Medicine vs. Dentistry

[dolcegabbana]

Hey Everyone...

I'm currently trying to decide between applying for medicine and dentistry during the next application cycle. I am well informed about both professions.. but I was wondering what different reasons everyone has for pursuing dentistry over medicine?

Thanks Alot!

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[azbioc]

Better dr/patient relationships, not as much insurance hassle, better hours (for the most part), and a lot more job satisfaction within the dentists I talked to as compared to md's to name a few of my reasons.

 

[pmantz]

eeny, meeny, miny mo

flip a coin

 

[armorshell]

Even thought there's way too many factors to get into here, I'm going to boil it down into a nice, easy to digest, one sentence blurb:

"Do you want to live to work, or work to live?"

 

[jackbauer!]

"Do you want to live to work, or work to live?"

he speaks the truth!!

 

[HermeytheElf]

What a refreshingly original topic for a thread. It's amazing that such a question has not come up before. If only we had way to see...some type of searching function that would allow us to look for older threads...

 

[Drill2Fill]

One word. Lifestyle.

 

[aphistis]

What a refreshingly original topic for a thread. It's amazing that such a question has not come up before. If only we had way to see...some type of searching function that would allow us to look for older threads...

 

[NavyDDS]

Aphistis, I have to say, ever since I found out about SDN (Dec 1)... I am easily distracted by the urge to slack off and scroll through the forums a 1/2 a dozen times a day. I recently reached a milestone in my slackerdom on SDN by going over 50 posts! I was so proud... until I realized that you are
100X the slacker that I will ever amount to That's when it came to me... there is no way you could possibly be human. By any chance are you really an octapus like robot with four sets of eyes and tenticles with a super computer brain like "Hal" from Space Odyssey 2001 that controls the universe of SDN?

 

[aphistis]

Aphistis, I have to say, ever since I found out about SDN (Dec 1)... I am easily distracted by the urge to slack off and scroll through the forums a 1/2 a dozen times a day. I recently reached a milestone in my slackerdom on SDN by going over 50 posts! I was so proud... until I realized that you are
100X the slacker that I will ever amount to That's when it came to me... there is no way you could possibly be human. By any chance are you really an octapus like robot with four sets of eyes and tenticles with a super computer brain like "Hal" from Space Odyssey 2001 that controls the universe of SDN?

That might be carrying the mental picture a *little* too far... The admins are the only ones who control the SDN universe. The rest of us are just glorified hall monitors.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hey Everyone...

I'm currently trying to decide between applying for medicine and dentistry during the next application cycle. I am well informed about both professions.. but I was wondering what different reasons everyone has for pursuing dentistry over medicine?

Thanks Alot!

IMHO this is the wrong place to ask since the responses in Dental Forum tend to be biased. Dentistry and medicine are two totally different fields. One cannot find satisfaction in dentistry if your heart is in medicine and vise versa. Shadow both and deciede for yourself. Once you settle in dentistry, talk to me and I will tell you if you make the right choice. DP

 

[reapply2007]

If you have money to burn, apply to dental school during the summer before your Junior year in college. That way, you'll understand the process pretty well, and possibly get some interviews to see what dental school is about. You don't have the luxery of applying to med school this early. If you don't get in after your jr year, then either reapply or go medical. This is pretty untraditional thinking, and likely to cost you some decent money and energy to get the application strong, plus taking the DAT with the the possibility of retaking it if you need to reapply the following year and don't do well the first time.

Conventional wisdom suggests you should spend time shadowing both professions before you make an informed decision and then apply to one program. Do not apply to Dental school and Medical school at the same time as the two application processes cross talk and you are unlikely to get into either with simultaneous applications.

 

[kaizendj]

In my experience, I have found that one of the biggest reasons pre-meds vow not to go pre-dent is their position that learning about teeth is boring compared to learning about the entire body. What do you pre-dents (or dentists) find more interesting about the subject of dentistry versus medicine? I am aware that dental students take many similar courses to medical students, but when they begin to practice, much of their work focuses exclusively on the mouth.

 

[pre-dentalguy]

Even thought there's way too many factors to get into here, I'm going to boil it down into a nice, easy to digest, one sentence blurb:

"Do you want to live to work, or work to live?"

Hell Yeah... that's real talk!!

 

[NavyDDS]

In my experience, I have found that one of the biggest reasons pre-meds vow not to go pre-dent is their position that learning about teeth is boring compared to learning about the entire body. What do you pre-dents (or dentists) find more interesting about the subject of dentistry versus medicine? I am aware that dental students take many similar courses to medical students, but when they begin to practice, much of their work focuses exclusively on the mouth.

ever heard of golf?

 

[kappa505]

In my experience, I have found that one of the biggest reasons pre-meds vow not to go pre-dent is their position that learning about teeth is boring compared to learning about the entire body. What do you pre-dents (or dentists) find more interesting about the subject of dentistry versus medicine? I am aware that dental students take many similar courses to medical students, but when they begin to practice, much of their work focuses exclusively on the mouth.

From IHD to you through me. GTFO

 

[pacbum]

i couldn't be happier that i chose dentistry over medicine...as said before, lifestyle, more personal patient relationships, less stress, and enjoyable work (working with your hands is great, how many medical doctors perform surgery ona daily basis?)

and in response to the post about it being boring bc you're only working on teeth...why is that so boring? many doctors specialize to become experts on a certain systems of the body. we're doing the same thing.

 

[Drill2Fill]

i couldn't be happier that i chose dentistry over medicine...as said before, lifestyle, more personal patient relationships, less stress, and enjoyable work (working with your hands is great, how many medical doctors perform surgery ona daily basis?)

and in response to the post about it being boring bc you're only working on teeth...why is that so boring? many doctors specialize to become experts on a certain systems of the body. we're doing the same thing.

Exactly. The MD's that don't specializes, IM and FP, tend to have the jack of all trades, master of none syndrome. They usually end up being the least paid, and more overworked, compared to their specialized counterpart.

 

[KOM]

It's in my genes. Between the fishing and hunting genes.

I don't know why I got a C in genetics.