Should i become a dentist or a doctor?

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damusiel

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Hello,


I am currently interested in the health field. I have always wanted to become a psychiatrist, but I have doubts about becoming a doctor. many people say it is hard and a dentist has a better lifestyle. You can have a flexible life and earn about the same as a dentist so this career has been very appealing to me.
I have very good manual dexterity (i play piano and type very fast), I am compassionate and caring and want to help people.

Is dental school easier than medical school?
what are the pros and cons of both careers?
What should i be?

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Hello,


I am currently interested in the health field. I have always wanted to become a psychiatrist, but I have doubts about becoming a doctor. many people say it is hard and a dentist has a better lifestyle. You can have a flexible life and earn about the same as a dentist so this career has been very appealing to me.
I have very good manual dexterity (i play piano and type very fast), I am compassionate and caring and want to help people.

Is dental school easier than medical school?
what are the pros and cons of both careers?
What should i be?
Do you have any experience shadowing either profession? Nobody can make this decision for you, you should see which you enjoy more and go from there.
 
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Hello,


I am currently interested in the health field. I have always wanted to become a psychiatrist, but I have doubts about becoming a doctor. many people say it is hard and a dentist has a better lifestyle. You can have a flexible life and earn about the same as a dentist so this career has been very appealing to me.
I have very good manual dexterity (i play piano and type very fast), I am compassionate and caring and want to help people.

Is dental school easier than medical school?
what are the pros and cons of both careers?
What should i be?
You posted this question two weeks ago... why don't you refer to the answers there?
 
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Dental school sucks big time. Don't expect it to be easy or enjoyable.


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You asked a similar question here couple of weeks ago
Emergency Medicine or Psychiatry

The best thing for you to do is to volunteer in a hospital, shadow a doctor and a psychiatrist and see which one fits you better.
yea he deleted the dental vs med thread. I just remember he was saying he wanted to do OMFS since getting a good med specialty would be too hard
 
Yea. This person goes to high school. Most high school students want everything spoon fed to them. Stuff like this is more complicated. You could go the wrong way and waste couple of years of your life.
 
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You want a flexible lifestyle and want to earn as much as a dentist. You also type really fast...

Go to college for computer science.

You will thank me later
 
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Hello,


I am currently interested in the health field. I have always wanted to become a psychiatrist, but I have doubts about becoming a doctor. many people say it is hard and a dentist has a better lifestyle. You can have a flexible life and earn about the same as a dentist so this career has been very appealing to me.
I have very good manual dexterity (i play piano and type very fast), I am compassionate and caring and want to help people.

Is dental school easier than medical school?
what are the pros and cons of both careers?
What should i be?

Most helpful thing for you would definitely be shadowing both professions.

Both dental & medical programs are quite demanding.
Each profession has distinct pros & cons and you'll discover these as you shadow.
 
Is this the same dude who said he wants to do OMFS because he doesn't want to go through the rigors of medical residency? Boy oh boy.
 
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Is this the same dude who said he wants to do OMFS because he doesn't want to go through the rigors of medical residency? Boy oh boy.
ya he deleted that post though lmao.
 
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OP,

I thought more about your question overnight. Here's a valuable tip for you: do not rule out any profession based on training length or how hard the schooling is. The formal education will eventually come to an end, but your profession will be with you until you retire.

You want to pick something that you can see yourself doing happily, and that challenges you and lets you grow. This will bring you a lot of career satisfaction. It's up to you to decide which is a better fit: Medicine or Dentistry.
 
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Why is this thread being derailed with ridiculous typing speed questions? If you have nothing constructive to say, go find another thread you can actually contribute to.
 
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Dental school is generally more difficult than medical school and more expensive. I have many couple friends who are ( dentist / physician )and all of them agree. Getting into a top medical specialty is a little more difficult than getting into a top dental specialty, though. Life styles in dentistry are much much better ( way less hours, ,pick your own hours mostly,almost no on call, no life or death issues, very little legal issues, and pay is generally better with consideration of hours put in).

