What do dentists do for fun?

[Mike@UWO]

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I was a little curious as to what my potential future colleagues do in their spare time, and how this might have led them to their decision to seek a career in Dentistry (as opposed to the other health fields).

I think I'll get the ball rolling..

I've always enjoyed sports, and I still try and stay fit when I can. I've played soccer since I was little.. I enjoy golf (although I'm not the greatest at it).. plus all the other tradional sports like b-ball and tennis. I think this is what has really got me interested in the Health fields. This summer I'm hoping to add a little excitement to my life by going SKYDIVING

for the first time. Anyone else try it, how was it?

I have never really played an instrument or been highly involved with art (although I will be taking a Sculpting class soon); I was wondering if this will be a significant drawback for me or is it something that I will be able to learn with enough practice. I'm not a cluts and I have had drafting and woodworking experience (I'm also pretty good at foozeball and ping-pong).

I think I will really enjoy dentistry because of the opportunity to be involved in a profession that offers the challenges of running your own business, keeping up with technical and scientific advances, and forcing me to develop my artistic side.

I'm also in a fraternity (to all you canadians I hope you've gotten over your stereotypes by now). I guess this means that boat races are one of my hobbies (hope you all know what these are).

Anyway, there's my abbreviated life story (pretty boring huh).

Mike@UWO

 

[Doggie]

Well.....believe it or not, dental students are actually cooler than med students. From my friend's perception (he happens to go to U penn med), he noticed that the dental students are much more outgoing than med students. I've also heard that from several of my friends who attend other med schools.

As for myself, I am an avid club hopper. Not a weekend can go by without a drop of alcohol being processed by my liver! Not a weekend can go by without me jamming to the tunes of Oakenfold or van Dyk reverbing through my body. I also fashion a spiky hair do that can easily lead people to believe I am a typical asian frat guy. Strangely enough, I do not belong in a frat ....hehe.

Anyways, I do have true hobbies too. I enjoy working out and and occassional roller-blading fest with my friends. I used to be in the marching band as well as track team when I was still in high school.

 

[Dante60]

On my end, I'm a lead guitarist for a rock & Roll band.

All of my spare time goes into writing songs, and booking rehearsal space, and hopefully booking some gigs this summer.

Skydiving?! Right on. I fully intend on fulfilling the same adrenaline rush this summer. Break out your 'depends', 'cause it's gonna be one hell of a rush.

I also enjoy doing the whole club thing, not as much as Doggie, but I go on occasion.

Oh, and there's nothing like a good Canadian beer. That's what I'm going to miss the most about going to the US. The fact that I'll have to pay MORE to enjoy a labatt Blue. 😛

Why dentistry? A number of reasons:
- Very personal job
- A great deal of financial freedom
- The business aspect is highly appealing
- I get to work with my hands, and literally create!

- I genuinely enjoy making people smile
- It requires a higher degree of knowledge and understanding that many run-of-the-mill jobs.
- There's little risk of my walking into the waiting room and telling a patient's family that he/she passed away because I drilled 'too deeply'.

I'm really looking forward to it. There's so much to do, and it's such a fulfilling profession.

 

[maris]

In my spare time I love to fish, camp, hike, travel and write. And dance, dance, dance, salsa is the way to go baby!!! Those nights of sorority rushing and pledging taught me how to pawty well.

Ooooh, I also love to try new cooking recipes. My next project: making the perfect flan-I've ruined two good pan trying to make the damn sauce.

A new hobby I just take up is going to musicals. My trip to NYU led me to the door of the Imperial for a taste of Les Mis. Since then I've been to 3 musicals. I am taking up golf this summer in Indonesia: that's home for me. Plan to go camping in Wisconsin before I go home. A good buddy of mine took me camping to Colorado, and I am hooked. I went bear chasing, learned to chop woods, caught an 8-inches rainbow trout, swam in a glacier lake - whew it knocked the breath out of me; easily one of the dumbest thing I've done.

One observation, a lot of dentists golf. It seemed to be the favorite alumni reunion event.

