Would you rather be pre-dental?

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Studoc28

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Hey all,

Just curious if you could switch to pre-dental if you would consider it. I am currently a pre-dental student who originally was in a 6-year pharmacy path, but changed routes once I discovered the potential of dentistry.

I do not plan on switching to pre-med, but was worndering if some of you could advise me on why you choose medicine over dental?

I enjoy dentistry, because you begin practicing immediately, low-stress, comparable incomes to non-specialist MD's, and it is more family- oriented. Just looking for your opinions, thanks!
 
Okay, I was looking for a more advance answer than that. You pretty much just said because your ego is too big. Dentist= Doctor of Dental Surgery or Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry. Both positions are doctors.

I do not believe any medical school would accept you upon answering "why medicine" with "I want to be a doctor", unless admissions are significantly easier than I would imagine.
 
Studoc28 said:
Hey all,

Just curious if you could switch to pre-dental if you would consider it. I am currently a pre-dental student who originally was in a 6-year pharmacy path, but changed routes once I discovered the potential of dentistry.

I do not plan on switching to pre-med, but was worndering if some of you could advise me on why you choose medicine over dental?

I enjoy dentistry, because you begin practicing immediately, low-stress, comparable incomes to non-specialist MD's, and it is more family- oriented. Just looking for your opinions, thanks!
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No offense, but generally people have "better" reasons for pursuing medicine than lifestyle and income. You sound well suited for dentistry though since I come from a family of dentists and you sound just like my brother who is a current third year dental student. "I'm still making big bucks and don't have to work as hard as you, sucks to be you!" Very superficial. I don't really understand your aim for posting this here but I'll bite..

Some reasons off the top of my head for why I want to be an MD:

I have a passion for the science behind medicine. Something about becoming in expert in the physiology of the human body is very appealing. I want to be on the forefront of implementing new medical techniques as they are developed, I want to be a lifelong learner.

You have the chance to make a large impact on peoples lives, potentially saving or extending their lives. It is fine if you have a passion for helping people look their best, but for me that just would not give me any satisfaction. I want to make a bigger impact than just making people look good. Health is a fundamental need that I can be helping people with.

I love diagnostic medicine. Although the old fashioned "diagnostician" is disappearing in modern medicine, I still love the concept of having to take in the clues presented by a patient, and solve the "puzzle" of what they have and what treatment would be best for them. I love the fact that medicine incorporates both critical thinking and often physically working with your hands.

I love the connection between seeing information on a screen (picture of a tumor, blood test, etc.) and then being able to actually witness it's affects on a patient. That is very cool to me.
 
Thank you for your response, that does help out a lot!

I was just curious about if pre-med students ever considered pre-dental, and if so, why did they end up choosing pre-med.

Personally, I have never really given much thought to medicine, because dentistry does fit my personality and goals in life more.

I appreciate your response.
 
Studoc28 said:
Thank you for your response, that does help out a lot!

I was just curious about if pre-med students ever considered pre-dental, and if so, why did they end up choosing pre-med.

Personally, I have never really given much thought to medicine, because dentistry does fit my personality and goals in life more.

I appreciate your response.
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No problem! I hope I didn't come off as rude. It is very true that medicine and dentistry just attracts very different personalities. It is what it is.
 
No, not at all. From your response, it appears you have a true passion for medicine and have valid reasons as to why you choose it. For me, I never believed I was destined for a specific field. In high school I wanted to pursue a MBA, then I got accepted into RX school because I believed it was a smart investment for a 6-year doctor program. Then I discovered dentistry, because I was searching around since I was doing very well in school (3.93 gpa) Dentistry appealed to me as a business decision and based off of my goals in life.
 
Pre-dent is no different from pre-med as far as undergrad courses are concerned. The two fields are very different and I doubt many people have a hard time picking one over another. Go shadow some doctors and a dentist and see for yourself. Otherwise, dentistry is probably the most lifestyle friendly field in all of healthcare. But for me it's too much drilling, filling and billing 😛
 
I was a pre-dent for a year or two before switching to pre-med. The reason why is pretty simple. I was a pre-dent purely for the reasons you stated in your post (good income, low stress, family life friendly, etc.) I came to my senses and realized that these reasons were not meant to be used for the purpose of finding a life-changing career. Now, I do not envy pre-dent or dental students in any way, shape, or form and will never switch back to dentistry even if I get an automatic acceptance to dental school. I'm going to make a controversial statement...dentistry is a career for people with the priority of living a good life (nothing wrong with that) higher than helping others while medicine is where the priority of caring for people is higher than living it up (does not mean it is the first priority for most pre-med though)
 
