Question for dentists and dentists-to-be

[Deppa]

A quick question to all you guys.

I'll be applying to D-school either this fall or maybe next year. I've shadowed dentists and really like the dental setting, the type of patient interaction available, the combination of medicine and art. But I feel like there just isn't enough "science" for me. Or put differently, not enough "medicine." I want to be really intellectually challenged by the work, and on a personal level I know that dentistry will be very rewarding. I just wonder if there is enough science/medicine in it for me.

What do you guys think? Do you find that dentistry is both personally rewarding _and_ intellectually stimulating? What modes of practice (or specialty) would you recommend? Academia is the obvious one, I'm looking for other ideas.

Deppa

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[delicious]

A quick question to all you guys.

I'll be applying to D-school either this fall or maybe next year. I've shadowed dentists and really like the dental setting, the type of patient interaction available, the combination of medicine and art. But I feel like there just isn't enough "science" for me. Or put differently, not enough "medicine." I want to be really intellectually challenged by the work, and on a personal level I know that dentistry will be very rewarding. I just wonder if there is enough science/medicine in it for me.

What do you guys think? Do you find that dentistry is both personally rewarding _and_ intellectually stimulating? What modes of practice (or specialty) would you recommend? Academia is the obvious one, I'm looking for other ideas.

Deppa

You will be very intellectually challenged during dental school no doubt. But ultimately you're right, dentistry is more like a trade or skill once you get going. However, specialties like oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral pathology can be extremely intellectually stimulating. But don't forget, a lot of dentists are constantly studying journal articles and doing continuing education. I think it can be as stimulating as you want it to be.

 

[KY2007]

You will get plenty of science/medicine in dental school. Dentistry is more than just drilling and filling. You have to manage people with complex health histories just like physicians. What do you consider more medicine, my allergist who has an M.D. but from what I can tell pretty much just asks a lot of questions and does paperwork, or the family physician who's real life is nothing like what you see on E.R. If you don't think dentistry is for you, well, thats one thing, but your "Observation" of a dentist does not qualify you to say that it is not mentally stimulating.

 

[gryffindor]

Dental school is challenging to get through and there is a lot of diagnosing and science and medicine throughout the 4 years.

Areas of dentistry with more of the "medicine" type of science you are looking for would be found in doing further training in Oral Surgery (4 to 6 years, very competitive), Oral Pathology (3 years, not so competitive), Oral Medicine (varies, not so competitive), TMJ specialist (varies, not so competitive). Dentistry is what you make of it - you can make it as challenging or simple as you want, you can work 60 hrs/week or 10 hrs/week. You can limit your practice however you want and refer out what you don't like.

There is also the option of doing a DDS/PhD - there is a lot of dental research being done out there and academic dentists are in great need with faculty positions available almost everywhere.

 

[Gutta Percha]

There are some dentists that find dentistry to be boring and non-science and those dentists are "molar mechanics" and "tooth technicians". They don't go to CE, they don't look for research on new products, they practice the same way they did when they graduated.

To say dentistry isn't intellectual is ignorant. Dentistry combines medicine, art and engineering. If you think dentistry would be boring, then being a general physician would have be more boring. All they deal with is the medical realm. As dentists we are dealing with the modulus of elasticity of materials, what meds are a patient on, or how their TMJ (the most complex joint in the body) functions.

You can make any profession as intellectual as you want. It would be up to you after you graduated if you are going to take the easy route and keep doing things the same. Or are you going to challenge yourself.

 

[KY2007]

Good post Gutta Percha.

 

[Deppa]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'm interested in dentistry for reasons that feel good to me and basically echo what was eluded to above - the fusion of medicine, art, and engineering. I know of course that D-school has rigorous science, and I personally think that the mouth has some of the most interesting pathology around. Maybe I will have to look more into the Oral Medicine specialty (its not a recognized specialty, thought, is it? Where would they practice and basically, what do they do?)

Deppa

 

[12YearOldKid]

The oral medicine guys at my school (that's where most of them work) are amazing. They seem to know everything. They regularly hold lectures for dental and medical residents. They consult for the dental clinics and hospital when nobody else can figure out what is going on. And they manage a lot of chronic headache/orofacial pain patients that nobody else has been able to help. I'm sure they do a lot more, but's that the part of their job that I have seen.

Pretty interesting job, but they rarely pick up a handpiece.

 

[ip]

I can talk from my personal experience only so take it with a grain of salt.

My undergrad was an honors in cell & molecular bio and I started grad school in molecular pathology so I came from a pretty heavy science background before going to dental school. I was tired of lab research and wanted a clinical career.

During dental school I thought many times of dropping out for the reasons you bring up. Yes, dental school covers many topics based on science but for my taste, way too much was based on how to carve in that cusp of carabelli or how to get the margin 0.5 mm subgingival or how to get 6 degree taper. I hated it but would not drop out because of the $$ I'd already paid. I figured that after I graduate I could use dentistry to go into a related field I found more rewarding.

I ended up in an Implant Dentistry post-doc program and I can tell you that the science & medicine is there. I've shared enough courses with other post-doc programs to be able to say that I think that it's really there for all grad programs. This is where you really get into it for the various fields. Dental school is the equivalent of the Cole Notes version of a book, the abstract to the paper, headline to the news story.

