Lifestyle of a dentist vs. medicine

[plsfoldthx]

I've been wanting to go into medicine for most of my life, but the more I have heard about the training and residency the more I want to just wither away. I have been giving dentistry a thought because of the lifestyle. No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

As a dentist, are you pretty much working 9-5 after dental school?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[UCLAzy]

if you work for yourself which most dentists do, you can work however many hours you like!

 

[thebozz1975]

Dental school is like medical school + residency in one. Less years, but most dental school students work harder than medical school students. Ask your friends at schools that have both med and dent schools! So don't think dental school is going to be easier than med school. As far as lifestyle, like the previous poster said, you have much more control as a dentist. Work as many or as few days as you want to achieve the lifestyle/work balance that you desire!

 

[plsfoldthx]

yea i do realize teh medical school and dental school are both difficult.

Also, where do dentists fresh out of dental school work for a few years before they start up their own practice? Do they get hired by private practice, institution, etc.? And are their hours generally 9-5?

 

[enfuego]

I'll just tell you that I come from a big family of physicians. My dad, my aunts and uncles, my cousins.. everyone. And I've ALWAYS hated the lifestyle. Ever since middle school, I knew I never wanted to do medicine. My dad's been practicing for 30 years, and he still works over 80 hours a week. (Well, he did go into the worst specialty but still.) I feel like I barely know my dad at all because he's just been working my whole life and he's never around. It sucked not having family around because they were always busy - always working, always on call. It was hard to organize big get-togethers. Unless you go into a specialty like dermatology or psychiatry, you probably won't be able to set your own hours as much as a dentist can. Dentists have a lot more freedom when it comes to that. You can work as much or as little as you want depending on what's going on in your life. To me, that's very important.

 

[DrReo]

I'll just tell you that I come from a big family of physicians. My dad, my aunts and uncles, my cousins.. everyone. And I've ALWAYS hated the lifestyle. Ever since middle school, I knew I never wanted to do medicine. My dad's been practicing for 30 years, and he still works over 80 hours a week. (Well, he did go into the worst specialty but still.) I feel like I barely know my dad at all because he's just been working my whole life and he's never around. It sucked not having family around because they were always busy - always working, always on call. It was hard to organize big get-togethers. Unless you go into a specialty like dermatology or psychiatry, you probably won't be able to set your own hours as much as a dentist can. Dentists have a lot more freedom when it comes to that. You can work as much or as little as you want depending on what's going on in your life. To me, that's very important.

What type of medicine does your father practice?

 

[enfuego]

What type of medicine does your father practice?

Pulmonolgy (and what goes with it, like intensive care and sleep medicine).

 

[lhtran07]

I think most new dschool graduates work as an associate at an already established practice just to get more experience before opening up their own practice or buying in, or alternatively they can do a GPR/AEGD to learn more and get more experience with clinical dentistry. If their grades/scores are good they can go through residency and specialize: ortho, endo, perio, prostho, pedo, OMFS, oral path, oral rads, and dental public health.

Here's more info on what options are available after dental school http://www.adea.org/dental_education_pathways/Pages/AfterDentalSchool.aspx


I know some dentists who work crazy hours...just because they love the work. I also know some who only work 3.5 days a week and go play golf the rest of the time. The great thing about dentistry is that once you open your own practice, you have the autonomy to work as many or as few hours as you like...because you're your own boss.

If you're truly interested in dentistry, I suggest shadowing a few dentists to see if the actual work appeals to you and not just the lifestyle.

 

[DrYoda]

No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

Physician hours vary widely with speciality, so it's hard to give a general answer to this.

 

[DMDreaming]

I agree with the previous posters. Dentistry offers much more control over your schedule. Most posters, however, are attributing that to owning your own practice. This isn't always the case. I worked in a 4 doctor practice, 2 owners and 2 associates. The associates made marginally lower incomes than the owners but they had none of the headache of overhead, staffing, etc. In addition, both associates worked only 3 days a week while the owners worked an additional half to full day a week on administrative duties. So, you don't necessarily have to own your own practice to reap the benefits of a good income and managable hours.

