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Hi guys, I stumbled on this website last night and ended up spending a couple hours reading your messages here. I see myself in a lot of your posts and can?t help but share my story. Ever since I ?got my tonsils out? in elementary school I wanted to be a doctor. As I neared the end of my college days though, I started looking at dentistry. The actual practice of dentistry didn?t excite me that much, but I managed to convince myself that the relaxed hours, good pay, and relatively short period of schooling would easily make up for any lack of interest in the work.
I ended up going to dental school and graduated at the age of 24 way back in 1991. I got out of school and started working about 60 hrs/wk as an associate at two different offices. I made ~$50,000 that yr. The next yr. I bought an older practice in an area that had become a growing suburb, worked about the same amount of hours and made close to $100,000. Awesome money for a 26 yr. old kid and I was living it up. The next year I nearly doubled that figure and the next yr nearly doubled that! I was pulling in just over $300,000/yr. (remember this was a decade ago) and was busy congratulating myself on my choice of careers while college friends who went to med school were still in residency. In 1996 my wife of three yrs. and my new baby were killed in a car accident. I was seriously depressed and really started looking at my life and what I had accomplished. Other than my little family -which was now gone - everything in my life had been shallow and superficial. Cars, clothes, and boats had been the extent of my ambition. Work no longer had any meaning for me as I no longer had anyone with whom I could share the rewards of that work. It had all been about money for me.
I saw how empty my professional life had been and began to realize that my longing for medicine had never subsided; it was just pushed to the back of my mind. Looking back now and being honest with myself I have to admit that a part of the reason I never applied to med school in the first place was that I was just scared of being rejected by medical school. So I went back to med school in ?96 and lost myself in the wonder of it all. I am now in the fourth year of a general surgery residency and couldn?t be happier. I work like a dog (80 hr workweek limit? Hahaha) and make the money of a highschool teacher, yet I couldn?t be happier. If I took all the things that I thought would make a good career when I was 19 and put them all together, the opposite of that would be surgery. It will still be many years before I reach the level of pay that I had as a 28 yr old dentist, but I don?t care. I feel like my work has meaning now. There is no way to describe the rush you get from saving a life. You never get tired of the hugs, cards, flowers, and cookies you get from patients who wouldn?t even be alive if it hadn?t been for you.
Anyhow, my point is that if you feel the calling for medicine, don?t fool yourself into thinking money and leisure time will make up for that. The fields are similar in that both dentists and MDs are called doctor; the comparison ends there. Don?t be afraid to fail; it may take 2, 3, 4 times to get in. You may have to settle for DO or Caribbean schools. Whatever sacrifices you have to make it will be worth it.
I?m not looking to bash dentistry; it is a great profession and fills a very important need, but I had a desire for something more ? well? just different really -and I?m pretty sure there are some of you out there who are going through the very same thought processes I did at 19. Dentistry is fantastic if you are really into it, but be honest with yourself about what it is and is not.
1. People will not value what you do. In my residency I am often referred to as Dr. Magic Hands, (corny and overplayed, I know) but the irony is that I was only a mediocre dentist. We surgeons get credit for having fantastic hand skills and possessing that special touch, but the truth is that most surgeons couldn?t cut a class 2 prep to save their lives. People rave about my work as a surgeon, but nobody ever got out of my dental chair and said, ?wow, doc it must take a lot of skill to work with that kind of precision.? As far as they are concerned you just plopped a bunch of metal in their mouth and grossly overcharged for it to boot. Nothing in the realm of general surgery really comes close to the level of precision required by the dentist, yet we get all the glory.
2. You will be isolated. People do not understand dentistry and they never will. The only people who have even a remote idea of the complexity of your job is your assistant - and she thinks she could do it all better than you anyway if it weren?t for those pesky schooling requirements - so you don?t even want to talk shop with her. Even physicians are clueless about dentistry. I wish you all could see the looks I used to get from other MDs when I would try to make referrals for perio, TMD evaluation, or ortho. If MDs don?t treat it, it?s not a real disease.