Dr.Smexy said:
I was a pre-dent for a year or two before switching to pre-med. The reason why is pretty simple. I was a pre-dent purely for the reasons you stated in your post (good income, low stress, family life friendly, etc.) I came to my senses and realized that these reasons were not meant to be used for the purpose of finding a life-changing career. Now, I do not envy pre-dent or dental students in any way, shape, or form and will never switch back to dentistry even if I get an automatic acceptance to dental school. I'm going to make a controversial statement...dentistry is a career for people with the priority of living a good life (nothing wrong with that) higher than helping others while medicine is where the priority of caring for people is higher than living it up (does not mean it is the first priority for most pre-med though)
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I find this interesting though since don't dentists have higher rates of depression/ suicide than any other career? At least I remember reading that in more than one place...
 
Yes, perks of dental field include a better family life with similar pay. However, I did not want to be limited to working with teeth/mouth for 40 or so years, so dentistry is definitely not the right choice for me. I have many substantial, specific reasons for going into medicine. You should look into both fields and while it's important to consider family life and all that, you should find reasons specifically about the career itself.
 
partypantss said:
I find this interesting though since don't dentists have higher rates of depression/ suicide than any other career? At least I remember reading that in more than one place...
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Unless you are in a more stressful specialty like oral surgery, I can't imagine work stress as a dentist would be high enough to warrant depression or suicide. I think you are confusing medical with dental.
 
Dr.Smexy said:
Highly doubt that is the case unless you can provide a credible research to support your statement.
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Glazedonutlove said:
Unless you are in a more stressful specialty like oral surgery, I can't imagine work stress as a dentist would be high enough to warrant depression or suicide. I think you are confusing medical with dental.
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Your right, the general consensus looks like MD's have highest rate of suicide out of all professions, with Dentists in second place. I don't remember where I got my misinformation from. Second highest still seems surprising though.

http://www.newhealthguide.org/Highest-Suicide-Rate-By-Profession.html

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/01/06/top-11-professions-with-highest-suicide-rates/

I am not about to do a pubmed search on this however, so make of it whatever you want.
 
partypantss said:
Your right, the general consensus looks like MD's have highest rate of suicide out of all professions, with Dentists in second place. I don't remember where I got my misinformation from. Second highest still seems surprising though.

http://www.newhealthguide.org/Highest-Suicide-Rate-By-Profession.html

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/01/06/top-11-professions-with-highest-suicide-rates/

I am not about to do a pubmed search on this however, so make of it whatever you want.
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Dentistry having the top suicide rate is something I've heard since I was 8 years old. I guess it was true in the early 90s? Also #12 on that list is lathe operators. I really hope that's not how they do it...
 
NotASerialKiller said:
Dentistry having the top suicide rate is something I've heard since I was 8 years old. I guess it was true in the early 90s? Also #12 on that list is lathe operators. I really hope that's not how they do it...
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Well I'm glad I'm not just crazy for thinking that.. It could have been an old article, I know it was years ago when I read whatever it was that said that about dentists.
 
I thought about it, but then I realized I had okay to mediocre experiences at the dentist, so I don't even have the desire to shadow a dentist.
 
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Does anyone consider the time it takes to become a medical doctor compared to a dentist? In my opinion, being a family physician would not be the most exciting position, constantly prescribing antibiotics, blood pressure, depression, anxiety, and cholesterol medications. I think the only way it is worth it is to specialize.

Do you consider your income?

Lifestyle in regards to hours, vacation, stress?

How about enjoying your life outside of work? Exploring the world, raising a family, etc.
 
I was pre-dental. I tried really hard to be interested in it but eventually realized I was just kidding myself. Medicine is just much more interesting overall.
 
partypantss said:
You have the chance to make a large impact on peoples lives, potentially saving or extending their lives. It is fine if you have a passion for helping people look their best, but for me that just would not give me any satisfaction. I want to make a bigger impact than just making people look good. Health is a fundamental need that I can be helping people with.
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Are you intentionally being asinine?
 
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They all play a role in improving an individual's quality of life. So dentists are no less important than doctors... They're all important.

It just depends on what area of health care you want to work in. And no, I don't recommend becoming a dentist and accumulating all that debt for the promise of a good salary and cushy lifestyle... You don't enter any aspect of health care because you like money, I think.

Any professional will have enough money for a nice house, car, and college funds for kiddies later on in life. What matters most is whether you can continue to work in the field when all your basic needs are met. At least that's my philosophy.
 
Dental practices are changing too. The golden days are almost done.
 
The air of superiority here is almost tangible. Just come out and say it: you want to be a doctor because it has more prestige. @Holmwood made a great point saying that both careers help people. Dentistry isn't just for aesthetics and check-ups you delusional idiots.