Oh yeah, why dentistry. Why not, it's the best career there is. Mom's a dentist, great uncle's a dentist, 2 cousins are dentists, one of them just married another dentist.

I love the personal relationship you have with your patients. Patients scheduled annual check-ups, 'tis not always the case with allopathic medicine.

I am obsessed with teeth. It bugs me when people have crooked teeth. No, I don't plan to go ortho; I just want everybody to have a great smile.

Casualties are not part of your everyday practice.

Dentists are a happy bunch. I've enjoyed all those conferences I went with mom. I also like the work schedule. You don't really take any work home with ya. When there's family crises of big events you can attend to it.

The fact that dentists are not hurting financially also help. I want to know that I can pay those loans before I sign-off my soul to Fannie Mae.

Wow, you've read this far

Kumquats, I've digress again. OK that's it.

maris





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[ppdka]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by maris:

...

Dentists are a happy bunch. I've enjoyed all those conferences I went with mom. I also like the work schedule. You don't really take any work home with ya. When there's family crises of big events you can attend to it.

...

•

... and I thought dentists had one of the highest suicide rates of any profession!

 

[Vroom]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by ppdka:
... and I thought dentists had one of the highest suicide rates of any profession!

•

Can someone who has information about HOW dentists got the reputation of having a high suicide rate tell me where the heck this came from? From what I have heard (and I don't know how accurate this is), dentists earned this reputation after a research article was published in the early 1980s. This article compared different professions vs. the percentage of people that committed suicide in that profession, and it was determined that dentists had one of the highest percent doing themselves in. However, the validity of this research article after further evaluation was shown to be unfounded. From what I understand, major assumptions were made, claims were stated that weren't substantiated, and information was skewed. After much controversy, it was concluded that this article was inaccurate and any info. in it was not to be taken as valid. Sadly though, the reputation of dentists having a high suicide rate STUCK and people never really forget about it.

Now, I haven't actually read this article nor do I know if it actually EXISTS, but this is info. I read from reading a response in a website forum. Also, I heard this info. from a couple pre-dent students. Does anyone know anything about this because if this research publication does not exist, I sure would love to know where the heck dentists got the bad rap of being victims of a high suicide rate.

Another thing, I don't see HOW dentists could have high suicide rates. From every angle you look at the profession, it is incredible--much better than the stressful, hair-pulling, and overworked profession of the MD...hehe (sorry MDs).

Anyway, any info about this would be greatly appreciated!

Vroom

 

[DrJeff]

What do I do for fun when I'm not working. First, a little background to put things in perspective. My wife(an orthodontist) and I (a GP) are both almost 30, and are each in private practice with no kids on our household. We are sports nuts. This consumes a great deal of our non working time(full time for me is 4 days a week, and for my wife 3 and 1/2 days a week). We've skied almost 40 days so far this year, we average about 50 rounds of golf a year, and waterski about 40-50 days a year. Not to mention the standard jogging/gym stuff. On top of that my wife builds 1/12th scale dollhouses(a great use for alot of old/worn out dental instruments I might add).
Your going to work hard on the days that you do, but this profession allows you a good amount of free time and a healthy income to let you splurge a little on a few things!

 

[dds2b]

Free time...when I do get it, I love to play beach v-ball in the summer, go hiking, jogging/gym stuff, and modifying my car. In the winter, I try to go skiing/boarding a few times a year (it's nice to have Whistler/Blackcomb 1.5 hours away and 3 local mountains to go to in less than 30 minutes)

I used to play the barotone in highschool, but gave it up after a few years to concentrate on playing on the athletic teams.

I plan to go rock climbing this summer and do some traveling and mission work as well. In the distant future, I'd love to travel the world, do some mission work (I see it as a taxbreak and it's almost like a vacation), learn to scuba dive, and take some auto-racing lessons.

Do whatever makes you happy!

 

[DrDMD05]

dds2b,
this summer we should definitely go up to the mt washington area and go hiking, its absolutely beautiful there. and im all for the auto racing lessons. if youre serious we should make some plans for it.
DMD