Why are doctors more respected than dentists?

[diene]

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I can't sleep and I need something to rant about aside from the DAT. I have noticed that whenever I say I want to be a dentist, the first thing a lot of people ask is "wow, do you really want to look into peoples' mouths all day long?" something along those lines or they state the fact that they hate dentists for whatever reason. I clearly don't ask for their opinion or approval, but they provide it anyways. When someone mentions that they want to be a doctor, it's more of a "oh wow" and no one questions asked about anything. I bet even if you say a Urologist (not to put them down in any way because they do great things), no one will question why they want to look peoples' bladders all day long.

I love teeth and I WANT to be a dentist..no doubt about that! I just want to see if you guys have experienced this and what your thoughts/opinions are about this =)

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

 

[sweetdaises2000]

While I respect your opinion, just be ready to get ridiculed by your fellow Medical Doctor colleagues, and be called a tool by the general populace. I, for one, will be Dr. Rainee in the clinic, but outside, I'll be Rainee the Dentist.

I guess this was a more appropriate example of what I was trying to convey. Maybe I wasn't clear on my initial response, that one should certainly refer to themselves as a dentist with the lay public, and within clinical settings/academics, one reserves the title of "Dr." I don't feel the need to mislead anyone...um, I don't treat systemic diabetes..sorry...lol

 

[Contach]

Because doctors save lives. Dentists do not.

I totally agree with the rest of double bonded's post. It was the same I experienced, and I suppose that is why I am here. But I'm sure there were a lot of medical school students who were thinking of dentistry and went to medicine because the dentists they met were miserable and the doctors they knew were happy.

Okay. Another thing.
I think medicine offers a lot of the same things as dentistry, and that is why medicine is often compared to dentistry. But there are many areas within medicine, probably like 20+, you could consider dentistry as even being the 21st. But it is not fair for dentistry to be compared to medicine. Because, as dentists, while we do not save lives, we do HELP people - we are healthcare providers, and that in itself is respected. But when you put it up against a very glorious, and selfless (perhaps too selfless for my liking) profession like medicine, well, most medical specialties blow dentistry out of the water. But have no despair - for there are so many professions (non healthcare) that are so not helpful. Think of an accountant. What effect are you making on this world? You are saving people money, at best? Since when is greed a noble virtue? or solving puzzles? Look at anything else in the finance sector.... compare dentistry to those jobs. Dentistry is great. Look at a restaurant owner, or an entrepreneur who opens up a bar/pub - who cares how nice your bar/pub is, are you really helping anyone in any meaningful way? In that career, is someone going to come up to you and thank you from the bottom of his/her heart that you opened up this restaurant or bar? No. Fu## no. They will say, "Great dinner, I'll probably come back here" and maybe it'll come up in a conversation or two with their friends, but it stops there. / end rant

 

[boomchakalak]

Because doctors save lives. Dentists do not.


I personally am not crazy about teeth but I want to be realistic. I want a stable career where I can go to and come home at the same time every day. The pay of a physician and the pay of a dentist are similar enough that you can look at other components of each career.

I shadowed many physicians as a pre-med and I saw that what they did was really cool. But a consistent theme among the physicians was...they weren't happy. All of them were sleep deprived because call apparently is really lucrative, most were looking toward retirement, and they were all working 50+ hours.
All the dentists I shadowed on the other hand were happy, didn't work Fridays, loved interacting with their patients, and got to choose who they surrounded themselves with.

So I began to ask myself...why would I want to go into a career where I essentially work harder for the same amount of pay?


PS Being insecure about dentistry as a career choice compared to medicine is super annoying for some reason. 😀
If some pre-dents, dental students, and dentists would stop acting like pre-meds, medical students, and physicians are the "enemy" then the jokes about dentistry would be pretty meaningless.

I beg to differ on this statement... Oral health is tightly knit with overall systemic health. Dentists provide a vital preventative treatment to the community they serve. In addition, dentists can substantially increase the quality of life of their patients. Preventative medicine/care is just as important, if not more so, than treatment of diseases after the fact.