Some people have said that "I don't want to be restricted to just a mouth for my life". Can you be any more condescending? That's like telling a cardiovascular surgeon that you don't want to look at boring old hearts all day. Or telling an anesthesiologist that you don't want to just tinker around with drugs your entire life. Last time I checked, the mouth was part of the body too.

Get off your high horses. You aren't better than anyone else.
 
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WonderGrill said:
The air of superiority here is almost tangible. Just come out and say it: you want to be a doctor because it has more prestige. @Holmwood made a great point saying that both careers help people. Dentistry isn't just for aesthetics and check-ups you delusional idiots.

Some people have said that "I don't want to be restricted to just a mouth for my life". Can you be any more condescending? That's like telling a cardiovascular surgeon that you don't want to look at boring old hearts all day. Or telling an anesthesiologist that you don't want to just tinker around with drugs your entire life. Last time I checked, the mouth was part of the body too.

Get off your high horses. You aren't better than anyone else.
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I agree that in a pre-med forum you're going to see pre-meds saying that medicine is better.

But to the bold, the difference is that when you got to medical school you still have the choice of picking whatever specialty you want, and there are more to choose from than when you go to dental school. You aren't simply locked into a certain body part when you go to medical school, but when you go to dental school you are. You can obviously specialize post dental school, but again the specialization will revolve around one part of the body more or less. It's not condescending to say that, it is simply fact.

Either way I don't think one is superior to the other; it really depends on fit and OP seems to have figured it out.
 
Banco said:
I agree that in a pre-med forum you're going to see pre-meds saying that medicine is better.

But to the bold, the difference is that when you got to medical school you still have the choice of picking whatever specialty you want, and there are more to choose from than when you go to dental school. You aren't simply locked into a certain body part when you go to medical school, but when you go to dental school you are. You can obviously specialize post dental school, but again the specialization will revolve around one part of the body more or less. It's not condescending to say that, it is simply fact.

Either way I don't think one is superior to the other; it really depends on fit and OP seems to have figured it out.
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I agree with you for the most part, but most people here have said that they don't want to be stuck in the mouth "for their entire lives". Once you choose a specialty, you're gonna be in that specialty for your entire life.
 
Spector1 said:
Because Doctor > Dentist
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Well, this was a relevant and helpful post.

There's nothing wrong w choosing a profession based on lifestyle and family business etc as long as it's also in line w your interests and what you want from life.

I would have been miserable as a physician.

I am incredibly happy w my career path, and minus the occasional frustrating employee or frustrating patient interaction, work doesn't even feel like work.
 
It really sounds like OP is considering the move from dental to medicine but doesn't want to say that so he asks others why they didn't go dental. lol
 
I'm just not that interested in teeth/mouth care. I'm also not all that interested in the GI tract, so I probably won't do gastroenterology either.
 
Why are the golden days over? Dentistry was suppose to take off once the baby-bloomers retired in mid-late 2000s. However, many of them stood in practice due to the recession or sold their clinic to an organization and are working part-time. Meaning, the best era of dentistry is still ahead. Also, Obamacare severely affects medical doctors more than dentist, because you essentially are a slave to all of our Obamacare and Medicaid patients-with reduced cost of services.

Straight out of Dental School the average dentist makes about $160,000, and specialists like endo/ortho about $200,000 then oral surgeons about $250,000 (takes much longer). While with medical school don't you need to do a residency for normally two years just to be a family physician?

So with all the extra time you are losing out a minimum of $160,000 a year.
 
ChillDawg said:
Are you intentionally being asinine?
Click to expand...

That was an exaggeration, I am aware that dentists do help with people's oral health issues and that things like closing gaps in teeth can have other health implications. I obviously know that dentists don't ONLY "make people look good." I am just saying that it is a large part of the career of the average dentist. My outlook may be skewed what with my father owning a orthodontic chain in NYC, it was largely aesthetic improvements that he was doing. My point stands that dentistry would not be fulfilling for me personally.

Plus obviously I'm a young guy in my 20's, my only personal experience with dentists are teeth cleanings, cavity filings, braces and wisdom tooth extractions from the oral surgeon. All aesthetic or just minor "tooth health" issues.
 
Studoc28 said:
Why are the golden days over? Dentistry was suppose to take off once the baby-bloomers retired in mid-late 2000s. However, many of them stood in practice due to the recession or sold their clinic to an organization and are working part-time. Meaning, the best era of dentistry is still ahead. Also, Obamacare severely affects medical doctors more than dentist, because you essentially are a slave to all of our Obamacare and Medicaid patients-with reduced cost of services.

