Can you give us a little background on the biggest differences between dental and medical practices where you live? It can be strikingly different in the US. Physicians work many more hours than dentists and have to deal with insurance, medicare, and medicaid. Physicians have a lot more paperwork and generally see a lot more patients. However, they also get paid more depending on the specialty. I would be interested in the hours physicians and dentists work, and how reimbursement works in your country. It sounds like you are not averse to either one, so the amount of debt you will take on for training, the lifestyle, and the amount you will be making later might be more important.
Medicine:
I was looking to work in UK but bc of the brexit, it's not likely I would work there anymore. So what I'm looking right is within the EU. The only problem is the language but I dont think it would be a major problem as Europe have a shortage of drs.
Other places are in Scandinavia.
Salary: Around 3000 euro for someone that recent graduated. Gradually it will go up to 3500 euro within 2-4 years if you haven't started a specialty training yet. When started, salary will go up to 4000-45000 euro. It takes 4-6 years of training depending on the specialty. So after 11-12 years the medium salary is around 5600-5900 euro.
Education: The schools tuition fee is around 10 000 euro per year. The length is 6 years so 60 000 euro in debt. This is not included the living expenses.
There are around 15-18 specialty.
Job: Jobs are easy to find. If we talk about Scandinavia, you only work for 8h per day. Drs usually work beyond the working hours due to paperwork but not bc of the patients. So maybe 9h maximum per day.
Dentistry:
Same as above when looking for work, the whole Europe.
Same case as before, there is a shortage of dentist in some European countries. Especially in the UK/Ireland.
Salary: Around 3000 euro for recent graduate. Medium salary range from 3000-4000 euro within 5 years. Medium 3500 euro.
If you do training in a specialty, you will get better paid but what I've seen its usually around 4000 euro. Training takes 2-5 year depending on the specialty. After that medium salary is 4200-4800 euro.
The requirement to do training for a specialty is 2 years of full-time work. so after 10 year 4500 euro salary.
Education: The school have no tuition fee. So zero euro per year.. The length is 5 years and you can start to work as a dentist when finishing 4,5 years. So during school you can already apply and work as a dentist. Living expenses will be minimum as I live close to the university and I will be able to work part-time jobs during my education.
There are around 5-6 specialty.
Job: Jobs are easy to find. 8h per day and there will be paperwork but not as much. Maybe once or twice per month you will work 9h a day.
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So if I choose the UK, I will work way more hours than 8h. In Scandinavia there is a lot of rules and laws that makes it unusual for someone to work 12-15h for a md or dds.
I took Scandinavia as an example as they have one of the highest taxes in the world. The tax for both profession based on their salary will be more than 30%, so close to 40%. Also bc the dental school is there and is free of charge.
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