Practicing Dentists that Started Dental School Late in Life

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

PAthrowaway

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2015
Messages
36
Reaction score
4
For those dentists that are currently practicing and started dental school "late" in life (let's say in their 30s and beyond), how do you feel about your decision? I know there are threads of current dental students or people who are going to be applying, but I would interested in hearing the perspective of dentists that are actually already practicing and have been there done that.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Started dental school at age 35 after bailing from academia (was wrapping up a Biology PhD). Loved what I had been doing before, but the job prospects for college teaching were just dismal at the time (and continue to be). Dentistry looked like a better way to not starve.

Executive summary: NO REGRETS.

LIFE AS AN OLDER DENTAL STUDENT:
- depending on what you were doing before, starting dental school may require eating some humble pie. I went from coddled Ivy League grad student with my own office to assigned seating, mandatory scrubs, and mandatory attendance -- in some ways felt like getting sent back to high school. You just have to suck it up and study.
- depending on your age, you might find school a bit lonely. I made some wonderful lifelong friends in D-school, but always felt a little distance due to the age difference.
- memorizing gets harder as you creep towards middle age, and memorization is the name of the game in dental school; get ready to work hard.
- on the other hand, during school weekends and breaks you have more freedom as a dental student than you will ever experience later in life. I took some awesome vacations during D-school summer breaks: rode a bicycle from London out through the Scottish Highlands; drove a motorcycle off-road up the Continental Divide from New Mexico to Canada; etc -- things I could never get time to do now, with a practice to run.
- Overall, very positive memories of dental school.

LIFE AS AN OLDER NEWLY-GRADUATED DENTIST:
- a little grey hair helps with credibility
- being your own boss is AWESOME
- if you are (as people say in admissions interviews) "passionate" about teeth you should have your head examined, but the work is in fact quite pleasant. Not as pleasant as being on vacation, but as work goes fixing teeth is quite pleasant.
- realize that you will not see the financial return on investment from a dental degree that a younger person would. Same big loans + less years to pay them back = lower real income.

Because of the last point, it is very important as a mid-life career changer that you go into dentistry because you honestly think you would like the work, not for the financial benefits, because those will be attenuated for you. Do it because you like it and you'll be happy and have no regrets. Do it for the money and you may be in for a shock when you start trying to simultaneously repay student loans and belatedly start a retirement fund. I live very modestly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Top