The Dental Profession

[SanDiegoSOD]

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Hi everyone, I'm new here to the dental forum. I'm currently a pre-medical student, but have found myself increasingly interested in dentistry and dental specialties. I have heard far too often as of late that physicians are increasingly unhappy with their jobs, and that's just not something that I hear about dentists. Would any dentists or dental students care to share their feelings on their profession? Any advice on useful ways to look into the profession? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jone]

the obvious advice is to go shadow a dentist.

but i would further that and say, make it a point to shadow at a nice suburban practice, and then a public clinic/medicare practice. you will find that different types of practices can be worlds apart.

Hi everyone, I'm new here to the dental forum. I'm currently a pre-medical student, but have found myself increasingly interested in dentistry and dental specialties. I have heard far too often as of late that physicians are increasingly unhappy with their jobs, and that's just not something that I hear about dentists. Would any dentists or dental students care to share their feelings on their profession? Any advice on useful ways to look into the profession? Thanks in advance.

 

[aphistis]

Agree with the first response--if you want to learn about dentistry, go spend some face time learning what it's all about. Plenty of dentists will be more than happy to talk to you and let you spend some time in the office.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Agree with the first response--if you want to learn about dentistry, go spend some face time learning what it's all about. Plenty of dentists will be more than happy to talk to you and let you spend some time in the office.

Thanks for the advice - I actually plan on doing so. I was just curious if others wanted to give some insight into the profession, as my shadowing experience will only show me one practicing dentist's opinion of the profession. I know it can be a pain in the rear to write a real response to my first question, so I understand if no one chooses to do so.

 

[J2AZ]

To answer your question I will say that the future of dentistry is very bight! Dental school is a tough. Dont think that going to dental school will be easier than medical school. Many schools train the dentists and MDs side by side for the first two years. As a profession dentistry is great as it has avoided the whole health care insurance mess. It is a very diverse career that will allow you to work as a researcher, clinician, surgeon, etc. You can be your own boss, work as an associate, or work for the government. Every day is a bit different and you determine how hard you want to work based on your desired income. Most dentists work 36 hours a week and make a good living. It is physically demanding given that you will be doing procedures throughout the day that can require you to contort your body. It is also an expensive business to get into. You will probably have atleast 100k in loans and 300-500k in start up costs if you choose to buy a practice. It is a great career but you must understand that it is totally different than medicine. As the others have suggested, go shadow and ask tons of questions. However, dont be suprised if you finding shadowing to be boring. You might want to ask if you can go on a day the dentist has some interesting cases.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Thanks! I appreciate the response.

 

[gumgardener2009]

Thanks! I appreciate the response.

A recent WSJ article sums up the difference b/t dentistry and medicine (though some dental school administrations are doing their damnedest to blur the difference!). Two brothers-in-law; one is a physician working 50+ hours a week has seen no income growth in years; one is a dentist who works 35 hours a week and earns 3x's what the brother-in-law does.
Like you, when I was looking at a career, I noticed how unhappy physicians in general are with their profession. Every dentist I interviewed said that he/she was happy with his/her career choice. Dentistry is quickly changing, but in general, dentists are entrepreneurs in charge of their own business. You don't have to do a residency unless you choose to. You can set up your practice any which way you please and you're not beholden to the insurance trap.

 

[aphistis]

and you're not beholden to the insurance trap.

...Yet.

The WSJ article by NO means is representative of the entire fields of medicine & dentistry, and there's no guarantee at all that we won't find ourselves subject to managed or socialized care during our careers.

Am I trying to be a wet blanket? No, and I'm as hopeful as anybody that dentistry continues skyrocketing as a profession, but as gets repeated a dozen times a day here, make sure it's the profession that excites you and not just the money.

 

[KY2007]

To answer your question I will say that the future of dentistry is very bight! Dental school is a tough. Dont think that going to dental school will be easier than medical school. Many schools train the dentists and MDs side by side for the first two years. As a profession dentistry is great as it has avoided the whole health care insurance mess. It is a very diverse career that will allow you to work as a researcher, clinician, surgeon, etc. You can be your own boss, work as an associate, or work for the government. Every day is a bit different and you determine how hard you want to work based on your desired income. Most dentists work 36 hours a week and make a good living. It is physically demanding given that you will be doing procedures throughout the day that can require you to contort your body. It is also an expensive business to get into. You will probably have atleast 100k in loans and 300-500k in start up costs if you choose to buy a practice. It is a great career but you must understand that it is totally different than medicine. As the others have suggested, go shadow and ask tons of questions. However, dont be suprised if you finding shadowing to be boring. You might want to ask if you can go on a day the dentist has some interesting cases.

I totally agree with you. At my school we take our core science classes with the med students. They were always out of school by noon and could go home and study. The dental students are there until 5 pm, sometimes later trying to catch up with lab work. I know that med students have to participate in a 3 year residency at least after med school, but if you just compare dental school and med school, dental school is definately harder, at least at UK.