Something else to consider when making your decision is how much you like to work with your hands. Medical doctors, with the exception of surgeons and ER, use primarily brain power in their work while dentists use fine motor skills in addition to mental prowess. If you don't like to tinker and create things, dentistry might not be a good fit for you.

 

[NyCzPeter]

I've been wanting to go into medicine for most of my life, but the more I have heard about the training and residency the more I want to just wither away. I have been giving dentistry a thought because of the lifestyle. No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

As a dentist, are you pretty much working 9-5 after dental school?

Dentists are chillen bro. I had the same dilemma as you at one time, but I rather have a life of my own than devote my entire life to my patients. Then once I decided to join the dark side, I never looked back. May the force lightning be with you.

 

[achilles2]

My father owns his own practice and puts in a significant amount of time and effort into running it. He makes excellent money but he often goes in for a few hours on sat + sunday to handle issues outside of dentistry itself and often he is organizing presentations and whatnot when he comes back from work during the week and has to deal with the headaches of staffing and hiring and firing all those fun things.

You can make your lifestyle as intense or relaxed as you so choose, but if you own your own practice alot of your income earning potential is directly related to how much time and effort you invest into not only your dental skills but the actual running of the practice.

My father has a passion for what he does and takes pride in running and improving the practice that his father started. He has the luxury of being able to decide how much time and effort he wants to put into it and he can control his life outside of it as well. He never missed one of my lacrosse games because he could modify his life accordingly which is a great luxury to have.

That being said I don't think he's taken one sick day in the past 5 years or so because if he partied to hard the night before he is only going to screw himself if he wants to sleep in.

 

[nlax30]

Do what you see yourself doing in the long run, but on lifestyle alone, on average, I'd say the dentists have it.

 

[Aceofspades]

I've been wanting to go into medicine for most of my life, but the more I have heard about the training and residency the more I want to just wither away. I have been giving dentistry a thought because of the lifestyle. No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

As a dentist, are you pretty much working 9-5 after dental school?

I'm sorry, but you said you wanted to go into medicine for most of your life yet you didn't know about the training and residency? I guess they don't depict that aspect on the plethora of doctor shows out there today.

The training and residency are pretty tough, but even worse is when you're done you will still most likely be working >40 hrs. Med Student -> Resident -> Fellow -> Attending sucks. Dental Student -> Dentist rules . There are some pretty good lifestyle specialties in medicine, but they are pretty competitive.

Don't sleep on dentistry though, it ain't a walk in the park. You should shadow a physician and dentist and discuss your concerns with them, especially if you are the type of person who easily flakes.

 

[license2kill]

Dentists are chillen bro. I had the same dilemma as you at one time, but I rather have a life of my own than devote my entire life to my patients. Then once I decided to join the dark side, I never looked back. May the force lightning be with you.

I agree. I joined the dark side and never looked back. Could not have made a better decision. But remember, we are all in essence dentistry recruiters.

 

[enfuego]

Med Student -> Resident -> Fellow -> Attending sucks.

You forgot the intership year

med student --> intern --> resident --> (fellow) --> attending

 

[ucla2134]

I've been wanting to go into medicine for most of my life, but the more I have heard about the training and residency the more I want to just wither away. I have been giving dentistry a thought because of the lifestyle. No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

As a dentist, are you pretty much working 9-5 after dental school?

i think doing what you love is the most important! If you choose to becoming dentist just because of a lifestyle BUT dont have passion for it (yes, passion can cultivate over time), then you will be miserable for the rest of your life.

 

[Californian]

I have the same dillema; I change my mind every day

 

[Sajitude]

I've been wanting to go into medicine for most of my life, but the more I have heard about the training and residency the more I want to just wither away. I have been giving dentistry a thought because of the lifestyle. No residency is a plus, but is the lifestyle of a doctor after residency that much different than a dentist 4 years after dental school?