3. About a quarter of your patients (remember? the people you are so magnanimously trying to help) will intensely hate your guts and another half will fear you like the plague. People will come into a dental office and whine about every little pinch or hint of pressure ? did you confuse me with your aromatherapist?!!! I?m cutting up your frickin? mouth here!!! The same phobic dental patients let the ?real docs? poke, slice, prod and generally abuse them like it was a ride at an amusement park.
Generally if I have a mild screw up as a surgeon, ?that?s OK doc, I know you did your best.? (I?m glossing over those few sue-happy #@#s who have a lawyer on retainer before they?ve even been admitted to the hospital. )The dentist is held responsible for every thing that goes wrong in the patient?s mouth whether he touched it or not. You can?t imagine how many patients I had who honestly believed ?I never had any problems until my last dentist screwed up ALL my teeth.? (Records probably showed something like RCT on #10 and an MOD on #18; yep? I can see how that would make you a candidate for a full denture. )
4. Dentistry is not glamorous. You will not be saving anybody?s life. People aren?t impressed with all the time you spent in dental school, even though if I had to compare (hard to do because I was so much younger in dental school) I would probably say dental school was more difficult to get through. You will not be the hero; and you will rarely come home thinking ?wow, I just changed somebody?s life today.? I know this sounds like shallow, weak-minded ego stroking, but you have no idea how great it feels to know that people care about and are impressed by what you do.
Again, these things don?t apply to everyone. Most people enter dentistry understanding all this and have personalities compatible with that kind of work environment. They love what they do, and in fact, would probably deny that that is the way things are because they are so comfortable with it. Most dentists are incredibly happy people. But for those of you who think in your hearts you want to do medicine but are lured by the promise of money, leisure, and quick gratification, you would do well to reevaluate your priorities.
Sorry if this sounded like a rant; it wasn?t meant to be. I am sincerely sorry if I offended anyone. Medicine has its faults to be sure, and there are many of my medical colleagues who have the same financial approach to medicine that I had for dentistry. I just wish someone would have been this blunt with me 20 yrs. ago and saved me some time. (not that I would have listened ) But I hope this may have helped some of you who are trying to decide which way to go. Eric
I ended up going to dental school and graduated at the age of 24 way back in 1991. I got out of school and started working about 60 hrs/wk as an associate at two different offices. I made ~$50,000 that yr. The next yr. I bought an older practice in an area that had become a growing suburb, worked about the same amount of hours and made close to $100,000. Awesome money for a 26 yr. old kid and I was living it up. The next year I nearly doubled that figure and the next yr nearly doubled that! I was pulling in just over $300,000/yr. (remember this was a decade ago) and was busy congratulating myself on my choice of careers while college friends who went to med school were still in residency. In 1996 my wife of three yrs. and my new baby were killed in a car accident. I was seriously depressed and really started looking at my life and what I had accomplished. Other than my little family -which was now gone - everything in my life had been shallow and superficial. Cars, clothes, and boats had been the extent of my ambition. Work no longer had any meaning for me as I no longer had anyone with whom I could share the rewards of that work. It had all been about money for me.
I saw how empty my professional life had been and began to realize that my longing for medicine had never subsided; it was just pushed to the back of my mind. Looking back now and being honest with myself I have to admit that a part of the reason I never applied to med school in the first place was that I was just scared of being rejected by medical school. So I went back to med school in ?96 and lost myself in the wonder of it all. I am now in the fourth year of a general surgery residency and couldn?t be happier. I work like a dog (80 hr workweek limit? Hahaha) and make the money of a highschool teacher, yet I couldn?t be happier. If I took all the things that I thought would make a good career when I was 19 and put them all together, the opposite of that would be surgery. It will still be many years before I reach the level of pay that I had as a 28 yr old dentist, but I don?t care. I feel like my work has meaning now. There is no way to describe the rush you get from saving a life. You never get tired of the hugs, cards, flowers, and cookies you get from patients who wouldn?t even be alive if it hadn?t been for you.