Straight out of Dental School the average dentist makes about $160,000, and specialists like endo/ortho about $200,000 then oral surgeons about $250,000 (takes much longer). While with medical school don't you need to do a residency for normally two years just to be a family physician?

So with all the extra time you are losing out a minimum of $160,000 a year.
Click to expand...

Oral surgeons make A LOT more than $250,000. How about wisdom teeth extraction or implant placement both for ~$2000; takes an hour and no hassle with insurance or hospital OR.

I think dentistry is a great field and if you like it, you should absolutely pursue it. You will not be affected by insurance companies to the same extent as physicians, not be bought or enslaved by a greedy hospital and there are no hygienists claiming that they can do your job with only a fraction of your education.
 
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Studoc28 said:
Why are the golden days over?
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@ciruji is a random premed (likely freshman) who often says things that are either unsourced or just plain incorrect (e.g., the time he said that the new MCAT percentiles are inflated and comparing them with old MCAT percentiles would not be valid 😕).

So ignore him is basically what I am saying
 
allantois said:
Oral surgeons make A LOT more than $250,000. How about wisdom teeth extraction or implant placement both for ~$2000; takes an hour and no hassle with insurance or hospital OR.

I think dentistry is a great field and if you like it, you should absolutely pursue it. You will not be affected by insurance companies to the same extent as physicians, not be bought or enslaved by a greedy hospital and there are no hygienists claiming that they can do your job with only a fraction of your education.
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I would like to point out that an aspiring dentist should not EXPECT to become an orthodontist/ oral surgeon when they are starting dental school. That's probably worse than a med student expecting to become a dermatologist (although I could be wrong about that.) From what I have seen, you need to be in the top 3-5% of your class (depending on which dental school) to get into ortho school. The VAST majority of dental students will be general dentists, which is fine, just it's important to have realistic expectations.
 
Studoc28 said:
Why are the golden days over? Dentistry was suppose to take off once the baby-bloomers retired in mid-late 2000s. However, many of them stood in practice due to the recession or sold their clinic to an organization and are working part-time. Meaning, the best era of dentistry is still ahead. Also, Obamacare severely affects medical doctors more than dentist, because you essentially are a slave to all of our Obamacare and Medicaid patients-with reduced cost of services.

Straight out of Dental School the average dentist makes about $160,000, and specialists like endo/ortho about $200,000 then oral surgeons about $250,000 (takes much longer). While with medical school don't you need to do a residency for normally two years just to be a family physician?

So with all the extra time you are losing out a minimum of $160,000 a year.
Click to expand...
Cool story bro. If you've made your career choice already, that's great. What is the point of coming in here, asking a hypothetical, and then lashing out at those who answer that hypothetical with their opinions? We are not here to stage a Lincoln-Douglas debate with you over dental vs. medicine. Frankly, we do not care. You asked us why we chose medicine. We answered. Then you counter, you argue. What the hell is the point

You sound desperate to get as much reassurance about your career choice as you can. That is kinda sad but that is ok. If that's what you want, sure I can do that for you: For someone so obsessed over income, work-life balance, and confirmation that physicians are not better off than you, you are making the best decision for yourself. Dentistry is awesome for someone like you. Take it and run. Get into dental school, stop spamming this premed forum. There is a dental forum for you and your buddies.
 
It's just a question. Rather explore my options now than regret it once it's too late. Sorry that I got you so worked up. I really do appreciate all the responses, just wanted to see if there was something special about medicine that I wasn't taking into consideration.

Just trying to learn, if it really frustrates you that much no need to respond.
 
Studoc28 said:
It's just a question. Rather explore my options now than regret it once it's too late. Sorry that I got you so worked up. I really do appreciate all the responses, just wanted to see if there was something special about medicine that I wasn't taking into consideration.

Just trying to learn, if it really frustrates you that much no need to respond.
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...tbh you were the one who sounded frustrated when people started bringing up more reasons against dental lol

The overwhelming response you're going to get (and have been getting, mind you) is that 1) we are not willing to limit ourselves to teeth so early; we are more interested in learning about the human body at large and providing more complete care, 2) we are willing to give up time, money, life flexibility for the more intellectual experience, and 3) for some people, being a physician is just better than being a dentist. Regarding 3), we call those people snobs. There are snobs everywhere, so you should only be focusing on 1) and 2)
 
Btw this is a great resource on dental practice,

http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science and Research/HPI/Files/10_sdpi.ashx

Some of the findings:
over 90% of all dentists work in private practice
A general dentist makes ~$190,000 on average
Average hours worked is 36, of those 32 were spent on seeing patients

