medicine or dentistry??

[jhkoreacanada]

hi everyone. I tried looking for a post like this. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one. I'm sorry for starting a new thread.

 

So I'm going into third year. I didn't really consider dentistry until maybe 3 or 4 months ago. The thing I like about dentistry is being flexible with how much you work once you're well established.

 

One thing I really want to do during my life is composing music for movies. I've played piano for quite a long time, more than 10 years. I actually went to some competition in Toronto last year. There were like 7 girls majoring in piano, some of them from U of T, but I got first place even though I was a science student. Yeah, so I always enjoyed music and I like to improvise and compose..

 

I heard that some dentists work 3 or 4 days a week. And I feel like this flexibility can help me pursue music along with a career as a dentist.

 

 

But on the other hand, I always wanted to go into medicine. And I find medicine fascinating because it deals with more serious cases (life or death) as opposed to dentistry. I find that not too many specialties in medicine gives you the freedom to work 3 or 4 days a week (maybe aside from dermatology). I'm worried that maybe I would regret my choice to go into dentistry (right now I think I'm 60% into dentistry, and 40% medicine) since medicine was something I wanted to go into for a very long time.

 

 

Has anyone faced situations like this?? I'd love to hear what you ended up choosing.. And I'd like your advice or inputs.

 

 

thanks alott =)

[marcusnasland]

I was sort of in the same situation that you are in. I was always thinking which one I would be better suited for, but was always leaning towards dentistry in the back of my mind.

 

I think I finally realized that I loved everything about dentistry and the only thing that was holding me back was wanting the prestige of medicine (I am an extremely competitive person). So in the end I chose the proffession that I felt I would be most happy with, and not what other people would think of me... that would be dentistry

[future_doc]

hi everyone. I tried looking for a post like this. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one. I'm sorry for starting a new thread.

 

So I'm going into third year. I didn't really consider dentistry until maybe 3 or 4 months ago. The thing I like about dentistry is being flexible with how much you work once you're well established.

 

One thing I really want to do during my life is composing music for movies. I've played piano for quite a long time, more than 10 years. I actually went to some competition in Toronto last year. There were like 7 girls majoring in piano, some of them from U of T, but I got first place even though I was a science student. Yeah, so I always enjoyed music and I like to improvise and compose..

 

I heard that some dentists work 3 or 4 days a week. And I feel like this flexibility can help me pursue music along with a career as a dentist.

 

 

But on the other hand, I always wanted to go into medicine. And I find medicine fascinating because it deals with more serious cases (life or death) as opposed to dentistry. I find that not too many specialties in medicine gives you the freedom to work 3 or 4 days a week (maybe aside from dermatology). I'm worried that maybe I would regret my choice to go into dentistry (right now I think I'm 60% into dentistry, and 40% medicine) since medicine was something I wanted to go into for a very long time.

 

 

Has anyone faced situations like this?? I'd love to hear what you ended up choosing.. And I'd like your advice or inputs.

 

 

thanks alott =)

 

I could not imagine myself as a dentist. I know of two dentists in the latter stages of their pracctices. Noth for many many years are into miusic. One has agroup and plays at weddings and at old people's homes events. The other is providing equipment and management to inner city kids interested in music. Dentists appear to have lots of extra time on their hands, whereas most doctors don't. One top dentist told me he works a max. of three and a half days a week, then he teaches dental students at university and uses the additional time he could otherwise devote to his practice in pursuit of hobbies he loves.

 

Follow your heart, we all need to do that which we enjoy.

[eddo]

I had to make this same decision just over a week ago. I ultimately chose dentistry because I didn't want to wait 8+ years to be able to properly start a family. I also love working with my hands and I knew dentistry would allow me to do this much more than medicine. Few people realize that even the very hands on medical specialties like surgery only do surgeries about 2 days a week. The rest of their time is spent seeing patients before and after surgeries, and doing paper work. Dentistry allows you to work with your hands all day.

