00Jay Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I am a third year undergrad planning to write my DAT in Nov and apply this upcoming cycle. So you go through dental school at around 50,000 a year (with tuition, living expenses included etc). Then maybe you want to take another 3 years to specialize in ortho or something which costs maybe another 100,000 bucks! My question is how can you start making money to pay this off? Is there dental residencies as in medicine? Could you work as a dentist while studying graduate dental specialties? Would you open a general practice and work on specializing after you have paid off your debt? It just seems to me that a medical student starts earning money right away (via residency) and can start paying off loans but a dentist must either choose to specialize and pay more or do a general practice. What I'm trying to say in I think I want to be a dentist over a doctor because I prefer the lifestyle and patient population and the manual dexterity part of the job but I fear being homeless coming out of dental school because I won't have any money. I don't want to choose a doctor over dentist just for the financial aspect of it but I fear being in a lifelong debt coming out of dental school Am I way off base here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ostracized Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Another way of looking at it: med students have several years of residency in which they are making okay but not stellar incomes. As a dentist you can hit the ground running right after dental school and potentially make a much higher income that a medicine resident. You don't have to specialize out of dental school and 90% of dentists don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koft Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Another way of looking at it: med students have several years of residency in which they are making okay but not stellar incomes. As a dentist you can hit the ground running right after dental school and potentially make a much higher income that a medicine resident. You don't have to specialize out of dental school and 90% of dentists don't. Only the stupid ones do specialize in Dentistry. It is highly unlikely you can Moonlight as a GP while studying for further training (ie ortho). Not saying can't but you have to a) find time and the limited scheduling (likely only with practices that open at night or weekend) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00Jay Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 so few dentist's specialize, it's best to be prepared to work as a general dentist if you plan on dentistry, in which case, unlike meds, you get to make real money immediately upon graduation, which is pretty sweet. Specializing is a whole other kettle of fish, so you're really comparing apples to oranges by saying that medical residency has an advantage by being paid but dental specialty doesn't because ALL meds do a residency whereas only a tiny minority of dentists specialize. Some schools like Mcgill I've seen have dental residency programs wether they be clinical (like ortho) or OMFS which would be like 3-4 years or something. Since you go to McGill I ask if you know whether or not student get a salary for these residencies which seem similar to medicine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Some schools like Mcgill I've seen have dental residency programs wether they be clinical (like ortho) or OMFS which would be like 3-4 years or something. Since you go to McGill I ask if you know whether or not student get a salary for these residencies which seem similar to medicine? Generally hospital-based residencies will pay you, and university-based residencies will require tuition. The former are generally omfs and peds. The latter include ortho, perio, endo, and prosth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00Jay Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Honestly, there are so many other MUCH more important deciding factors between med and dent, or even general dent vs specialty that modestly paid specialty vs unpaid specialty is really kind of irrelevant. Just for curiosity's sake what do you consider to be some if these important factors.? Because I'm trying to weigh everything I can think of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00Jay Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Thank you for your wise words! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koft Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 As Malkynn already eluded to. there are tons of threads on this forum on that topics. Do what you like and passionate about? Or else, you will burn out very quickly. it is a long road either way, DDS at least 4 after your bachelor degree and MD for 5+ before you can independently practice. Also, you need a backup plan, not everyone wants to become a MD or DDS gets in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monahs Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 what is MD..?? Aren't you done with after 4 years of dental school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 what is MD..??Aren't you done with after 4 years of dental school? md - medical doctor and mostly yeah you are done but you can go on (and a relatively small percentage do) and get further training in a specific area. After 4 years of dental school you are well trained as a general dentist but that doesn't cover everything you can do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invisible-Tooth17 Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 md - medical doctor and mostly yeah you are done but you can go on (and a relatively small percentage do) and get further training in a specific area. After 4 years of medical school you are well trained as a general dentist but that doesn't cover everything you can do I think you meant well trained as a general "doctor". Or you mean after 4 years of "dental" school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 I think you meant well trained as a general "doctor". Or you mean after 4 years of "dental" school. ha oops thanks - Definitely dentist - I did know the forum I was in interesting now to see friends I knew starting out in medical school together and graduate at the same time now opening their own shops up all around. They are going to be deep in business before I ever get settled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invisible-Tooth17 Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 ha oops thanks - Definitely dentist - I did know the forum I was in interesting now to see friends I knew starting out in medical school together and graduate at the same time now opening their own shops up all around. They are going to be deep in business before I ever get settled. Do you mean the dental students whom you were classmates with during your medical school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Do you mean the dental students whom you were classmates with during your medical school? we weren't in the same classes but we were friends - at western they are in the same building, classroom right behind our main one, and often we did events together. Knew them since first year, and was on some committees with them. The school technically is the school of medicine and dentistry and they are working hard to be unify things. Actually was some talk about combining a few things - trouble is the combined classroom numbers are huge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleanup Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 ha oops thanks - Definitely dentist - I did know the forum I was in interesting now to see friends I knew starting out in medical school together and graduate at the same time now opening their own shops up all around. They are going to be deep in business before I ever get settled. Ah, but you'll reap the rewards, especially as a diagnostic radiologist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koft Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Ah, but you'll reap the rewards, especially as a diagnostic radiologist. I thought IR is where the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 I thought IR is where the money! ha - that is very likely the field I am going into - either interventional radiology or perhaps neurointerventional rads. Could change my mind of course! May pay more but the dents have a 6-8 year head start as it were Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleanup Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 I thought IR is where the money! Yeah but diagnostic is way easier on your body, no? And possibly commute time if you just look at images at home all day hahah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 Yeah but diagnostic is way easier on your body, no? And possibly commute time if you just look at images at home all day hahah. with IR you can eventually switch if you like to pure diagnostic - you are usually in the IR suite say 2 days a week and the rest you are reading images anyway. Unless you go down to the US where you are can do it every day if you get the right set up. You can transition is my point - that is one of the things I like about the field, unlike a lot of surgical fields or similar things you can leave that aspect behind and go on to something else. Means part time work after the usual retirement age is more than possible - and that really adds flexibility Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koft Posted May 24, 2014 Report Share Posted May 24, 2014 ha - that is very likely the field I am going into - either interventional radiology or perhaps neurointerventional rads. Could change my mind of course! May pay more but the dents have a 6-8 year head start as it were "SHOW ME THE MONEY".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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