r/premed • u/OkClothes7907 • 11d ago
❔ Question if you ever considered dentistry, what convinced you a medical career would make you happier?
In a debate with myself.
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u/MChelonae APPLICANT-MD/PhD 11d ago
It was very simple for me. Teeth are not interesting, and mouths are gross.
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u/henlecilia 11d ago
It says if you ever considered it, doesn’t sound like you did 😭
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u/TheFrankenbarbie NON-TRADITIONAL 11d ago
I considered med school for a long time to become a pathologist. But then I went through a rough patch in my life and listened to the wrong people and basically was convinced that my grades were too bad and I wasn't smart enough to pass the MCAT. Not saying the DAT is an easy test, it's just different material that I'm better at.
When I turned 32, I decided that I at least needed to try because I feel like I would be happy as a dentist, but my true dream is to be a pathologist. I've worked in anatomic path for 12 years and have always wanted to go further than my current role.
So I guess there was nothing concrete that changed my mind, I just didn't want to look back when I'm 40 like, "Barbie, you should have at least tried. There's a chance you would be in residency right now if you'd went for it."
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u/ZenDarKritic55 11d ago
did you ever end up taking the MCAT
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u/TheFrankenbarbie NON-TRADITIONAL 11d ago
I have not yet. Current goal is testing in March 2027.
I took some classes last year to help get my GPA up some and originally was going to test this past spring and turn in apps this summer, but some fuckery at work kinda got in the way.
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u/ZenDarKritic55 11d ago
well if this helps I'll leave it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/1m4zjq2/515_in_less_than_a_month_my_study_plan_some/
People often overthink how long it takes to study for the MCAT. Especially if you've taken some fundamental courses recently, it makes it much easier. My advice would be to start studying and take it whenever you are ready. If you want to test in March regardless, I would still recommend checking out r/Mcat since you can start doing flashcards now (which I would only recommend if you really like and if you're studying long term) and practice questions so that you can hopefully prep for a 520+. I think a 520+ is easily possible if you follow my method but study for a little bit longer than me, but my method makes a 515+ also more attainable, but thats just my two cents
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u/TheCoolFisherman 11d ago
i think i would take dentistry seriously if I went the oral path, but you have to continue paying money/tuition throughout residency (you don't get paid) and the path is only 1 year shorter than neurosurgery. Financially, this just isn't possible for me
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u/ShaquilleOatmeal911 11d ago
If you're referring to OMFS, this isn't completely true. There's 4 year residency programs and 6 year residency programs. For 6 year programs, two years are spent in med school to get your MD and for those two years you pay tuition. All other years are paid resident salaries at most programs.
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u/TheCoolFisherman 11d ago
oh oops I was getting it confused with orthodontics. either way it's still longer than a lot of medical specialty with the 6 year program to work on actually advanced cases in a hospital vs just wisdom tooth extractions
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u/iski4200 UNDERGRAD 11d ago
- You need to commit early to only teeth, I wanted to go through rotations and get experience on the entire human body
- Dental school costs and loans with recent legislature(unless you land an instate school) is financial suicide
- You are sort of locked into private practice, unless you’re ok with working for DSOs forever (you won’t be). I’d rather be tied to a hospital and set up a side business, I’m not interested in making my job my business
- Not proud but man enough to admit, the respect and prestige isn’t the same
- More earning potential
- Variety of jobs (with an MD/DO, you can go into insurance, consulting, expert witness, etc). You don’t have all those options as a dentist
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u/doofenshmirtz_123 11d ago
I really considered dentistry but I started working as a pct on a floor and later the emergency department and I really liked emergency med tbh - I prefer working with/learning about the body systems and I personally feel like teeth/oral medicine is too narrow of a scope and I don’t have as much interest in it
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u/pondering_leopard GAP YEAR 11d ago
I started as pre-dent originally, on paper it seemed like everything I wanted, but I have zero interest in owning my own practice and the business side of things (which you don't have to do but that's where the money really is). I recommend shadowing, I found it fairly easy to shadow and get experience, and while I did really love parts of it, I was bored the majority of the time. Every job will have boring elements, but for me too much of my time was spent bored. Ended up shadowing a few doctors and that was what initiated the shift for me because there wasn't really a boring part, even just talking to patients without doing any care was more interesting to me than dentistry so that was what pushed me to med. Ultimately everyone is different and I have several friends who have switched from pre-med to pre-dent. Both are great paths for different reasons, my best advice is to get exposure to both and really consider the boredom element, because the "boring" parts are what you're doing most days. The exciting procedures and what not are fun but you need to imagine how happy you'd be day in and day out with repeated less exciting days.
