Relationships/Dating in Dental School

[DK2]

Too many current dental school students and practicing dentists tell me that relationships (especially LDRs) and even marriages don't survive dental school.
At this point I'm starting to think it's not so much a matter of "if", but more a matter of "when".

I want to know what your all's honest plans/mindsets are going into dental school with a relationship (if applicable).
And if you are a current dental student, what were your experiences (how long did the relationship survive, how did it get to that point, etc).

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[2thDoc11]

Depends on how strong your relationship is, expectations, where you're at in it, how much your each willing to sacrifice.. every relationship is different. There are people who break up at the first sign of struggle and others who have a family/kids and make it work..

 

[deleted903013]

My class has had many people enter with relationships that have ended with engagements. If i had to guess, I'd say roughly half of my class is either engaged, married, or in a serious relationship. Relationships absolutely can survive dental school.

 

[1942]

dental school is incredibly stressful/time consuming which ends up straining many relationships. You just won’t have the same amount of time to devote to your partner and some people cannot accept that. You also spend most of your time with your classmates and suffer together so it’s perfectly reasonable that you will gain feelings for someone else. Dental school also has the potential to be a very dynamic experience and you will likely grow/change and realize what you actually want in life/ in a long term partner. Perhaps your partner no longer meets those expectations or fits into your plans for whatever reason. You also have to remember your partner is 50% of the equation and all of this is true for them too.

With that being said it’s entirely up to you and your partner to make it work. But you both have to be mature, loyal, know how to communicate, not be needy/codependent, not be insecure etc.

I was in a long term relationship and went to the same undergrad as my partner. Even lived together. Things did not work out and it was a very bad breakup.

however we got back together a year later and now attend dental schools on opposite coasts. Things are great because we matured from our previous experience. My partner is no longer insecure and I no longer cheat all the time.

 

[NDPitch]

Moved to dental school engaged. Got married after first year. Had our first baby during residency. In my third year of private practice and now have 2 kids.

But I was 27 going into dental school. I found that the “younger” relationships often didn’t make it through dental school.

 

[DK2]

Depends on each of you. I've been in a LDR for 6+ years and I'm going to be finishing up my 3rd year soon. It's been hard but we always look at the big picture and we know that things aren't always going to be like this, that they'll get better we also recently got engaged so that's that 🥳 some hope for ya lol

This brings me some hope. Thank you
Congratulations on the engagement!

 

[DK2]

dental school is incredibly stressful/time consuming which ends up straining many relationships. You just won’t have the same amount of time to devote to your partner and some people cannot accept that. You also spend most of your time with your classmates and suffer together so it’s perfectly reasonable that you will gain feelings for someone else. Dental school also has the potential to be a very dynamic experience and you will likely grow/change and realize what you actually want in life/ in a long term partner. Perhaps your partner no longer meets those expectations or fits into your plans for whatever reason. You also have to remember your partner is 50% of the equation and all of this is true for them too.

With that being said it’s entirely up to you and your partner to make it work. But you both have to be mature, loyal, know how to communicate, not be needy/codependent, not be insecure etc.

I was in a long term relationship and went to the same undergrad as my partner. Even lived together. Things did not work out and it was a very bad breakup.

however we got back together a year later and now attend dental schools on opposite coasts. Things are great because we matured from our previous experience. My partner is no longer insecure and I no longer cheat all the time.

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences and insight! Just getting accepted to dental school is making me reevaluate a lot of things in the relationship, and I can certainly see that it will continue into dental school.

I do think for my situation, I'm pretty independent and my SO is very dependent and insecure at times so that will be the biggest hurdle.

It is very impressive you all grown as people and are making an incredibly long-distance relationship work!

 

[DK2]

Moved to dental school engaged. Got married after first year. Had our first baby during residency. In my third year of private practice and now have 2 kids.

But I was 27 going into dental school. I found that the “younger” relationships often didn’t make it through dental school.

Well I suppose I may fall into the "younger" relationships so we'll see how that turns out.

Thank you for your input!

 

[dmahbou]

dental school is incredibly stressful/time consuming which ends up straining many relationships. You just won’t have the same amount of time to devote to your partner and some people cannot accept that. You also spend most of your time with your classmates and suffer together so it’s perfectly reasonable that you will gain feelings for someone else. Dental school also has the potential to be a very dynamic experience and you will likely grow/change and realize what you actually want in life/ in a long term partner. Perhaps your partner no longer meets those expectations or fits into your plans for whatever reason. You also have to remember your partner is 50% of the equation and all of this is true for them too.

With that being said it’s entirely up to you and your partner to make it work. But you both have to be mature, loyal, know how to communicate, not be needy/codependent, not be insecure etc.

I was in a long term relationship and went to the same undergrad as my partner. Even lived together. Things did not work out and it was a very bad breakup.

however we got back together a year later and now attend dental schools on opposite coasts. Things are great because we matured from our previous experience. My partner is no longer insecure and I no longer cheat all the time.

That ending though....