Unusual Dental Fields - Please help!

[jojotheshow]

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I am currently a third year dental student and I am having a very, very hard time liking the field of dentistry. I applied to medical school in college and was rejected by all the schools I applied to after doing terrible on the MCAT. I studied for roughly 600 hours for the MCAT and did so poorly that no amount of studying could have improved my score enough to get into med school. Under pressure from my girlfriend at the time to "figure out what I was going to do with my life" I took the DAT without studying for it and got a fine score that I had no problem getting into dental school. I shadowed a dentist for one day and thought that I could do this and I went on a dental mission trip, where we didn't do much dentistry, to get the rest of my required shadowing hours. Ever since the first day of class my first year, I have honestly hated the mouth and the field of dentistry. It is not so much that I dislike dental school as I have a fundamental dislike for the mouth, looking in the mouth, touching the mouth and I dont feel like I am actually helping anyone. If I were to have gotten into medicine, I would have wanted to work in the ICU. I have a difficult time finding the importance of a tooth when I wanted to help take people off death's door. I am highly considering attempting to go to medical school after I finish dental school - I have talked to a bunch of medical schools and they tell me I must finish dental school to even have my application looked at. However, I really don't want to go to anymore schooling because I am burnt out from dental school and going to be in $300,000 of debt when I graduate.

SO MY QUESTION, is there any unusual field in dentistry that does not involve looking at or touching a patient's mouth? I would really prefer not to work at a university if possible. Any help would be appreciated more than you know! Thank you so much in advance!

 

[dp93]

radiology?

 

[jojotheshow]

radiology?

Yea there's been a few people who have suggested that to me. I need to look into that more but I think I'd rather talk to pts. I guess I'm looking for those rare fields in dentistry that are hard to find. I'm thinking maybe I can find a niche there.

 

[THS]

Something in the dental field that involves not touching a patient's mouth and is not academic in nature, but still lets you talk to patients?

It's going to be REALLY tough to find something that meets those 4 preferences listed.
If you could somehow make your way up to a practice owner that has several associates working for you, you could have a "restaurant owner" thing going on where you go to each op and talk to the patients for a few minutes, but even that's unlikely.

 

[jojotheshow]

Something in the dental field that involves not touching a patient's mouth and is not academic in nature, but still lets you talk to patients?

It's going to be REALLY tough to find something that meets those 4 preferences listed.
If you could somehow make your way up to a practice owner that has several associates working for you, you could have a "restaurant owner" thing going on where you go to each op and talk to the patients for a few minutes, but even that's unlikely.

I know it is 🙁 I was honestly thinking exactly what you were saying in sort of having the "restaurant owner" type of relationship and just running the business side of the practice and let the associates do the dentistry. Honestly, my dream would be to work in the ICU (they usually only work one week of the month), and the other three months work on the business side of dentistry. I was just hoping to avoid going to more school... I think it may be unavoidable though. Thank you so much for the feedback! I do really like the restaurant owner idea.

 

[gn4]

Oral Path? Dental Anesthesia? Radiology? or go to omfs residency and quit after you get the MD and do smth else with the MD

 

[tbiv21]

Dental anesthesiologist. I don't know much about it, but when UNLV talked to our predent club a couple of years ago there was a dentist who dod a residency for anesthesia and would just travel to various dental offices for that

 

[jojotheshow]

Dental anesthesiologist. I don't know much about it, but when UNLV talked to our predent club a couple of years ago there was a dentist who dod a residency for anesthesia and would just travel to various dental offices for that

Thats actually something I'm really looking into. Do you know anything more about it? Like how competitive it is?

 

[CMistry]

Honestly, my dream would be to work in the ICU (they usually only work one week of the month), and the other three months work on the business side of dentistry.

Sounds like you should have never given up on your dream to be a physician. I don't think being a dentist (of any sort) will scratch the itch you have. I read you had a poor MCAT score, did you consider a foreign medical school or DO program? Both of those still could take you to your goal. It's never too late. I know a guy who was a dentist for 10 years, went back and did med school and now ENT. He is very happy with his decision as he was also unfulfilled by dentistry.

BTW most intensivists work 7 days on / 7 days off. Some are pulmonology-trained and they tend to work 1 week per month in the ICU, but they are also working the other weeks in clinics.