 

[dentalWorks]

I beg to differ on this statement... Oral health is tightly knit with overall systemic health. Dentists provide a vital preventative treatment to the community they serve. In addition, dentists can substantially increase the quality of life of their patients. Preventative medicine/care is just as important, if not more so, than treatment of diseases after the fact.

yes... but it isn't exactly the same life-saving extravaganza trauma surgeons do on a daily basis.

 

[wired202808]

I beg to differ on this statement... Oral health is tightly knit with overall systemic health. Dentists provide a vital preventative treatment to the community they serve. In addition, dentists can substantially increase the quality of life of their patients. Preventative medicine/care is just as important, if not more so, than treatment of diseases after the fact.

most people can live w/o a few teeth, but none can live w/o a heart surgeon that saved their live after a heart attack. 😀

 

[Troyvdg]

OMFS. Then you are a "doctor", a dentist, and you save lives. end of thread.

 

[budda10000]

no offense i dont see any passion in looking in someones mouth all day. thats not passion, thats called a job. I think the passion comes from making people feel better and know that you've contributed a positive service to someones live. you took away their pain and made them feel good again. but lets be realistic you didnt quite get thrilled out of your pants when you saw how messed up their mouth is. and if you were such a artsy fartsy manual dexterity lover you would have gone into sculpting

Agreed! If looking into mouths all day and collecting teeth is your passion they I recommend a career in an asylum and not the dentist chair. People ask me if I am passionate about teeth and I retort, "hell no thats creepy". I wouldn't say dentists are any more or less passionate than medical specialists. Think about it... Are dermatologists really passionate about skin? Proctologists passionate about the anus? Or worse pathologists obsessed with dead corpses?

 

[reely989]

I beg to differ on this statement... Oral health is tightly knit with overall systemic health. Dentists provide a vital preventative treatment to the community they serve. In addition, dentists can substantially increase the quality of life of their patients. Preventative medicine/care is just as important, if not more so, than treatment of diseases after the fact.

No one is saying dentistry isn't important. But, trying to convince yourself it is a vital service on the same level of care provided by physicians isn't logical.

People here seem really insecure. As people have mentioned, doctors go through more rigorous training, have more responsibility, and sacrifice more than we do. The "respect" differential is well earned. I could honestly care less about a patient calling me a doctor as long as they trust me to provide good care. Going into a career for respect is pretty shallow.

 

[yappy]

Hmmm... "passion for teeth".

It seems like it would be better to ask if they hold passion for "treating oral & tooth disease".

To me the difference is being interested in a body part vs. being interested in performing the duties of a dentist. It would not make much sense to become a dentist because you really like teeth...

I think dentistry is very important to the health; though, I agree that dentists and different specialties of medicine do different jobs that are hard to compare. Indeed, the hierarchy of importance changes depending on what illness is present.

 

[MIAYO]

BUMP

Just wanted to throw out an interesting point. When my
mom went to medical school back in the day in Spain dentistry was a specialty that you would have to match into and it was highly competitive. Dentistry was highly respected during those times. She said she is not sure how the prestige has changed since Spain created separate dental school. I wonder how dentistry prestige would change in the US if it was a medical specialty and dentists were all MD's. My bet is that the prestige would go up. I'm not trying to put down dentistry. I just think that's what the general population's opinion would be.

 

[sacapuntas]

 

[KSDental]

No one is saying dentistry isn't important. But, trying to convince yourself it is a vital service on the same level of care provided by physicians isn't logical.

People here seem really insecure. As people have mentioned, doctors go through more rigorous training, have more responsibility, and sacrifice more than we do. The "respect" differential is well earned. I could honestly care less about a patient calling me a doctor as long as they trust me to provide good care. Going into a career for respect is pretty shallow.