 

It is possible to have a decent lifestyle with medicine, but many of the lifestyle specialties are very competitive and you'll will have to go through 4 years of school and up to 6 years of residency before you get that nice lifestyle. Personally I was worried that after working so much for that long I would have lost most of my hobbies and friends, and I wasn't willing to make that sacrifice. That being said that isn't the case for everyone, I'm just honest with myself that I wouldn't be able to keep up that work load without neglecting other areas of my life. You need to ask yourself if you are the type of person who can work the long days of school and residency while still having a life, or if not, are you willing to sacrifice that, at least for a while, to do medicine? My aunt who is an obstetrician and loves her job told me she thought dentistry was a good choice because it won't "eat up my life" the way medicine often can.

 

I had a similar experience to marcusnasland. I was drawn by the prestige of medicine and it blinded me to the sacrifices I would have to make. I'm not saying medicine is a bad choice, you need to decide that for yourself. Just make sure that you fully understand what you are getting into.

 

My advice is talk to/shadow as many dentists and doctors as you can. Ask them why they chose it, if they would do it again, what was different than they expected, what part they like best, worst etc... Also ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years, 10 years. The training for medicine is very long, so that's something to take into consideration. Most importantly, go post this on the med forum so that you can get both sides of the story. Best of luck.

[jayeeee]

My opinion is that the people who are most committed to med, the ones that try numerous times to gain entry, the ones that have only that one goal in mind, are the ones who truly should become physicians. The rigors of medicine are so great that the system should only allow those who truly have a passion for it into its programs. The system is strained enough as it is in Canada, it doesn't need wishy-washy physicians who take up spots in the medical schools only to change careers 5 years into practice. The system doesn't need anymore physicians that just don't care. I've met numerous students who only do volunteer work for the sake of looking good for admissions committees. It's terrible, because not only are these kids shortchanging the system by "bluffing" their way into a program that really requires compassionate and selfless people, they're shortchanging themselves into pursuing a program that they don't really love.

 

Is medicine really all that glamorous? Through all the bureaucratic red tape, modest salaries, and insane working hours, I don't really think so. Do you really truly care about what Joe Blow thinks about you? In fact, I'm consistently more satisfied visiting my dentist in terms of service than when I visit my family practitioner or any of the specialists I've seen over the years.

 

Ultimately, it's choosing between a life or a job. Medicine is a life, dentistry is a job. I only know a few people who are truly selfless enough to commit to a life in Medicine. I'm not, and it took a few years for me to realize. I got over myself, and went for dentistry.

[toothhead]

hi everyone. I tried looking for a post like this. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one. I'm sorry for starting a new thread.

 

So I'm going into third year. I didn't really consider dentistry until maybe 3 or 4 months ago. The thing I like about dentistry is being flexible with how much you work once you're well established.

 

One thing I really want to do during my life is composing music for movies. I've played piano for quite a long time, more than 10 years. I actually went to some competition in Toronto last year. There were like 7 girls majoring in piano, some of them from U of T, but I got first place even though I was a science student. Yeah, so I always enjoyed music and I like to improvise and compose..

 

I heard that some dentists work 3 or 4 days a week. And I feel like this flexibility can help me pursue music along with a career as a dentist.

 

 

But on the other hand, I always wanted to go into medicine. And I find medicine fascinating because it deals with more serious cases (life or death) as opposed to dentistry. I find that not too many specialties in medicine gives you the freedom to work 3 or 4 days a week (maybe aside from dermatology). I'm worried that maybe I would regret my choice to go into dentistry (right now I think I'm 60% into dentistry, and 40% medicine) since medicine was something I wanted to go into for a very long time.

 

 

Has anyone faced situations like this?? I'd love to hear what you ended up choosing.. And I'd like your advice or inputs.

 

 

thanks alott =)

 

Your story is the story of my life. I wanted to be a professional composer, but I was always afraid I would end up playing in metro stations and wanted a real, stable job. Dentistry appealed to my artsy side and gave me that opportunity, so I chose it over medicine. Like you, I was equally interested in medicine as a path of study, but then I decided that if I didn't have time to play my piano, compose, and basically have music in my life, life wouldn't be worth living anymore. Plenty of doctors have time for small hobbies, but you have to consider what life would be like for you if your hobby just didn't fit your schedule anymore.

[jhkoreacanada]

thanks alot everyone!!