 

[dp93]

Sounds like you should have never given up on your dream to be a physician. I don't think being a dentist (of any sort) will scratch the itch you have. I read you had a poor MCAT score, did you consider a foreign medical school or DO program? Both of those still could take you to your goal. It's never too late. I know a guy who was a dentist for 10 years, went back and did med school and now ENT. He is very happy with his decision as he was also unfulfilled by dentistry.

BTW most intensivists work 7 days on / 7 days off. Some are pulmonology-trained and they tend to work 1 week per month in the ICU, but they are also working the other weeks in clinics.

plus in that one week on one week off, when they are working...its like 80-90 hours a week plus being on call. no thanks.

 

[jojotheshow]

Sounds like you should have never given up on your dream to be a physician. I don't think being a dentist (of any sort) will scratch the itch you have. I read you had a poor MCAT score, did you consider a foreign medical school or DO program? Both of those still could take you to your goal. It's never too late. I know a guy who was a dentist for 10 years, went back and did med school and now ENT. He is very happy with his decision as he was also unfulfilled by dentistry.

BTW most intensivists work 7 days on / 7 days off. Some are pulmonology-trained and they tend to work 1 week per month in the ICU, but they are also working the other weeks in clinics.

Thank you so much for the encouragement. You are exactly right, I never should have given up on my dream. The more I look into it, the more I'm getting the notion that I should head down the medical route because I'm not sure if that desire to be a doctor will ever be satiated by dentistry. I did consider DO programs but I didn't apply to the correct ones.... My MCAT score could have gotten me into a few DO schools but I wasn't aware of them at the time of applying. If I do decide to reapply, I am definitely going to be hitting the DO schools and foreign schools hard.

And that's totally fine if I work in other clinics the three weeks I'm off. I was just hoping to use my dental degree since I'm paying so much money for it. But it will at least help me in med school if that's the road I chose.

Thank you for your help!

That's amazing that you know a dentist who is now a physician! I have been looking for someone like that all over the internet who isn't an OMFS. Do you know what he did to pay off his loans, was he able to do that because he was in private practice so long? And do you know how much dental school helped him do well in med school? And do you know what he thinks of the insurance problems a lot of docs come across in medicine? Sorry for so many questions haha but your friend is the first person who I have heard switching over after being a licensed dentist!

 

[jojotheshow]

plus in that one week on one week off, when they are working...its like 80-90 hours a week plus being on call. no thanks.

Yea that's something I've had a little bit of a hard time thinking of. The life outside the office is so much better in dentistry but I just don't know how much that ill be worth it if I'm still working 40 hours a week as a dentist and hating every minute of it... :/

 

[Mad Jack]

plus in that one week on one week off, when they are working...its like 80-90 hours a week plus being on call. no thanks.

It's usually about the same as a full time job, you're just cramming the whole job into one 7 day stretch. Good groups have nocturnists so that call isn't an issue.

 

[CMistry]

Thank you so much for the encouragement. You are exactly right, I never should have given up on my dream. The more I look into it, the more I'm getting the notion that I should head down the medical route because I'm not sure if that desire to be a doctor will ever be satiated by dentistry. I did consider DO programs but I didn't apply to the correct ones.... My MCAT score could have gotten me into a few DO schools but I wasn't aware of them at the time of applying. If I do decide to reapply, I am definitely going to be hitting the DO schools and foreign schools hard.

And that's totally fine if I work in other clinics the three weeks I'm off. I was just hoping to use my dental degree since I'm paying so much money for it. But it will at least help me in med school if that's the road I chose.

Thank you for your help!

That's amazing that you know a dentist who is now a physician! I have been looking for someone like that all over the internet who isn't an OMFS. Do you know what he did to pay off his loans, was he able to do that because he was in private practice so long? And do you know how much dental school helped him do well in med school? And do you know what he thinks of the insurance problems a lot of docs come across in medicine? Sorry for so many questions haha but your friend is the first person who I have heard switching over after being a licensed dentist!

I don't believe he had any loans since he went to dental school in his home country overseas. He did head and neck oncology research at the NIH for years, wanted to transition to clinical and decided to pursue ENT. I have no idea how much dental school helped him but he is a sharp guy (matching into ENT speaks to that).

 

[jojotheshow]

I don't believe he had any loans since he went to dental school in his home country overseas. He did head and neck oncology research at the NIH for years, wanted to transition to clinical and decided to pursue ENT. I have no idea how much dental school helped him but he is a sharp guy (matching into ENT speaks to that).

Gotcha, well thank you for all the info! Thats really good to know!