Their is no " easy way " to be successful regardless of your path.
 
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If at this point you don't categorize a dentist as a "doctor" I say you become a physician. Otherwise you may be unhappy.


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If you keep asking for the easiest route or one that's suitable for the average student, none of these professions are a good fit. Unless you change this personal attribute of looking for the easiest route, you're not going to even survive the cut to get into medical or dental school.

You're going to be in college soon. You should put on your big boy pants and start making decisions yourself. Your whole life, you've been spoonfed what to do and what to learn. Now you need take responsibility for your life and make your own decisions. Passivity and hoping someone tells you all the answers will not work out for you in the real world. Everyone here has gone through this stage but it's better to know this now than later.

No dental or medical school or even any employer for that matter is looking to accept someone who's after an easy route. Psychiatry is polar opposites from OMFS. At least read their wikipedia pages.

Dental school is generally easier to get into than medical school. That's obviously apparent from a quick google search. There are far more extraordinary students applying to med school than dental school. If you go to dental school and don't think you put in way more work than 90% of your classmates then OMFS is not for you.
 
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Easy. Dentist
Almost every super successful surgeon that I've talked with while shadowing told me that
 
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Easy. Dentist
Almost every super successful surgeon that I've talked with while shadowing told me that
I don't wanna be a buzzkill but some dtown dentists (and I think I saw a perio specialist) said go med haha. Grass is greener syndrome for sure
 
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I don't wanna be a buzzkill but some dtown dentists (and I think I saw a perio specialist) said go med haha. Grass is greener syndrome for sure

If it's the same perio person I think you are talking about, he actually said go dent unless you want to make a lot of money. He chose dent over med and has no regrets.

Most dtown dentists (I would say over 90 percent of them) say go dent unless the finances don't make sense.
 
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If it's the same perio person I think you are talking about, he actually said go dent unless you want to make a lot of money. He chose dent over med and has no regrets.

Most dtown dentists (I would say over 90 percent of them) say go dent unless the finances don't make sense.
yea was periopocket haha. Well the post I saw the dude had <100k debt since parents were spotting some too. But honestly things get real muddled when you count different specialties and private vs public practice in both fields.
 
yea was periopocket haha. Well the post I saw the dude had <100k debt since parents were spotting some too. But honestly things get real muddled when you count different specialties and private vs public practice in both fields.

Yeee periopocket is a swell dude. Yeah I actually don't like threads like that because some of the most vocal people on DT are going to be over-represented and some of them will state the negatives of the profession... but admit that they are ok with the income/lifestyle (aka what they call the golden handcuffs) because they know they can't do anything else with a DDS/DMD. The things they are vocal about are often why people go into dentistry - the surgical aspects, the business side of things, etc. It's really a profession for specific types of people. Some will enjoy it a lot and some may hate it. But it doesn't mean people who hate it will like medicine either... they just say to consider medicine because it has a similar earning potential, it's still in healthcare, and is kind of a similar field. They often use outliers to make a point that MDs have it better... just like how people can use outliers to show that DDSs are all killing it.

At the end of the day, it's a super personal choice. If you can manage the student debt well, I think dentistry is an excellent option. Yes you will need to be careful of the business aspect (from Canada so I can't comment much about the state of things in the States) and forces affecting dentistry but there are forces affecting every profession. With lots of determination, a head above your shoulders, smart and calculated decisions, dentistry can be navigated. It's not as much of a guarantee as in medicine but the rewards can be greater than MD. Pick your poison.
 
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Well the thing about shadowing is, especially dentistry that is so hand-skill based, it only exposes you the passenger seat perspective of a profession. You probably won't know whether you've made the right decision in terms of "liking the work" until you actually get licensed and start practicing, at which point it may be too late to turn back. But then again, things can always be worse. At least you have a lot of autonomy as a dentist with an opportunity to be your own boss and skills that are highly valued.

