"easier" how? I guess they're not "on call" as much as physicians, but they probably have to deal with more crap from patients than physicians do, I would guess that law suits are more common in dentistry?
wrong.
a physician really doesnt seem to have much responsibility other than listening to the symptoms putting those symptoms together into a diagnosis, or sending off for blood tests and procedures, and they have the power to prescribe meds, many people use the internet to at least come close to self diagnosis, so what is it about a physicians job that makes it more stressful than a dentists?
when career day does come at your high school, be sure to go to the one with the doctor and tell him all about this theory. Physicians range from neurosurgeons to family practice doctors. Yes, FP is more straightforward diagnoses:remedy. But most physicians are specialists. A cardiologist knows how to identify an arrhythmia and how to read a stress test. He also knows how to conduct a physical (there's much more to one than webMD will tell you) and understand the biochemical processes of the body and the mechanism for how a medication will act.
I meant family practitioner as "average physician" but I guess I should have been more specific.
most physicians aren't in family practice. that's a bad way to generalize about an entire subset of professionals.
aside from that I recently saw a gastro specialist, typed up my symptoms down handed it to him, along with what it possibly could be from what I found online, H pylori, celiac disease and more, I even mentioned I should possibly get an endoscopy, so what did he do? he ordered the endoscopy, and sent me to a lab for a blood test for celiac the visit was a total of 5 minutes, 100 bucks for that test, 30 copay for the visit, (he gets a total of 150 after billing insurance, not bad for 5 min of "work"), then he got money upfront for the endoscopy (a 5-10 minute procedure), plus charging insurance, then I had to pay for the room the endoscopy was done in, not counting my premiums, I ended up paying 900 bucks on credit cards for the whole thing, to be told I had mild inflammation, GERD, he just threw out the regular stuff a 5 year old could have diagnosed me with,
i think you're problem is more with the health care system...it's kind of naive to have a problem with all doctors because you had mild inflammation and -$900 net worth. But if you want a tech or someone without extensive training doing your endoscopy, be my guest...I would prefer to have someone with and MD/DO in case there was something serious.
I had to call him for the follow up, to find out I would be charged another visit to see him just to get my results, another 150 in his pocket if I agree, instead I opted to speak on the phone, he couldnt get off the phone fast enough, he said simple things I already knew, stay away from chocolate, caffeine, spices, when it came down to it I asked "but why is this happening now? I used to eat pizza and I was fine" his answer............"because your special"...........he was trying to be funny, but didnt follow up with an actual answer to my question......and because I respected him as a doctor I laughed even though I didnt think it was funny and I just said bye, but after paying all that money I should demand something more than a stupid joke, all he offered was the changing my diet advice, which was not specific at all, and he offered samples of nexium.
besides your had mild inflammation was their anything wrong with you? if you could've diagnosed yourself with mild inflammation...why didn't you?
lets face it, he simply doesnt know why my acid problems suddenly started, and used the joke to cover it up, and before people pile on about "that was one bad doctor" etc, please, these guys spend less then 5-6 min per patient and even then rely mostly on tests to give answers,
I really appreciate your years in the medical field and the vast knowledge you have about the human body but how do you really know about "these guys" from a 5-10 minute appointment and a diagnoses of minor inflammation?
if they even can tell you whats wrong with you, otherwise they send you off to another specialist,
no.
now it sounds like I'm going off on them, I'm not, I just think that they get respect from the general public they really dont deserve,
(:cry:
"they"clearly don't have your respect 
) I think people who have real illnesses, and experience waiting in lobby's or being sent from doctor to doctor really know that a lot of them make their money off of easily diagnosable stuff, for the rest when it gets complicated they send you off to someone else and that guy may not know what to do with you,
firstly it's a for-service field. do you expect your mild inflammation to be diagnosed and treated for free? do you expect them not to charge you for a procedure whether or not the diagnoses was favorable?
secondly, the simple stuff is going to RNs and PA's...you had a specialized problem, so a specialized physicians took care of it, not an RN or PA. His skills are more valuable and marketable than an RN or PA and you were charged accordingly.
