is it too late to apply to start dental school in Fall 2016?

(2) I have a 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT (10/7/10, I know i need to take DAT, but...yeah). WAMC?

(3) What are job prospects like after graduating? Will it be like medicine where you have multiple job offers after residency, or like pharmacy where you have to send 100 applications for 1 interview?

(4) What are the true starting salaries for a graduating dentist?

(5) For #3 and #4, how much would that change if I did it with an Army scholarship? It seems like if you have 4-5 years of dental experience already from your payback time, and are a military officer, finding a job should be a piece of cake, and salary should be higher.

(6) Why did you chose dentistry over medicine?

thanks!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

1. Kinda- you need job shadowing, LoRs for dental school, etc. If you start now to apply in Fall 2016, though, you'll be ahead.
2. Very good chances based on GPA.
3. Generally good; dentistry is getting a little saturated so salaries are going down, but still a good field. Though with the increasing amount of avg. dental school debt, you won't have much choice as to who to work for- you'll pretty much have to go to the highest payer....which tends to be corporate at $500/day or 28% collections, whichever is greater.
4. For full-time, starting ranges from 90K (around that in the military) to 130K. Anyone above or below is generally an outlier.
5. Yep- around 150K maybe? You could pull down 200k if you go private practice, and more if you specialize.
6. I'm going to quote what I said to this in another thread- see below

Man I remember this- I struggled with this very problem for years! I was die-hard pre-med in high school... I had 500 volunteering hours at a local hospital before graduation from high school!

And initially, I was skeptical about dentistry- "Oh I don't want to look at 32 teeth all day" etc. etc. This was all before I shadowed a single dentist though.

Shadowing changed everything.

What really convinced me was shadowing different specialties/settings. So for MD/DO, I shadowed Peds, Cardio, PCP, ENT, and anesthesiology. For dentist, I just shadowed general, but I did it in different settings: private practice, community health center, group practice, etc.

And I realized that dentistry would give me everything I wanted in a career with much less stress than MD.
1. Dental School is 4 years (+ 1 year optional AEGD, more if you want to do an optional residency). Med School is 4 years (+ minimum 2 years (or 3?) residency), fellowship, etc. etc.

2. If you go to dental school, you know exactly what you'l become- a general dentist. You can practice right out of the gate. If you go to med school, you won't know what you're going to become till you take the specializing exam....USMLE or Step...I forget which one. Bottom line is- your future residency/career depends a lot on a one-time exam.

3. Dental care is important! I've done a lot of reading about the connections between Oral Health and Overall health- did you know that gum disease and diabetes have a two-way link? Or plaque and endocarditis? In fact, I've seen general dentists discover something abnormal in a patient (high BP) for example, refer them to their physician, and have the patient catch the condition in time. It's great screening.

4. Autonomy- As much as MD/DOs might like to ignore this, the fact is that medicine is becoming more "cookie-cutter" i.e. insurance companies and laws are influencing medical treatments, there are algorithms that a doctor must follow, etc. Dentistry- the most regulation I've seen is when insurance companies won't pay for a certain type of treatment. But then you can ask the patient to CareCredit Finance it, or pay out of pocket, or propose a different tx plan....

5. Lifestyle!!!! The anesthesiologist above me sure has a great lifestyle. in fact, he's in one of the ROAD specialties: Radiology, (Optometry or Ophthalmology? I always get these confused), Anesthesiology, and Dermatology. The fact is- these are the MOST competitive and hard to get into specialties in medicine. Pretty much every med student wants them, but who gets it is largely dictated by, you guessed it, exam scores. Nothing is certain! Someone might want to go into radiology but only match with family medicine.

6. Dentistry is cool! Think about it. A patient comes to you with severe shooting pain. You do X-rays and determine that a root canal + crown is needed. You can do that procedure and remove the patient's pain by solving it at the root of the problem (pun intended 🙂). Now if a patient goes to a physician with the same problem in the mouth- what do you think the physician will do? Painkillers? Prescriptions? Yep- that and a referral to a dentist.

7. Stress as a student- All the pre-meds at my school are so burned out. Most of them are taking 1 or 2 gap years b/w undergrad and med school. So many are nervous about if they will get in (these guys have 3.6-3.8 GPAs, mind you). Me? I'm just cruising along, enjoying undergrad, doing well in my courses, and am excited about the day I become a dentist! Now this factor isn't as important as making sure that you'll enjoy the profession, but happiness is #1.

I have lots more reasons but I have work now; feel free to PM me and we can chat some more.

 

[RichardGT4]

Doing dentistry for the money is a utter shame. I'm doing dentistry because I'm passionate about it.

 

[Incis0r]

Doing dentistry for the money is a utter shame. I'm doing dentistry because I'm passionate about it.

Good. I wish there were more people like you. You'll be an ethical practitioner.

 

[Typical Average Student]

I do dentistry because I want to shoot lions in the future... /endsarcasm

 

[docrogers777]

1991 Loma Linda DDs, I love the work I do and the patients I care for. I work four days a week and volunteer one day a week in the inner city. I make good money and provide for my family. It has been good for me.

 

[Del0]

1. Can't stand when people start harping on someone for asking about money. It's irresponsible to go through higher education racking up $250,000+ in loans and not knowing if you'll be able to pay it back
2. You'll definitely get in somewhere with that GPA, mine wasn't that good and I got into 2 schools with 5 interviews. Make sure you do pretty well on the DAT though
3. Do some shadowing before applying. You can look at all the facts and figures all day long but it's really hard to know if you're going to enjoy something until you see what goes on backstage in the profession.
And lastly, salary coming out is right at 100-120. That was already answered for you before, I'm just confirming. Every year you can go up from that. If you've really got some time on your hands look up 'survey of the dental practice' on google and it'll give you more salary info than you want. Good luck!

 

[PocketRocket]

Being a dentist sucks just don't do it