My advice is to choose the field that you like best, go to post-grad and you'll find what you're looking for.

 

[MsPurtell]

I think you should come to UConn. There's enough science and medicine here that it'll be coming out your ears. You'll understand the relevance better when you get to dental school. It's easy before you get here to get the idea that dentists merely do lots of fancy work with their hands. Of course, there's always the option of a combined DDS/PhD program. If you want science and medicine, it's easy to find in dentistry.

Good luck!

Margaret

A quick question to all you guys.

I'll be applying to D-school either this fall or maybe next year. I've shadowed dentists and really like the dental setting, the type of patient interaction available, the combination of medicine and art. But I feel like there just isn't enough "science" for me. Or put differently, not enough "medicine." I want to be really intellectually challenged by the work, and on a personal level I know that dentistry will be very rewarding. I just wonder if there is enough science/medicine in it for me.

What do you guys think? Do you find that dentistry is both personally rewarding _and_ intellectually stimulating? What modes of practice (or specialty) would you recommend? Academia is the obvious one, I'm looking for other ideas.

Deppa

 

[nmm120]

A quick question to all you guys.

I'll be applying to D-school either this fall or maybe next year. I've shadowed dentists and really like the dental setting, the type of patient interaction available, the combination of medicine and art. But I feel like there just isn't enough "science" for me. Or put differently, not enough "medicine." I want to be really intellectually challenged by the work, and on a personal level I know that dentistry will be very rewarding. I just wonder if there is enough science/medicine in it for me.

What do you guys think? Do you find that dentistry is both personally rewarding _and_ intellectually stimulating? What modes of practice (or specialty) would you recommend? Academia is the obvious one, I'm looking for other ideas.

Deppa

As a pre-dent who has clocked over 4,000 hours assisting (throughout college and high school) I can promise you that dentistry really is a subset of medicine. It is an invasive surgical art. Awareness as to the relationship between oral and systemic health is ever increasing and pushing the field of dentistry to a new frontier. Even in my relatively short time working at a general practice, a prosthodontics practice and a multi-specialty practice, I have noticed that patients are becoming ever more concerned with their well-being--beyond simple fillings--and downright obsessed with aesthetics. A typical day is anything but routine, especially for specialists who often encounter patients with various compromising health conditions or who are taking a whole slew of different medications that better not be conflicting with what you prescribe! The next patient may be missing part of their jaw due to cancer.

I too thirst for a career that is intellectually stimulating, as I have been heavily involved in cancer research in college. To that I must say that I can hardly keep up with the latest journal articles and I am only an assistant so far!!! Anyway, I have decided upon UConn because I feel they best match my attitude toward the union of medicine and dentistry (and for other reasons but I'm rambling already).

It sounds to me like you would be most happy in a specialty, as others have suggested. I think you are asking the right questions of yourself and as the doctors that I work for repeatedly say: there are many degrees of practicing dentistry, you need only find your niche!

 

[delicious]

I think you should come to UConn. There's enough science and medicine here that it'll be coming out your ears. You'll understand the relevance better when you get to dental school. It's easy before you get here to get the idea that dentists merely do lots of fancy work with their hands. Of course, there's always the option of a combined DDS/PhD program. If you want science and medicine, it's easy to find in dentistry.

Good luck!

Margaret

Margaret. Your signature is driving me a little up the wall. I don't think sieze is correctly spelt. It is seize. I mentioned this in a thread a while back, but you didn't change it. If this is intended as a joke, I'm sorry. But your posts are always very informative and serious. If you don't believe me, look up sieze in the dictionary.

 

[MsPurtell]

You are much too serious delicious!

Margaret. Your signature is driving me a little up the wall. I don't think sieze is correctly spelt. It is seize. I mentioned this in a thread a while back, but you didn't change it. If this is intended as a joke, I'm sorry. But your posts are always very informative and serious. If you don't believe me, look up sieze in the dictionary.

 

[ddstothecor]

Dentistry is a marriage of technique to complex diagnostic skills. Sure, there are plenty of days when you'll be thinking to yourself that you're simply a tooth scraper or a tooth burrower, but there are many more when you may be thinking, "wow, where do I begin, and how do I proceed?" It's pretty astounding, actually.

Further, all the above are great posts about the aspects of dentistry (besides dentistry itself) that require the analytical thinking that you seem to crave. I still have no idea where I'll end up, but two years into school, and I'm in way over my head!

 

[delicious]

You are much too serious delicious!

Oh my lord. I just got a taste of my own medicine!! MsPurtell - I bow down to you. You are now my mentor!

 

[gmcsierra]

Is it possible to do a DDS/PhD with the PhD in engineering?

 

[12YearOldKid]

Lots of materials science in dentistry. If that is where you want to go with your career, you will have no trouble finding a position and funding. Though the PhD seems like it might be a little overkill.

 

[burton117]

Margaret. Your signature is driving me a little up the wall. I don't think sieze is correctly spelt. It is seize. I mentioned this in a thread a while back, but you didn't change it. If this is intended as a joke, I'm sorry. But your posts are always very informative and serious. If you don't believe me, look up sieze in the dictionary.

This is awesome.. I was laughing for like five minutes.. because when I was reading this thread. The spelling was bugging me too!!