I have to disagree with part of this statement. Medicine and dentistry are definitely in the same league. No other profession treats the conditions in the oral cavity and maxilla that dentists treat. The separation of dentistry and medicine is very arbitrary since the oral cavity is just another body part. Oral surgeons perform life saving procedures on a daily basis and they are dental specialists, not medical specialists. Dentists help society retain the ability to chew, talk, and look good. Oral health science is a dynamic and active area of research that is conducted by people in the dental profession. Discoveries here can have just as much of an impact on the health of society as medical discoveries. Dentists should never underestimate their profession because it may cause them to miss opportunities to improve the health of their patients.

Even general dentists have a lot of responsibility. They make their jobs look easy, but they deal with a lot of hazardous situations. A drill going at 800,000 RPM can do a lot of damage very quickly, if care isn't taken. The ability to perform good dentistry relies on a mastery of science (anatomy, pathology, etc.) and hand skill. It takes many years beyond graduation to master these skills. Additionally, when general dentists refer to specialists, they are still responsible for managing the patient. They need to be up to date on all of the specialties. If a specialist you refer your patients to does something wrong, you can be liable too.

While physicians invest more time in their training on average, let's not forget that dentists sacrifice more of their money. Their debt load is usually higher. Buying a practice or specializing increases that debt even more. Dentists don't have as many opportunities to take salaried positions. Running a business has its benefits, but also adds to the stress of the profession. When all factors are taken into account I believe that many dentists are just as married to their professions as physicians, just in different ways.

 

[yappy]

I dont think there is some absolute reason why MD's may be, on average, better 'respected' than dentists. I think alot of simply comes down to the time/tends we're in. In 2002-2005, if you were a firefighter, you were revered as some kind of hero. Today, you're a lazy public union employee. If physicians took a tough stance against medicare cuts by dropping it; many people would lose prespect for physicians and be viewed as greedy and not caring.

I imagine that people who have good relationships with their dentist and have been really taken care of by one repsects dentists on the same level they do physicians.

 

[DrRoyal Pains]

Why the F is this discussion even under the DAT forum 👎

 

[trinstudent]

I have to disagree with part of this statement. Medicine and dentistry are definitely in the same league. No other profession treats the conditions in the oral cavity and maxilla that dentists treat. The separation of dentistry and medicine is very arbitrary since the oral cavity is just another body part. Oral surgeons perform life saving procedures on a daily basis and they are dental specialists, not medical specialists. Dentists help society retain the ability to chew, talk, and look good. Oral health science is a dynamic and active area of research that is conducted by people in the dental profession. Discoveries here can have just as much of an impact on the health of society as medical discoveries. Dentists should never underestimate their profession because it may cause them to miss opportunities to improve the health of their patients.

I'm going to have to agree with you here. Dentistry is the medical specialty of the mouth. No different than any other part of the body. For the record, there are most certainly medical specialties that aren't glamorous or even life saving, but are grouped under medicine because their practitioners went to medical school.

 

[Adamsswag]

The title of the thread sounds like you support this assumption.

 

[Msmouth]

no offense i dont see any passion in looking in someones mouth all day. thats not passion, thats called a job. I think the passion comes from making people feel better and know that you've contributed a positive service to someones live. you took away their pain and made them feel good again. but lets be realistic you didnt quite get thrilled out of your pants when you saw how messed up their mouth is. and if you were such a artsy fartsy manual dexterity lover you would have gone into sculpting

That's your opinion! I never get bored of teeth, I'm obsessed......😀
I love challenging patients and treatment planning. Speak for yourself and maybe go into accounting....it's a nice stable career

 

[Benman44]

Yea I mean alot of people do think Doctors seem so much cooler, but thats just the media talking. My Dad and grandad are both Doctors and they love it, but I would never want that life. Working hard LOOONNGG hours, watching the people you work so hard to keep healthy Dying all around you, and being on call even when your off. That keeps you tied down and away from your family. Let them have the status, because as I see it we definitely have the upper hand

 

[Benman44]

i'm guessing she/he is having a late night DAT mind break lol probably was habit to click here every 5 seconds

 

[Anemon]

I have to disagree with part of this statement. Medicine and dentistry are definitely in the same league. No other profession treats the conditions in the oral cavity and maxilla that dentists treat. The separation of dentistry and medicine is very arbitrary since the oral cavity is just another body part. Oral surgeons perform life saving procedures on a daily basis and they are dental specialists, not medical specialists. Dentists help society retain the ability to chew, talk, and look good. Oral health science is a dynamic and active area of research that is conducted by people in the dental profession. Discoveries here can have just as much of an impact on the health of society as medical discoveries. Dentists should never underestimate their profession because it may cause them to miss opportunities to improve the health of their patients.