I'd argue it's not just the hand-skills. Yes, hand-skills are important but become second nature for an experienced dentist. A lot of other factors come into play once you're comfortable clinically - are you ok with running a business? Leading staff? Dealing with unsatisfied patients? Making sure reimbursements have been paid to the office? Ergonomics? Are you a perfectionist? Will you beat yourself over your clinical work? Can you work with people all day and have a smile on your face even if you are not feeling it on certain days?

You may like the hand-skills but if you don't like many of the other things attached to this field... you may be in for a rough ride.
 
Here is the rank list that every prehealth student should follow. If (1) does not work out, move down to (2) and so on.

(1) md phd (full ride)
(2) top tier med schools with amazing match lists
(3) dmd phd (full ride)
(4) mid tier med school where you have to prove yourself
(5) cheaper state dental school or ivy dental with higher specialty match rate
(6) Low tier MD and DO med schools where there is uphill battle ahead of you to get to good specialties
(7) private dental schools that are expensive yet train general dentists
(8) nurse practitioner and PA schools
(9) pharmacy schools and phd
(10) Caribbean and foreign medical schools where you go to boons and do fam med if you are lucky
(11) vet schools and physical therapy
(12) foot doc
(13) chiropractor school




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This just oozes arrogance on your part and is honestly a little embarrassing. There are plenty of people here that could have gone to med school if they wanted to. People have many different priorities and reasonings for choosing one profession over another.
 
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This just oozes arrogance on your part and is honestly a little embarrassing. There are plenty of people here that could have gone to med school if they wanted to. People have many different priorities and reasonings for choosing one profession over another.

Nope. I am not arrogant. I am rather humble and do not try to inflate dental schools to be equal to allopathic med schools in terms of admission difficulty.

Ivy dents and some toptier state dental schools are tougher than low tier MD or Established DO schools(pcom, msu). But they are never tougher than midtier med schools or above. 25 on DAT is roughly equivalent to 31 on old MCAT.

A lot of prehealth students who are fresh out of high schools do not know what they wanna do. some are exceptional and have unique visions but most dont. They shadow and volunteer for like 200 hours and discover what they wanna do for the rest of their lives? I dont think so. If they really do, then they did not think hard enough.




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Nope. I am not arrogant. I am rather humble and do not try to inflate dental schools to be equal to allopathic med schools in terms of admission difficulty.

Ivy dents and some toptier state dental schools are tougher than low tier MD or Established DO schools(pcom, msu). But they are never tougher than midtier med schools or above. 25 on DAT is roughly equivalent to 31 on old MCAT.

A lot of prehealth students who are fresh out of high schools do not know what they wanna do. some are exceptional and have unique visions but most dont. They shadow and volunteer for like 200 hours and discover what they wanna do for the rest of their lives? I dont think so. If they really do, then they did not think hard enough.




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You're reasoning is 100% flawed in thinking the only reason someone would choose a profession is for prestige or admission difficulty. I could have applied to med school if I wanted. I didn't. I got into an Ivy League dental school and could have gone if I wanted. I didn't.

Also, you list phd programs above everything else. Ever think that maybe some people aren't that interested in research and don't want to get a phd? Everyone has different priorities, so it's ludicrous to think everyone should have the same ones as you.
 
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Nope. I am not arrogant. I am rather humble and do not try to inflate dental schools to be equal to allopathic med schools in terms of admission difficulty.

Ivy dents and some toptier state dental schools are tougher than low tier MD or Established DO schools(pcom, msu). But they are never tougher than midtier med schools or above. 25 on DAT is roughly equivalent to 31 on old MCAT.

A lot of prehealth students who are fresh out of high schools do not know what they wanna do. some are exceptional and have unique visions but most dont. They shadow and volunteer for like 200 hours and discover what they wanna do for the rest of their lives? I dont think so. If they really do, then they did not think hard enough.