Anyhow, my point is that if you feel the calling for medicine, don?t fool yourself into thinking money and leisure time will make up for that. The fields are similar in that both dentists and MDs are called doctor; the comparison ends there. Don?t be afraid to fail; it may take 2, 3, 4 times to get in. You may have to settle for DO or Caribbean schools. Whatever sacrifices you have to make it will be worth it.
I?m not looking to bash dentistry; it is a great profession and fills a very important need, but I had a desire for something more ? well? just different really -and I?m pretty sure there are some of you out there who are going through the very same thought processes I did at 19. Dentistry is fantastic if you are really into it, but be honest with yourself about what it is and is not.
1. People will not value what you do. In my residency I am often referred to as Dr. Magic Hands, (corny and overplayed, I know) but the irony is that I was only a mediocre dentist. We surgeons get credit for having fantastic hand skills and possessing that special touch, but the truth is that most surgeons couldn?t cut a class 2 prep to save their lives. People rave about my work as a surgeon, but nobody ever got out of my dental chair and said, ?wow, doc it must take a lot of skill to work with that kind of precision.? As far as they are concerned you just plopped a bunch of metal in their mouth and grossly overcharged for it to boot. Nothing in the realm of general surgery really comes close to the level of precision required by the dentist, yet we get all the glory.
2. You will be isolated. People do not understand dentistry and they never will. The only people who have even a remote idea of the complexity of your job is your assistant - and she thinks she could do it all better than you anyway if it weren?t for those pesky schooling requirements - so you don?t even want to talk shop with her. Even physicians are clueless about dentistry. I wish you all could see the looks I used to get from other MDs when I would try to make referrals for perio, TMD evaluation, or ortho. If MDs don?t treat it, it?s not a real disease.
3. About a quarter of your patients (remember? the people you are so magnanimously trying to help) will intensely hate your guts and another half will fear you like the plague. People will come into a dental office and whine about every little pinch or hint of pressure ? did you confuse me with your aromatherapist?!!! I?m cutting up your frickin? mouth here!!! The same phobic dental patients let the ?real docs? poke, slice, prod and generally abuse them like it was a ride at an amusement park.
Generally if I have a mild screw up as a surgeon, ?that?s OK doc, I know you did your best.? (I?m glossing over those few sue-happy #@#s who have a lawyer on retainer before they?ve even been admitted to the hospital. )The dentist is held responsible for every thing that goes wrong in the patient?s mouth whether he touched it or not. You can?t imagine how many patients I had who honestly believed ?I never had any problems until my last dentist screwed up ALL my teeth.? (Records probably showed something like RCT on #10 and an MOD on #18; yep? I can see how that would make you a candidate for a full denture. )
4. Dentistry is not glamorous. You will not be saving anybody?s life. People aren?t impressed with all the time you spent in dental school, even though if I had to compare (hard to do because I was so much younger in dental school) I would probably say dental school was more difficult to get through. You will not be the hero; and you will rarely come home thinking ?wow, I just changed somebody?s life today.? I know this sounds like shallow, weak-minded ego stroking, but you have no idea how great it feels to know that people care about and are impressed by what you do.
Again, these things don?t apply to everyone. Most people enter dentistry understanding all this and have personalities compatible with that kind of work environment. They love what they do, and in fact, would probably deny that that is the way things are because they are so comfortable with it. Most dentists are incredibly happy people. But for those of you who think in your hearts you want to do medicine but are lured by the promise of money, leisure, and quick gratification, you would do well to reevaluate your priorities.
Sorry if this sounded like a rant; it wasn?t meant to be. I am sincerely sorry if I offended anyone. Medicine has its faults to be sure, and there are many of my medical colleagues who have the same financial approach to medicine that I had for dentistry. I just wish someone would have been this blunt with me 20 yrs. ago and saved me some time. (not that I would have listened ) But I hope this may have helped some of you who are trying to decide which way to go. Eric