its rare to find a doctor who will spend time with you, not joking around but discussing your symptoms, ask you questions and then use that info to come up with a diagnosis,
you had some mild inflammation, lets cool down the "discussing symptoms" thing...Physicians have many patients on their service some of them more serious than others. I doubt they want to absorb more time than necessary on someone with mild inflammation, which they have probably seen thousands of times before. Physicians who see patients with
real problems do spend time with the patients. I shadowed a physician who spent half an hour to do a physical and make sure that all the patient's questions were answered before surgery.
but even then, with the internet...they really are becoming less useful...just my thoughts on it, I feel that when a dentist gets paid, hes actually providing a service that matches the money they make, even if its $60, the dentist had to have actually DONE something to get that money, $150 for 5 minutes of nothing.....not that stressful if you ask me.
So you would be fine with a dentist that makes you wait for 30 min, sits you in his chair for 5 min, tests your hurting tooth with some Endo-ice, and refers you to an endodontist?
WOW thank you, what a proper reply to my original post, I shouldn't be surprised it took a dentist to do it.
I've always thought that dentists are more comparable to surgeons in the nature of the work, now theres a stressful job!
One thing I know is that you wont fully know (even if you've spent time observing the dental environment) the small details until your in the dentists shoes or you specifically ask a dentist specific questions about the job.
You're right, the dentist who is married to a physician is a better reference than most. But the answer to your question is fairly obvious so I though I need not waste the time telling you what pretty much everyone knows. But I have some free time on my hands...why not explain my reasoning?
😛
Medicine is easier than dentistry from the get-go. Getting into medical school is a lot tougher than getting into dental school (will be less true in the future) so pre-meds need to work a lot harder to be competitive and study the extra sections on the MCAT.
Once at medical school, students learn a lot more material than dental students in the same amount of time (first 2 years), their exams are more difficult and mean more for getting matched into a residency, Step 1. They go through something called "clinical rotations" in their 3rd and 4th year where they rotate from hospital to hospital and specialty to specialty. They are given work by attending, residents, and interns who evaluate them. These evaluations are also extremely important in matching into a residency.
After they match, they must do a residency so that their MD can be used, only 5-6% of dental students do a residency. Medical residencies range anywhere from 3-7 years. Dental residencies are generally 1-3 years with the exception of OMFS and only 1-2% of d-students can actually match into OMFS, which is actually considered both a medical and dental residency. Medical residents work 70-80 hr/week and get paid around $50-60k/year. They deal with sick patients who aren't in their "everyday lives" they are there because they are seriously ill. And they usually get patients who are scared they are going to die or like you, people who think they know better than them because they can google something without really understanding anything about the problem. They are subordinate to attendings and more experienced residents, in malignant programs, they are given more work than they can handle. As interns, nurses often tell them how to do their jobs...which can be demeaning. On top of it all, when they get out of residency (again from 3-7 years), they have their debt to pay off, which can range anywhere between $150 and $200k. The majority of dentists would have started paying their debts off in that time.
Opening a practice is more difficult for physicians, lawsuits are more likely (and common) for physicians. Physicians deal with sick, dying patients and their families. Their function can't be remedied by "going on the internet." Lay people like you and me don't understand the biochemical processes, mechanisms, and interactions, and they deal with people who think they can do the job by using the internet...which they can't. Physicians who are attached to a hospital are obligated to take call. I was able to spend a few nights on call and it is no picnic...it's hell. You don't sleep for days straight, you are dealing with emergent patients who are agitated and upset. Dentists call is extremely rare and they mostly work Monday - Thursday with a long lunch. Dentists don't have to deal as much with insurance companies (thanks to those excellent dental lobbyists) and they deal with patients who aren't afraid for their lives, but for their comfort.
I could go on but I think you get my gist. I also think that you formed your opinion from one bad experience with one practitioner...that hardly makes you unbiased and it makes me skeptical about your opinion.
