Dentistry or Medicine

Your profession shouldnt be based off of money. It should be something that you enjoy. Remember you are doing this for the next 30 years of your life. As for which one to choose. Im pretty sure I am going to be choosing dentistry however I am not sure yet. If I choose dentistry, I have my moms boss who is as of right now waiting for me to graduate dental school and sell me the practice dirt cheap (a big practice too). Or I can become doctor in pediatrics. I love working with kids thats why I am not sure however I have always wanted to be a dentist. Plus I still get to work with kids. However I am not sure if I would want to work with kids as a doctor.

As of right now I am majored in BioChemistry. Dental school here in america is ALOT more competitive than medical is. Dentists also have a lot harder time in dental school than medical students have in med school. Dental students/ Dentists also have the highest suicide rate of any other profession due to how hard it is. But yes, the pay isalot more.

Saving lives? Has anyone forgotten about the link between gingivitis and heart disease??? Unless you are a Level 1 ER doc, you might very well be killing your patients with Rx. (sorry had to).

I think a dentist sounds more fun because you get to have a way less stressful lifestyle and patients aren't as demanding or trying on your nerves. No matter what job you get into, after a few years it will become routine to you no matter what. You can look at a dentist as just being a doctor who specializes in teeth. The only reason dentists get **** is because they aren't in a hospital.

The only reason you should be a doctor is if you want the added prestige associated with having an M.D. next to your name. Unless they are a neurosurgeon or biophysicist, I don't equate a physician any higher than a dentist.

Originally Posted by TowleY

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Your profession shouldnt be based off of money. It should be something that you enjoy. Remember you are doing this for the next 30 years of your life. As for which one to choose. Im pretty sure I am going to be choosing dentistry however I am not sure yet. If I choose dentistry, I have my moms boss who is as of right now waiting for me to graduate dental school and sell me the practice dirt cheap (a big practice too). Or I can become doctor in pediatrics. I love working with kids thats why I am not sure however I have always wanted to be a dentist. Plus I still get to work with kids. However I am not sure if I would want to work with kids as a doctor.

As of right now I am majored in BioChemistry. Dental school here in america is ALOT more competitive than medical is. Dentists also have a lot harder time in dental school than medical students have in med school. Dental students/ Dentists also have the highest suicide rate of any other profession due to how hard it is. But yes, the pay isalot more.

Really? I thought otherwise. The applicant pool for dentistry is way lower. i understand the # of seats is also a lot smaller but still ... theres no autobiographical sketch req, no letters or rec req in many schools and not as much EC/research experience req.

People named Dennis are also much more likely to become a dentist.

Originally Posted by TowleY

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Dental school here in america is ALOT more competitive than medical is. Dentists also have a lot harder time in dental school than medical students have in med school.

I did not spend 1 second looking into dental school so I have no idea if your first comment is correct but what do you base the second on exactly?

It may be true but I kind of doubt it. Of course, I'm biased. The only thing I've heard is that the first two years are pretty similar. That doesn't make much sense to me because I have no idea why dentists would need to get into 90% of the pathology we learn and quite a bit of the anatomy. Pharmacology I can see a bit because of drug interactions, pain killers and anesthetic and some Microbiology.

Originally Posted by TowleY

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As of right now I am majored in BioChemistry. Dental school here in america is ALOT more competitive than medical is. Dentists also have a lot harder time in dental school than medical students have in med school. Dental students/ Dentists also have the highest suicide rate of any other profession due to how hard it is. But yes, the pay isalot more.

Not exactly true:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...t-suicide-rate

Read towards the end of the article.

One thing I know is that the DAT is waaay harder than the MCAT

the mods need to impose a rule that all 'highest suicide rate' type comments are accompanied by evidence ...too much of that **** being bandied about

As of right now I am majored in BioChemistry. Dental school here in america is ALOT more competitive than medical is. Dentists also have a lot harder time in dental school than medical students have in med school.

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I am tempted to flat out call you wrong. If you were over here I would do it. Maybe in the US things are different.

The spacial reasoning on the DAT is pretty interesting. I think they should bring back the old chalk carvings to really test the dentites. The first 2 years of medical and dental school are very much alike in my experience (I was engaged to a dental student until recently). Her coursework mirrored mine but they also did lab work as well. Her class was A LOT less competitive than mine and did A LOT less work than I did. Thats not to say their schooling is easier. I would not want to go into lab every day and have to wax up teeth and work on stone models. Being a doctor and being a dentist can be lucrative, or it can be an average paying job. A few physicians told me "you can make money in any field in medicine as long as you're smart and know what you're doing". I kind of believe it to be true. I know a local dentist who has a HUGE practice and is pulling in over a million a year, he's a businessman first and a dentist second which I think is pretty disrespectful to the medical profession.

I've heard Australia is a great place to be a dentist. I'm a dental student in the US, and have also had classes with the med students so I will chime in. Comments in red.

Originally Posted by JPYPSU07

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I'm in medical school and I hate it. Here are my reasons for why I would go to dental school. 1. They have more fun - there is less stress because very few want to specialize in orthodontics or endo or oral surgery. What? NO. Almost everyone in my class would specialize in those if they could, but only top 10-20% will get to. YES- if you are set on general dentistry all you have to do is pass. In reality I know few people doing the minimum. 2. No residency YES! Actually 1 year residency is required here in NY state, but generally no residency required. I appreciate this more and more as I continue through dental school. The BS is getting old. 3. More money Not really. Probably more money than primary care, less than medical specialities. Of course there are some outliers. Easier to specialize in medicine than dentistry because there are much more specialty options. $/hour, maybe, if you exclude the rock stars. 4. GIRLS ARE INCREDIBLY GOOD LOOKING Uh, not here. 5. MEDICAL SCHOOL GIRLS ARE NOT I CONCUR. 6. More money 7. Make your own hours 4 day week anyone? BINGO. This is huge. Autonomy and a 4 day work week. Pretty hard to top. Harder to find in medicine. In the end its your choice. I'm considering doing an M.D./D.M.D. when I'm finally done but we'll see. Until then, its back to the books.
I almost did medicine, but in the end I decided there was simply too much BS too deal with in medicine these days. Now that I'm in dental school I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Originally Posted by MJC8719x

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Not exactly true:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...t-suicide-rate

Read towards the end of the article.

So ive decided to do some research on the harder/easier one. Obviously the dental students are saying dental schools harder but the med students say med school is harder. So I would say they are both hard. It might not be that dental school is harder, as it is much more competitive since alot of schools have the medical school but not the dental school.

As for that article, very interesting. How much of a common belief it is. If you type in google "Do dentists" the first thing that comes up is "have the highest rate of committing suicide". They are actually a second to shrinks.

What type of doctor are you looking to be if you are one?

Originally Posted by tiecollector

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People named Dennis are also much more likely to become a dentist.

My dentist's name is Dennis.

Originally Posted by Z!NG

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Really? I thought otherwise. The applicant pool for dentistry is way lower. i understand the # of seats is also a lot smaller but still ... theres no autobiographical sketch req, no letters or rec req in many schools and not as much EC/research experience req.

It is pretty easy to get into the DO programs in the US, definitely easier than dental programs. DO = physician.

There were 2200 applications for 90 seats at my dental school last year. Essays, LORs, shadowing all required at every dental school I've heard of.

Quite frankly I don't care about these type of pissing matchs, but dental school is in fact very difficult to get into these days. Average undergrad GPA of my dental class is 3.58 and average of the medical class here is 3.59.

Dentistry here is filled with people who didn't get the marks to get into med school. I thought that was universal, but maybe dentistry is harder to get into in some places?

?!?!?!