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Eh, as a Canadian, I'm not sure if I can agree with your statements. North of the border, a 3.95/4.00 GPA is about the average for undergrads to get into the University of Toronto (it's 3.93 including Masters students who get an academic bonus to their score). A 91% for the other dental school in Ontario plus great ECs/personal statements is needed. These GPA requirements are equal or actually higher than that of the MD counterparts in Ontario, Canada. The ECs are viewed more rigourously for MD schools in Ontario but both types of schools are difficult to receive admission for. I know of quite a few individuals who got into MD schools but did not get into DDS schools in Ontario. In the US, I can appreciate the discrepancy of difficulty to get into an MD school vs DDS.

For me, the pecking order for MD schools is by reputation but the pecking order for DDS/DMD schools is by how cheap/affordable the tuition is. The reputation is not that important for DDS/DMD while it will play a pretty decent role for MD schools.

I'm also a bit confused on why difficulty of getting into a school is that important. I'm also unsure if the MD/PhD route is ideal - the best advice I have been given is to do a Masters/Doctorate during residency so you are paid a resident's salary (you're also doing something that is ideal for your specialty of interest) AND you may be able to shorten the process of attaining your MSc/PhD. Can't comment on DDS/PhD but I respect why you went into it.

Overall I'm super confused on your rank list for healthcare professions. What is your rationale for each choice? What if you don't like academia? What if you like vet over pharm? I'm not asking for a clarification but overall I feel like this may be your own rank list but I wouldn't take it for gospel.

GL
 
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You're reasoning is 100% flawed in thinking the only reason someone would choose a profession is for prestige or admission difficulty. I could have applied to med school if I wanted. I didn't. I got into an Ivy League dental school and could have gone if I wanted. I didn't.

Also, you list phd programs above everything else. Ever think that maybe some people aren't that interested in research and don't want to get a phd? Everyone has different priorities, so it's ludicrous to think everyone should have the same ones as you.


Fine. You make valid points


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Nope. I am not arrogant. I am rather humble and do not try to inflate dental schools to be equal to allopathic med schools in terms of admission difficulty.

Ivy dents and some toptier state dental schools are tougher than low tier MD or Established DO schools(pcom, msu). But they are never tougher than midtier med schools or above. 25 on DAT is roughly equivalent to 31 on old MCAT.

A lot of prehealth students who are fresh out of high schools do not know what they wanna do. some are exceptional and have unique visions but most dont. They shadow and volunteer for like 200 hours and discover what they wanna do for the rest of their lives? I dont think so. If they really do, then they did not think hard enough.




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The only thing is that applicants to Ivy League dental schools could have easily made it into med schools (top med schools) if they wants to. It is not really a matter of choice and not a matter that they're choosing dentistry as a second option.
Also you can never shadow a profession enough to know you wanna do that. Sometimes in life you just gotta act based on what you see. Our generation struggles anyway enough with overthinking something rather than taking action.
 
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The only thing that applicants to Ivy League dental schools could have easily made it into med schools (top med schools) if they wants to. Do it is really a matter of choice and not a matter that they're choosing dentistry as a second option.
Also you can never shadow a profession enough to know you wanna do that. Sometimes in life you just gotta act based on what you see. Our generation struggles anyway enough with overthinking something rather than taking action.

"Analysis is paralysis"
 
Here is the rank list that every prehealth student should follow. If (1) does not work out, move down to (2) and so on.

(1) md phd (full ride programs only)
(2) top tier med schools with amazing match lists
(3) dmd/dds phd (full ride programs only)
(4) mid tier med school where you have to prove yourself
(5) cheaper state dental school or ivy dental with higher specialty match rate
(6) Low tier MD and established DO med schools where there is uphill battle ahead of you to get to good specialties
(7) private dental schools that are expensive yet train general dentists
(8) nurse practitioner and PA schools
(9) pharmacy schools and phd
(10) Caribbean and foreign medical schools where you go to **** places and do fam med if you are lucky
(11) vet schools and physical therapy
(12) foot doc
(13) chiropractor school




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I am absolutely speechless.
 
