worst part of dentistry

[Halitosis]

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hello!
to all those who are practicing, or will be soon: what is the absolute worst part about the job? please share if you can, thanx!!

 

[c132]

I love Dentistry, but hate the people!!! Most want something for free. I had a pt. whose root canal "failed" or rather needed retreated, he acted as though the school done it last year, come to see in the chart, he had ONE root canal that was done OVER 20 years ago. After argueing that that was a different tooth that he had RCT on, he got mad and I haven't heard from him since.


Still in the school setting now though, but can only imagine from stories of friends/family in private practice, that it only gets worse!!!!!!!

 

[eric275]

Your typically surrounded by women?

 

[DrJeff]

For me its perio, I hate it, always have, always will. "Scraping schmutz" as I like to refer to it is something that I really do not enjoy/look forward too. I'd much rather pick up a hand piece and cut some tooth structure than mindlessly scrape away at calculus. It's for this very reason that I treat my hygenists like gold, and pay them a very competitive salary with a big benefits package. Thank god for hygenists! because I sure couldn't do perio all day.

 

[DrJeff]

Your typically surrounded by women?

This could be a big negative or positive depending on the women, and sometimes the day 😉 😱 😕

 

[dentite001]

Your typically surrounded by women?

There's a stat that something like 95% of all hygenists are female. The bigger the practice the larger the problem I imagine. Got me wondering if sexual harassment has ever been a liability concern for the (male) dentist.

Here are mine that I picked up from other threads:

Work hazards: Noise pollution, back pain, x-rays
Monotonous working environment
Negative public perceptions (Ie. Dentists are sadists)
The whole perceived health status hierarchy (Ie. MD vs OD, MD/OD vs dentist, dentist vs etc.

 

[honestpredent]

I'll be starting dental school next year so I have a long way to go but I think the only drawback to dentistry is the lack of respect it fails to earn which is a real tragedy considering the number of years of training dentists endure. Dental school is as rigorous if not more so than medical school yet dentists don't receive anywhere close to the same level of respect in the eyes of the public. The public still seems to think that dentists have the highest suicide rate and is some allied technical school. When in reality dentistry is a surgical subspecialty of the mouth that requires an enormous amount of skill. And dental school isn't easy to get into either.

 

[honestpredent]

I love Dentistry, but hate the people!!! Most want something for free. I had a pt. whose root canal "failed" or rather needed retreated, he acted as though the school done it last year, come to see in the chart, he had ONE root canal that was done OVER 20 years ago. After argueing that that was a different tooth that he had RCT on, he got mad and I haven't heard from him since.


Still in the school setting now though, but can only imagine from stories of friends/family in private practice, that it only gets worse!!!!!!!

With the exception of orthodontistry, patients are never cool. You can't expect them to be. You are not Macy's. They aren't coming to you because they want to see you. They are coming to you because they have to see you. I'm not suprised if patients are terrible; I expect that they are going to act like that. That's where we as health providers come in the picture. I'm sure it will wear down us at times but considering the amount of compensation you get per each procedure can make dealing with a bad patient all that much more palatable. Unlike say an airline baggage check in specialist, we actually get paid quite well to deal with angry customers. 🙂

The only concern I have with dentistry is the monotony. I have heard that's the worst part of the job and the aspect that forces many dentists into other careers or early retirement. The dentist I know earns close to 400K per year and yet you never hear him discuss his job or the passion with being a dentist. Mind you, he doesn't complain about dentistry and is a happy person. But you can tell that he can't wait to get off work so he can spend his cash. That is something I noticed about dentistry. I don't know a lot of dentists who are truly passionate about their job duties. Even the happy dentists seem to be the type that are "okay" with dentistry and don't hate it. It would be nice to see a dentist say: "I would do this for free."

 

[sandman]

I'd have to go with back pain or neck pain as my chief complaint.

As for angry patients, the first time you fix the problem for an angry pt or relieve the pain of someone who's been up al night in constant pain and see how what you do really makes a difference is part of the reward for me in dentistry.

As for dentist not liking their jobs, the ten or so dentists I spoke with before going to dental school all commented that they loved what they did, they loved their areas of expertise and they loved going to work each day. If you get bored in dentistry you aren't doing good dentistry, there are countless ways to practice and an endless amount of new materials and ways of doing things. There are people who hate their job no matter what job you look at and there are people who will hate what they are doing no matter what they do.

 

[sandman]

oh yeah the lack of respect thing

Who really cares what a med student on studentdoctor tells you. Any real practicing physician respects what you do and appreciates what you've done to get where you are. Those that don't obviously have too much time on their hands. RDs (real doctors, I thought that was a funny term)and Dentists will both have yachts, dentists will just have the free time to use them.

 

[freedyx3]

With the exception of orthodontistry, patients are never cool. You can't expect them to be. You are not Macy's. They aren't coming to you because they want to see you. They are coming to you because they have to see you. I'm not suprised if patients are terrible; I expect that they are going to act like that. That's where we as health providers come in the picture. I'm sure it will wear down us at times but considering the amount of compensation you get per each procedure can make dealing with a bad patient all that much more palatable. Unlike say an airline baggage check in specialist, we actually get paid quite well to deal with angry customers. 🙂

The only concern I have with dentistry is the monotony. I have heard that's the worst part of the job and the aspect that forces many dentists into other careers or early retirement. The dentist I know earns close to 400K per year and yet you never hear him discuss his job or the passion with being a dentist. Mind you, he doesn't complain about dentistry and is a happy person. But you can tell that he can't wait to get off work so he can spend his cash. That is something I noticed about dentistry. I don't know a lot of dentists who are truly passionate about their job duties. Even the happy dentists seem to be the type that are "okay" with dentistry and don't hate it. It would be nice to see a dentist say: "I would do this for free."

But that is true for any job that you can think of. I'm sick of hearing people complain bout how dentistry is so monotomous. Even professional athletes sometimes dread going into practice everyday. You have to realize that its a job and any job will become monotomous overtime if you let it. Its what you do that will keep your career interesting. I think the people who find dentistry to be monotomous will feel the same way if they were in any other career.

 

[Energon]

The only thing I hate about dentistry is Dental school. I cant wait to graduate and go into residency or even work, but right now, I hate dental school, the teachers, the students the politics etc etc etc... the only part I love about dental school is to treat my patients who although being extremely underprivileged (to say the least) really appreciate my efforts.

 

[toothcaries]

worst part of dentistry=dental school.

 

[mailfroggys]

worst part of dentistry=dental school.

what schools do you go to AMMD and toothcaries? i hope its not nyu