Even general dentists have a lot of responsibility. They make their jobs look easy, but they deal with a lot of hazardous situations. A drill going at 800,000 RPM can do a lot of damage very quickly, if care isn't taken. The ability to perform good dentistry relies on a mastery of science (anatomy, pathology, etc.) and hand skill. It takes many years beyond graduation to master these skills. Additionally, when general dentists refer to specialists, they are still responsible for managing the patient. They need to be up to date on all of the specialties. If a specialist you refer your patients to does something wrong, you can be liable too.

While physicians invest more time in their training on average, let's not forget that dentists sacrifice more of their money. Their debt load is usually higher. Buying a practice or specializing increases that debt even more. Dentists don't have as many opportunities to take salaried positions. Running a business has its benefits, but also adds to the stress of the profession. When all factors are taken into account I believe that many dentists are just as married to their professions as physicians, just in different ways.

I have to disagree with you. Medicine today definitely holds higher ground than Dentistry. Just because oral cavity is being another body part and some other issues you have listed above are not an enough argument to put them on the same league. This is not to underestimate what Dentists do. In fact, Dentists do a valuable job in the healthcare industry and they are respected for that. Oral health indeed has a very high impact on people's health. However, when you compare Dentistry with Medicine, Medicine wins in many respects. First of all, doctors need to get trained a lot harder and for longer time than dentists for what they are expected to do. They take more responsibility and risks than dentist for most of the specialties. Many Doctors deal with deadly pathogens all the time that can't be compared to what dentists see. Whereas, the dentists see patients who are most of the time have no other medical condition that interferes with oral cavity, many doctors treat patients with underlying conditions that interferes with the illness they are treating for. You have given oral surgeon example. Compare that with a neurosurgeon, an orthopedic surgeon or a trauma surgeon etc, these specialists deal with a lot of complications, a lot more complex body parts than your oral cavity. Doctors also work more selfless than Dentists by enduring long hours of work with lesser compensation. Most dentists in my town work no more than 4 days. Even a general physician has longer work hours in my town, not to mention a life of a cardiovascular surgeon.

I am telling you about self-sacrifice and you are trying to match that with sacrifice more money. By the time a doctor establishes him/herself into his/her specialty, many dentists are already ease with their debt and probably bought their partnership. And for those doctors who goes into private practice, the business aspects are the same with dentists (i don't see your point here). Most of the medical machinery costs a lot more than tools that dentists use. Cost of opening a private practice for many of the medical specialists are so high that it would be funny to compare with a dentists office.

I haven't written all here but, in summary, don't just look from a narrow perspective but from a broad perspective. When you count everything, doctors gets a higher prestige points than dentists.

 

[Anemon]

I'm going to have to agree with you here. Dentistry is the medical specialty of the mouth. No different than any other part of the body. For the record, there are most certainly medical specialties that aren't glamorous or even life saving, but are grouped under medicine because their practitioners went to medical school.

Yes, there are some medical specialties that aren't glamorous or even life saving. But most of them are more glamorous and life saving compared to dentistry and because of them the medicine holds the higher ground. Are you saying than treating mouth is no different than treating brain? Are you joking? Most certainly not!!!

 

[Seamonkey Doc]

Why the F is this discussion even under the DAT forum 👎

...Thinking the same thing 😕

Also, why are people dissing others for being passionate about oral care or teeth?
Some like teeth, some like the money that comes with looking at teeth. So what.

 

[toyotasupra]

Simply put, medical doctors save lifes. Dentists don't.