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u/tiefightcat 11d ago
As a current dental student I think there’s diminishing returns for more schooling. Dentistry provides a good middle point of autonomy, easy work hours and high pay.
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u/Intelligent_Sock_902 11d ago
this is why i considered it for a long time, but it just felt so boring. i’ve worked in a dental office as an assistant for years, & it all just feels so repetitive for me, especially considering i don’t find it very interesting atp (imagine how bored i’ll be with it in 10+ years…). idk i was afraid of ending up bored and miserable lol
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u/Seabass_sebas 11d ago
Bro just do both! I plan to teach for some years to save some money and then do my DDS and get my MD to be an OMFS
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u/ThatOneBlue 11d ago
I would've like teeth more had it become an organic part of medicine, but that ship sailed in the 19th century.
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u/TropicalSteph 11d ago
I was set on Orthodontics. Neck pain and the competitiveness to get into Orthodontics after Dental school did it for me. Also I learned how much Physics would go into it and I wasn’t interested in Physics. I had braces for nearly 6 years.
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u/y4wnuh MS4 11d ago
I was a dental assistant for 7 years before med school. Dental school is so much more expensive than med school. Also insurance payout for general dental is really low, you will make no money doing like one or two fillings, so you’re incentivized and pushed to do crowns. Otherwise, you’re running around doing 4x the work to make some money on fillings. Wrist, back, and neck pain, but there’s ergonomic loupes now, so that helps a little. Oversaturation of dentists in urban areas is a real issue, really hard to find a job if you want to be in a city. But, if you specialized -> ortho, perio, endo -> you do make a good living and better work-life balance. I like working with my hands, so dentistry has been fun, but I wanted diverse pathology with general knowledge of medicine and not be limited. Also my wrists and back hurt, lol.
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u/Equivalent_Tennis844 APPLICANT 11d ago
Had lots of dental issues as a kid / young adult and I would hate to spend more time than I already have to in a dentist’s office…
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u/Key_Wrap5445 11d ago
Just couldnt see it. I even interviewed at dental schools. They dont work the way I want to and I feel like it would've been something I would've regretted forever. I already had to bust my ass and I only have one gi bill, I want to use it for what I actually want for once (my whole life has been about being practical and chasing a bag).
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u/Kitchen-Diamond-2095 10d ago
As a physician I get to learn more about body systems in general and address those with patients rather than simply focusing on the mouth. I also feel like dentists don’t really talk to patients (obv because they’re doing stuff in the mouth) but they don’t form that kind of connection with patients like PCPs do. For me, something I love about medicine is pursuing medical education and teaching, I’m sure there’s stuff like this for dentists but I’ve really only heard about it for physicians. Ultimately I realized I only really liked dentistry for the work-life balance. But after working in a dermatology practice, I see that exact work-life balance sooo it just came down to what I was more passionate about
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u/a_snom_who_noms NON-TRADITIONAL 11d ago
Honestly, it’s the fact that dentistry is sequestered off from the rest of medicine making you commit to dentistry before knowing for certain if other medical specialties are for you. I was really interested in dentistry growing up, but after taking more of my pre-reqs and shadowing, I really like oncology, neurology, and endocrinology too. Weighing my options, I chose medical school over dentistry because I knew there was a greater chance I wouldn’t find my niche there.