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The only thing is that applicants to Ivy League dental schools could have easily made it into med schools (top med schools) if they wants to. .

Nope. I have to disagree with this. You need to take both dat and mcat and know what kind of applications people have when they get into top tier med schools.


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Last I checked a dentist was a doctor.

OP, like others have said, go shadow. Only through shadowing, you will know which field is the one for you.

If for some reason you still cannot decide after shadowing then take the MCAT. The score will help make that decision for you, as well.
 
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Nope. I have to disagree with this. You need to take both dat and mcat and know what kind of applications people have when they get into top tier med schools.


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I didn't meant that a top student manages to get a good score and that automatically transcribes into a good score for the other test. If a vey smart and hard working student is able to do very well on the dat and everything else I'm. Extremely sure he can work hard enough to become a competitive applicant for med school. I'm just applying this cycle but I am fairly competitive for dental school I bepiece. If I wanted to go med route I would have studied for the MCAT, done well and have been a competitive applicant for med shcool
 
ey gj 18street not being stubborn and acknowledging good points. A silly 1st post but you redeemed yourself

Lol i am just gonna stay humble and keep my tail low and focus on studies. Back to study cubicles.




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I'm also a bit confused on why difficulty of getting into a school is that important. I'm also unsure if the MD/PhD route is ideal - the best advice I have been given is to do a Masters/Doctorate during residency so you are paid a resident's salary (you're also doing something that is ideal for your specialty of interest) AND you may be able to shorten the process of attaining your MSc/PhD. Can't comment on DDS/PhD but I respect why you went into it.

Overall I'm super confused on your rank list for healthcare professions. What is your rationale for each choice? What if you don't like academia? What if you like vet over pharm? I'm not asking for a clarification but overall I feel like this may be your own rank list but I wouldn't take it for gospel.

GL
Yea it would be like if someone valued lifestyle they would be like
1) General dent/specialties (<40 hr weeks)
2) Medicine with ROAD specialty for 40 hr weeks
3) Family medicine (45-50 hr + paperwork)
4) Surgeon in medical specialty

His was more like a "how hard to get into x profession" kind of thing for the most part.
 
Lol i am just gonna stay humble and keep my tail low and focus on studies. Back to study cubicles.




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good decision. I do enjoy your posts though since they often go against the grain. An echo chamber without discussion in a forum is no good both from an educational point of view and also from a raw entertainment point of view.
 
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As a recent dental graduate, C/O 2015 I am going to tell you to go medical if you can get into an instate MD program. Dental school whether it is instate or private is astronomically expensive. Graduates in my area, a major SE metro, were only offered around 120-130k from regional chains and places like Aspen. If you went to work as an associate in private practice you would get 90-100k. When you have 250k-300k of debt that is a massive chunk to pay off and to save towards a practice, which are making less and less money. I know a few threads like Tanman and Coldfront have posted things about making a lot of money, but those are the exception not the rule. With how high overhead is, paying your own portion of FICA and Medicare, less reimbursement, paying for private insurance, and chains beginning to dominate the market getting a private practice going without partners is becoming extremely difficult in desirable areas.

As for the ranking, I only have a few words which have not been echoed by others.

If you can get into a good instate pharmacy school with minimal debt, it is still a good deal. 120k for half the price of dental school is amazing. My misses is making 140k as pharmacy manager and has cut her debt in half.

NPs, PAs, and CRNAs are quickly flooding the market. If you check BLS you will see that they will over take pharmacy saturation shortly, and trust me dental saturation is coming. Give it about 5-10 years.

On a side note do not believe the ADA about anything. They are selling out our profession to chains. The numbers they use are garbage. Trust the BLS it is the best source for non biased source about median income, which for dentist still hovers around 150k pretax. The golden age of dental income 2005-2009 has passed, and I believe were heading to a late 70s/early 80s era of dental saturation.

This reply is not meant to be negative, but I wanted to give some incite from perhaps people on the other side of the dental coin who are not as successful.
 
