I do have another story to share. I completed BDS from India in 1998 and MDS in Oral Surgery in 2007. I never planned to come in US though my wife is a citizen. But by the stroke of fate I had to immigrate with my wife and 2 yr old daughter in 2010. I gave up all hopes to start all over again and half heartedly took my part 1 and TOEFL. I did apply to a few schools and didn't get any good news. Staying in New York and reaching almost the end of the applying cycle I visited NYU one afternoon, just to have a feel of how the applying process works, if not for anything else. After 5 minutes of conversation with the admissions assistant, she immediately gave me an interview! Rest is history!
my point is, you never know where your fate will take you. So if you are determined to do DDS, just go for it and do not step back in spite of the hardships. If you want to do DDS just to have a good life, then my friend, let me tell you you can have that after MDS in India. (seriously doubt this- may be 5-10% of all mds most of them old world dentists not the new mds , for the majority it is a pathetic situation with not those many jobs for mds and having to roam from one clinic to another all day as a consultant getting no respect from the bds . Most bds are doing their own work and learning everything through short courses. An mds will earn some money but at what cost is the question. Sitting in a non ac college for 8 hours daily as a lecturer or visiting clinics daily to get 60% of the treatment cost due to the dentist taking the remaining 40%) Also india is one of the few countires where most engineers or mba z end up earning more than dentists and have plush houses and cars from the company unlike dentists. That is where US is completley different..a dentist and engineer start with the same salary and in 10 years a dentist is earning over double. In india most likely the mba in a corporate firm will earn more than the dentist.) I have seen both sides in both countries. Initial struggle period in US is very very hard and no words can describe it ! Make sure you can go through that phase before coming here.
As per your other question about acceptance of DDS in India, let me tell you it works: Acceptance of degrees always works in reciprocation; what that basically means is one country's degree will only be accepted in another country if that country's degree is recognized. So since US does not recognize BDS from India, DDS is not "officially" accepted by DCI in India. But think of another thing: what difference does it make? after all DDS is equivalent (although by a lesser degree) to BDS !! so technically you still can practice with your BDS. But with your DDS background, you should have a tremendous edge over others, even then you would be envied by the MDS people !! But then tell me some thing: how many people you know, who, after doing DDS has gone back to India? to my knowledge, very few, that too old people who, after 30-40 years of practice in US went back to have a retired life. Even I dont know of any.
I agree. Very few dentists go back after dds..it doesnt really make sense financially. But if you are ready to take a bit of a cut on your pay check (at least initially) - you will definitely do very well in India as a dds....people are in awe of US degrees ..and if you market it well , sky is the limit
The next question is why??? The first obvious reason is the quality of life: once you get used to live by the rules here, I dont think you'd want to go back. Even if you want to go back and you do, you would be back within a year !!! I'm not saying this, Statistics do. So coming to the US is basically a one way ticket as far as DDS is concerned !
Also i must say this - it is very important at what age in life you are coming to the US .
the next reason is Economics: I don't know if you can afford to finance your education and living expenses from home. Most of us don't, so we depend heavily on loans from US agencies, be it banks or Federal student loans ! Now, after you complete your DDS and ready to work, I dont think that you might be doing well in living a good life in India while paying back the loans in US ! that does not make a good economic sense ! On the other hand, I dont know any DDS dentist in US who is a pauper. And all of them paid back their loans or are doing good in paying them back regularly. The only reason financial institutions shell out $500K+ to every DDS students without any collateral is that they are known to be good in paying back !!
Dont take my words to be true, you use all means to judge the veracity of these facts and figures and take a well calculated step! this would be my advice to you. Wish you all the best for your future endeavors !
