Specializing vs general dentist

[971565]

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Hello, I was deeply looking into specializing after dental school and i was wondering if people can give their take on this. I feel as a specialist whether its pediatrics or oral surgery, periodontics, that you will inevitably see more complex cases and also a higher return on your investment. It just seems on these forums people say that you shouldn't look to specialize when entering dental school.

I just thought we could have a discussion of specializing vs general dentistry and if other pre-dents are thinking about this. Just share your thoughts below 🙂 Thank you

 

[ucd2018]

Well, many specialty programs charge tuition so if you get lucky and only accrue 300K or so in debt in dental school you can add another 100-150K on top of that plus interest at about 7% interest accruing throughout. You can do well as a specialist or general dentist. I think it can either be a good investment or a poor one, it depends on so many factors.

 

[971565]

Yea, I was taking that into consideration but you would also make more as a specialist. I also read that specialty programs are different; some pay you like oral surgery. But i saw how some ortho programs cost like 350k - that's substantial but at the same time some ortho programs pay you.