As a dentist, are you pretty much working 9-5 after dental school?

I have been exactly where you are, and it sucks. Honestly I have a deep passion for helping people and thought a MD was the best way to achieve that. At the same time I want a family that knows me . After much research I realized as a DDS you can help countless people while at the same time have a satifying family life. My brother took the MD route and is starting his ENT residency in a couple of months, and we both agree that dentistry was the way to go. He also loves medicine but at the same time he wants to have a family he can spend significant amounts of time with as well as open his own practice. You can open a practice in the MD world but its harder and more costly from my experiences compared to the DDS world. Also the 300-400k you can make from a successful dental practice doesn't hurt either. I know dentists that work 4 days a week and clear over 400k a year. To go into these fields just for the money is ridiculous, but having that kind of financial security is a nice little thank you for all of the years you have spent perfecting your skills.

I hope this helps

 

[Cat8788]

I have been exactly where you are, and it sucks. Honestly I have a deep passion for helping people and thought a MD was the best way to achieve that. At the same time I want a family that knows me . After much research I realized as a DDS you can help countless people while at the same time have a satifying family life. My brother took the MD route and is starting his ENT residency in a couple of months, and we both agree that dentistry was the way to go. He also loves medicine but at the same time he wants to have a family he can spend significant amounts of time with as well as open his own practice. You can open a practice in the MD world but its harder and more costly from my experiences compared to the DDS world. Also the 300-400k you can make from a successful dental practice doesn't hurt either. I know dentists that work 4 days a week and clear over 400k a year. To go into these fields just for the money is ridiculous, but having that kind of financial security is a nice little thank you for all of the years you have spent perfecting your skills.

I hope this helps

300-400k a year?? i thought average was around 120k - 200k /yr..

I think you should do what you want to do for the rest of your life. I personally think that being a dentist is way different than being a doctor. There's much more hands-on work, as well as aesthetics. But besides all of this, whenever I tell my doctors.. such as my family doctor, my ENT and allergist, that I'm doing dental, they always tell me that they wish they went down that path...i should ask why next time haha
hope this helps

 

[RockandRoll24]

300-400k a year?? i thought average was around 120k - 200k /yr..

A dentist with a well run, tight practice will easily clear 300k. All about efficiency and proficiency. My dentist GROSSES 800k+ a year...takes home 350K.

AND he only works 4 days a week...

 

[Sajitude]

A dentist with a well run, tight practice will easily clear 300k. All about efficiency and proficiency. My dentist GROSSES 800k+ a year...takes home 350K.

AND he only works 4 days a week...

Very true, also can open multiple practices in which cases you may start getting into the 7 figures. Not very common but it does happen.

 

[xplayer2885]

One of the dentist i shadowed at the dental group i was at has the same love for boating as me. Only diffrence is i have to wait till the weekend.....he can leave early midweek an jump on that big monster boat. holler!!!!!

 

[Californian]

yo the video is nasty man... erase that shyt

 

[Contach]

Lifestyle should not only include money. Think about the following:

Medicine would offer better job security than dentistry I would think. Not to mention, there's a lot of uncertainty on how well your office does, etc in Dentistry, and that could lead to a lot of stress if you don't have the clientele or aren't doing enough procedures / day.
Also, I would imagine dentistry is pretty straining on the back - whereas those medical specialties where you are consulting, diagnosing and treating with minimal motor movement, you would be sitting or standing all day as opposed to being bent over.

I also feel as if it is unfair to compare dentistry to medicine. There are so many options in medicine, and all the specialties are different in terms of lifestyle, type of work, security etc... So it is a bit of a vague question...

 

[Kahr]

But as a Dentist, say you go into OMFS and work a hospital job, won't that be nearly identical to a Physician working in a surgical specialty in a hospital as well? Or are dental surgeons not "on call", only work set hours, etc? Just wanted to get clarity with this specialty specifically "on the job", as I'm interested in surgery and it seems the paths to this end through medicine and dentistry require a similar time commitment(?).