Question About Practicing Dentistry in Another Country

[joker937]

Hello, all!

For starters, I am actually a pre-dental student. I am posting in this forum because my question is directed at dentists who might already be doing what I am asking about OR who might be able to help me. Here is the situation:

I am about apply for dental schools in June 2016, and I plan on choosing a dental school and pursuing a career in general dentistry. I would like to do all of this here in the United States, of course. After dental school, I dream of leaving the US and traveling to another country, preferably India, to practice. I have not figured out the details because I do not know how this would work. I might like to live elsewhere permanently; maybe I will open a practice in the big city for during the week, make some income, and travel to villages every other weekend and help people there for free. OR, maybe I will stay in the US, and I will travel to India every summer or something of that sort? I don't know yet. But how does that work? Would I have to find an organization that I could travel with? How can I find a place to work in India after I am a dentist here? What about working in dentist with a license from the US to practice? There are so many unknowns, but I want to make my dream come true. If anyone can help me, please let me know what I can do!

Thank you so much! I also apologize if this was the wrong place to post.

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[Hedgy]

Hello, all!

For starters, I am actually a pre-dental student. I am posting in this forum because my question is directed at dentists who might already be doing what I am asking about OR who might be able to help me. Here is the situation:

I am about apply for dental schools in June 2016, and I plan on choosing a dental school and pursuing a career in general dentistry. I would like to do all of this here in the United States, of course. After dental school, I dream of leaving the US and traveling to another country, preferably India, to practice. I have not figured out the details because I do not know how this would work. I might like to live elsewhere permanently; maybe I will open a practice in the big city for during the week, make some income, and travel to villages every other weekend and help people there for free. OR, maybe I will stay in the US, and I will travel to India every summer or something of that sort? I don't know yet. But how does that work? Would I have to find an organization that I could travel with? How can I find a place to work in India after I am a dentist here? What about working in dentist with a license from the US to practice? There are so many unknowns, but I want to make my dream come true. If anyone can help me, please let me know what I can do!

Thank you so much! I also apologize if this was the wrong place to post.

I'm not sure how India works, but the USA does not offer reciprocity with other countries for dental degrees, so they usually reply in kind. In other words, you may be required to attend dental school in the country you desire to practice. One caveat is public health, some countries allow you to practice in a public health setting. I believe the Indian Dental Society will have a website you can access that may offer information on acquiring/practicing in there. You may also look into charitable organizations (ADA website is a good source) as a potential place to practice. I just attended a lecture given by several dentists who have practiced all over the world. Two of them practiced in Nepal for many years.

 

[allantois]

You will never pay off your US loans working anywhere but in US. Also, no one will put up with a dentist who takes his summers off.

 

[oralcare123]

I assume you are independently wealthy and just want to help people. You need to contact organizations, which do this kind of work. I do not think it is realistic to do it by yourself

 

[Hedgy]

You will never pay off your US loans working anywhere but in US. Also, no one will put up with a dentist who takes his summers off.

Never heard of either of these, but good luck trying to get any type of loan or otherwise in the USA when you don't pay your student debt. I think there are better avenues to help pay for student debt than avoidance. Not sure what countries take summers off either. I have some dentist friends in Europe. They make take a few weeks off, but not a whole summer. Then again, dental school there is $6k/yr vs $80-100k+/yr here.

This is off of the recent ADANews. In 2011, average debt for dental vs medical vs law students were $202,000 vs $162,000 vs $125,000. That was 4 years ago. I'm sure it's much higher now.

 

[oralcare123]

He asked about work, not about if he would be able to pay of loans. Some people do not need to take loans.
It might be more useful to post in the International dental forum. There a mostly indians there they might have an idea of where to start

 

[kiddentist2013]

You can try doctors without borders. Smile train always needs volunteers. Im sure you will find lot of organizations you can volunteer for. Like someone said you can do this may be a few times/yr, but with a full time work commitment in the US it will be hard to take a summer off. Good Luck , this is such a noble thing you are doing

 

[Hedgy]

www.internationalvolunteer.ada.org is a good source. www.hvousa.org is Health Volunteers Overseas. www.hesparian.org has books that discuss working as a volunteer. www.mercyships.org works out of Congo and Madagascar I think, but they have yearlong dentist positions.

You can also attend an course on volunteering at one of the large meetings. ADA/Chicago Midwinter/CDA...etc.

 

[GotchaSmiling]

Going through an organization to volunteer is your best bet. They would more than likely have information for you as to what you need to practice in your destination country in terms of licensing.

Every country has its own licensing requirements and, though, as a US dentist you may be eligible to practice in other countries, I am sure it is not without a cost--some sort of exam or other requirement. I recently went to Ecuador and was told that to be licensed there, every new graduate from there, as well as foreign-trained dentist, has to do a year in a qualifying rural setting--I believe it's a placement sort of program, where you don't get to choose where you go.

Perhaps foreign-trained dentist could provide more help if you post on their forum, as someone else suggested.

If you know for sure you would like to practice outside of the US and debt from loans is a concern, you might consider going to school outside of the US. As a few people have mentioned above, paying off US dental school debts--short of defaulting on your student loans, which are not eligible for bankruptcy--is very difficult if you work outside of the US--and trust me, I have looked into it.

If you later wanted to come back to the US and be licensed here, it is not an easy process but it is not impossible. You would be limited in the number of states that allow foreign-trained dentists though.

Before dental school, I did one year in a dental school outside of the US. I thought at the time that there was no way their education could compare to the education I could gain in a US dental school and I was miserable, so I came back here determined to get accepted to a US dental school. Let me tell you, I wish I would have finished dental school outside of the US and then come back for 2-yr AEGD program, as a friend of mine did! I would not be so stressed out about the level of debts I have today. I will say, the good side to my decision was that I didn't have to go through the difficult process of finding a program that would take me--I know a few foreign-trained dentist in programs that have gotten into programs that made them start in their D2 year...ugh! I spent 3k they year I was in dental school abroad; I averaged about 70K/yr during dental school in this United States of America.