Bottom line, dentists are better off than primary care providers as far as hourly income is concerned (far better off than pediatricians). I think the greatest regret one going into medical school can have is if they discover that they cannot match into a desired specialty and are stuck with something they dislike. With dentistry, you can be sure of what you are getting into.
 
allantois said:
With dentistry, you can be sure of what you are getting into.
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I shadowed two brothers. One was a dentist, the other a primary care doctor. In each case, the other thought the brother was better off. The dentist had to start as an employee and buy into a practice. Long hours, less pay than his brother the doctor and he still had significant loans. Now he has more overhead than his brother for his practice (where he is only a partner). He has also been adversely affected by his patient population. He constantly needs to add insurance companies to keep existing patients and fight for new ones because the employer plans change annually now in the mills and factories that make up our local economy. He also deals with a large population that has no dental insureance so he does finance programs. He is often left in the cold when people declare bankruptcy on debts. The doctor sent to school longer but was able to pay off his loans earlier due to signing bonus and loan deals since the area is considered underserved. He woks longer hours now and has to deal with higher medical malpractice issues. He deals with medicaid and medicare issues but is pretty much okay with the insurance because our state has so few insurance options. His office rental and overhead is lower now that he joined into a physician's group.
 
allantois said:
Btw this is a great resource on dental practice,

http://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Science and Research/HPI/Files/10_sdpi.ashx

Some of the findings:
over 90% of all dentists work in private practice
A general dentist makes ~$190,000 on average
Average hours worked is 36, of those 32 were spent on seeing patients

Bottom line, dentists are better off than primary care providers as far as hourly income is concerned (far better off than pediatricians). I think the greatest regret one going into medical school can have is if they discover that they cannot match into a desired specialty and are stuck with something they dislike. With dentistry, you can be sure of what you are getting into.
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Jaysus! That's not even full time O_O Good for them, I guess.



Truth be told, I've never considered dentistry as a career path. I've provided my reasons for wanting to be a physician on this site on several ocassions and - looking at dentistry (as well as a few medical specialties) - I just don't see it meeting enough of those criteria.

You can't be a psychiatrist after dental school, either. 😉 And they work similar hours with similar pay to general dentists (see above).
 
Being a dentist is like being a podiatrist. You have to know very early on that you're okay with the one body part.

And I'm not.
 
WonderGrill said:
The air of superiority here is almost tangible. Just come out and say it: you want to be a doctor because it has more prestige. @Holmwood made a great point saying that both careers help people. Dentistry isn't just for aesthetics and check-ups you delusional idiots.

Some people have said that "I don't want to be restricted to just a mouth for my life". Can you be any more condescending? That's like telling a cardiovascular surgeon that you don't want to look at boring old hearts all day. Or telling an anesthesiologist that you don't want to just tinker around with drugs your entire life. Last time I checked, the mouth was part of the body too.

Get off your high horses. You aren't better than anyone else.
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You think we have superiority complex but you give off a strong scent of inferiority complex...I guess that make all of us even:cigar:
 
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J Senpai said:
Jaysus! That's not even full time O_O

You can't be a psychiatrist after dental school, either. 😉 And they work similar hours with similar pay to general dentists (see above).
Click to expand...

What infuriates me is that you can, for all practical purposes, be a "psychiatrist" by going to a 3 year DNP program and writing a thesis on nursing activism. It's true! The question is then, why go to medical school getting yourself into a mountain of debt working like a dog in residency?

No such thing is happening to dentistry.
 
allantois said:
What infuriates me is that you can, for all practical purposes, be a "psychiatrist" by going to a 3 year DNP program and writing a thesis on nursing activism. It's true! The question is then, why go to medical school getting yourself into a mountain of debt working like a dog in residency?

No such thing is happening to dentistry.
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In lurking around the psych sub forum, mid-level encroachment appears to be a thing in psychiatry, but not to the extent one finds in other specialties. The reason being that mental health isn't super attractive to mid-levels, at least right now. Most seem confident that it's still a safer route than going into most other specialties.

One wonders why dentistry hasn't seen such encroachment. I'd like some opinions.
 
J Senpai said:
In lurking around the psych sub forum, mid-level encroachment appears to be a thing in psychiatry, but not to the extent one finds in other specialties. The reason being that mental health isn't super attractive to mid-levels, at least right now. Most seem confident that it's still a safer route than going into most other specialties.

One wonders why dentistry hasn't seen such encroachment. I'd like some opinions.
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I think it would take the same amount of time or shorter to just go to dental school than it would to go RN->NP->dentistry specialization or PA->dentistry specialization due to the lack of a residency requirement for dentists, and dentists already have low work hours and high pay.
 
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