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As a recent dental graduate, C/O 2015 I am going to tell you to go medical if you can get into an instate MD program. Dental school whether it is state or private is astronomically expensive. Graduates in my area, a major SE metro, were only offered around 120-130k from regional chains and places like Aspen. If you went to work as an associate in private practice you would get 90-100k. When you have 250k-300k of debt that is a massive chunk to pay off and to save towards a practice, which are making less and less money. I know a few threads like Tanman and Coldfront have posted things about making a lot of money, but those are the exception not the rule. With how high overhead is, paying your own portion of FICA and Medicare, less reimbursement, paying for private insurance, and chains beginning to dominate the market getting a private practice going without partners is becoming extremely difficult in desirable areas.

As for the ranking, I only have a few words which have not been echoed by others.

If you can get into a good state school in pharmacy with minimal debt, it is still a good deal. 120k for half the price of dental school is amazing. My misses is making 140k as pharmacy manager and has cut her debt in half.

NPs, PAs, and CRNAs are quickly flooding the market. If you check BLS you will see that they will over take pharmacy saturation shortly, and trust me dental saturation is coming. Give it about 5-10 years.

On a side note do not believe the ADA about anything. They are selling out our profession to chains. The numbers they use are garbage. Trust the BLS it is the best source for non biased source about median income, which for dentist still hovers around 150k pretax. The golden age of dental income 2005-2009 has passed, and I believe were heading to a late 70s/early 80s era of dental saturation.

This reply is not meant to be negative, but I wanted to give some incite from perhaps people on the other side of the dental coin who are not as successful.
that's odd since most people said ADA is underestimating income not overestimating. @Cold Front @TanMan do you guys know any peers or classmates doing this poorly?
 
that's odd since most people said ADA is underestimating income not overestimating. @Cold Front @TanMan do you guys know any peers or classmates doing this poorly?

People claiming that are pre-dents who "heard" that dentists are making a bank. I don't see how ADA is underestimating incomes - they report over 500k as income for OMFS.
 
People claiming that are pre-dents who "heard" that dentists are making a bank. I don't see how ADA is underestimating incomes - they report over 500k as income for OMFS.
That seems like a lot even for OMFS. I am sure some might make that if they have a good practice and maybe are working with some succeful doctor groups or hospital (with other oral surgeons) and do a lot of plastic surgery
 
People claiming that are pre-dents who "heard" that dentists are making a bank. I don't see how ADA is underestimating incomes - they report over 500k as income for OMFS.
I agree but it's what the dentists said to me not predents
 
That seems like a lot even for OMFS. I am sure some might make that if they have a good practice and maybe are working with some succeful doctor groups or hospital (with other oral surgeons) and do a lot of plastic surgery
naw it's omfs in T&T that rake in the cash. The omfs i spoke to said they do even better than plastics if they do mostly t&t but the income is driven down because people like doing the interesting stuff. It's not plastic surgery or big cases that bring in the dough.

T&T meaning tooth and titanium. Can I Make $350K Per Annum As An Oral Surgeon? just look at some of the commenters here with some being omfs, some being endos/generals.
 
Keep this thread alive. I'm in the same boat as OP though leaning more for dentistry.
 
that's odd since most people said ADA is underestimating income not overestimating. @Cold Front @TanMan do you guys know any peers or classmates doing this poorly?

I really cannot prove that they are inflated, however from my experience and the experience of others around me, unless you are willing to go 2 hours outside of a major metro/desirable area then the numbers are inflated. I am not saying they are impossible, but that they are unlikely.

My wife and I have a pretty good pulse on the pharmacy and dental economy, and honestly if we could move I would to a secure a high income practice. She worried about finding full time work/as high paying work if we move though.

As for for what an oral surgeon earns, I have only handful of experiences to really guess from. I would wager they are making about 300K+ I do not believe they are making half a million dollars unless they have a packed schedule and are working at a blistering pace.

Again all my knowledge in anecdotal to my situation and what I can see and this is the internet so take everything with a grain of salt.
 
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