dentistry vs. medicine

[dandoon96]

Year 12 still confused which path to go to!!

Passion for both, weirdly!

Can anyone studying either give me a bit of their perspective on their experience and uni perhaps?

Only thing stopping me for medicine and giving me 2nd thoughts is.. The disecting part which disgusts me!

Only thing stopping me from dentistry is the fact that it doesn't have the same prestige and reputation as medics! - and the fact tht my dream uni Oxford doesn't offer it!

I love the anatomy of the human body .. And the constant meeting of new ppl and helping them out.. Being in. A family of medics and genuine passion for the subject.. I tHink this is where I wnna goa

[Avan:)]

The dissecting part is stopping you from medicine?

Um, you know medicine is a vast subject and it does not boil down to dissecting things...

You don't have to become a surgeon, you could be a GP or do radiology or go into research.

Just look at the different areas of medicine and get to know more about it, but honestly that is exactly what you will do

once you're at Uni.

[Mahuta ♥]

mm I wanted to do Medicine ever since I was like..5 years old, then during IB2, I changed my mind to Dentistry and put it as my 1st option, but ended up in Med School, and I am so grateful, here's why: (from my perspective of course):

You love human anatomy, which probably means you're loving Biology. I also assume you can't get enough facts and new things about the human body..etc..etc..etc. If I am right, please..oh please don't do dentistry.

Besides the whole reputation and prestige thing, even though Dentistry is a branch of medicine, in terms of what you end up being and what it gives you..it doesn't compare to medicine, and I mean it. I don't know about the UK, but here in Tunisia, just looking at the subjects they study, I feel like crying all day from happiness and joy that I didn't do Dentistry. In the first year or two, things could be really similar to med school. But in the end you will be concerned with nothing but the mouth and jaws. I visited the faculty, their clinic, and I felt sorry for the people who did dentistry because they couldnt do medicine or thought it's the easier version of medicine. With dentistry, even after you get your degree, there aren't many things you can specialize in, at least not as much as in medicine.

With medicine, you are literally concerned with every singe detail of the human body. It's my second year, and as hard as it is..I am loving it. The dissecting part is sometimes disgusting..true. But that drawback is negligible in front of all the other good things. Besides, just think about it, how are you going to get all the knowledge about the human body without seeing it right in front you. I don't know about you, but it gives me this rush..just literally looking into the human body, I think you'll totally forget about the whole disgusting part. If you are into medicine as much as I think you are, doing dentistry would be a huge mistake. In medicine you could end up specializing in Radiology, which is a huge speciality that requires you to be a genius in anatomy, it's one of those specialities that don't involve blood at all.

So bottom line, if you like medicine, don't compare it to Dentistry..at all. Your passion for Medicine (with intelligence and hard work) will get you through medicine.

P.S I am not undermining Dentistry in any way whatsoever. It's a good speciality for those who actually like Dentistry for what it is, not because it's very close to medicine.

[dandoon96]

Thank you very much Mahuta! What about the basic medicine stuff like taking blood ?? Injections ?? Me scared slightly

[Mahuta ♥]

Oh you get used to them they become like eating a candy, I mean it. You obviously have to learn how to do it, and it's going to be hard the first time..maybe the second, then it becomes fun, but in many countries, once you're an intern, you don't do those things any more, nurses do.

[Sandwich]

In my opinion, reputation, prestige, finding dissection disgusting and wanting to meet new people are all pretty pathetic reasons.

Sorry to sound harsh, but gaining 'reputation and prestige' isn't going to make you enjoy what you're doing, you can meet new people in any job (and at medical school, won't be doing much meeting people in any case) and unless you're aged 7, finding dissection disgusting is a pretty stupid thing to say. It's like me saying "what do you guys think, should I work in a zoo or a bank? p.s. I think I am ideally suited to work in a zoo, I've always wanted to do it, and I'm petrified of exotic animals".

I mean, what's with that?! It's just idiotic. If you're so scared of exotic animals, why want to work in a zoo. If you're desperate to work in a zoo, you're clearly going to have to deal with exotic animals, so either you have a split personality disorder or clearly don't find working with exotic animals that big a problem. Or you're just whining for no particular reason.

If you really don't want to do dissection, then don't do a course which requires dissection. If you find it a bit unpleasant but ultimately are willing to do it, then stop factoring it into your decisions and telling people about it, because clearly it's of no consequence to your final choice - and so it's of no use to us either. Which basically means that this post is totally pointless and you're not seeking opinions, on account of providing virtually no information which we can use and moreover not even asking any specific questions about things which genuinely you can be given information about. "I find dissection disgusting"... well very few people don't. Do you expect some kind of response to this? Because you've given us absolutely nothing else to go on.

To be honest, it sounds to me like you've hardly thought about the reality of either. Do some work experience, research what sort of stuff people actually learn and whether you want to do that sort of thing and then make a mature, considered choice. Put some effort in and have some backbone - finding something "scary" or "disgusting" is how small children think. Somebody that immature and impractical doesn't belong in either profession, because those aren't even close to excuses for anything once you get there! To be honest outside of acting and the beauty industry I don't think any kind of work place accepts that sort of "ew, I don't like it, I give up now" attitude

[dandoon96]

Wowowow! You are by far the most straightforward person I've came across! Let me just make things clearer, coming from an arab family, 'medicine'along with engineering are considered the only two degree that are let's say applaudable, but most predominently medicine! Nonetheless, coming from a family of medics, it is somehow natural to follow such a career path! Genuine fond for the sciences is another factor that contributed to this particular career choice, or shall I say range of choices puting dentistry into the picture.

I personally am the type of person that's satisfaction isn't quite met without the happiness of others. Having spent a whole week with my grandmother in a rehabilation hospital , and seeing what its like to be in such a horrible sitatuation, really hard to get up, go to the bathroom, eat .. Practically everything- her face however couldn't look any happier when consulted the doctor by just a few words.

My dream is to have the knowledge and required skills to be in that doctors place, to make people like my grandmother smile - which isn't very often by the way. I am by nature a hard worker determined student who is willing to do anything to make my parents proud, even if that means dedicating my whole life in a career I don't really like! I live my life for others!

I'm not exactly the 7 year old you described , but please do bear in mind I'm 5 years younger than you and not exactly in your let's say high position in terms of achievements and knowledge.

What you actually said was a big demotivator and made me slightly sad to be honest.

[Award Winning Boss]

Assign dentistry to heads, medicine to tails.

Then flip the coin and while it's in the air time will slow down and you'll want either heads or tails.

There you have your future career.

[Sandwich]

Wowowow! You are by far the most straightforward person I've came across! Let me just make things clearer, coming from an arab family, 'medicine'along with engineering are considered the only two degree that are let's say applaudable, but most predominently medicine! Nonetheless, coming from a family of medics, it is somehow natural to follow such a career path! Genuine fond for the sciences is another factor that contributed to this particular career choice, or shall I say range of choices puting dentistry into the picture.

I personally am the type of person that's satisfaction isn't quite met without the happiness of others. Having spent a whole week with my grandmother in a rehabilation hospital , and seeing what its like to be in such a horrible sitatuation, really hard to get up, go to the bathroom, eat .. Practically everything- her face however couldn't look any happier when consulted the doctor by just a few words.

My dream is to have the knowledge and required skills to be in that doctors place, to make people like my grandmother smile - which isn't very often by the way. I am by nature a hard worker determined student who is willing to do anything to make my parents proud, even if that means dedicating my whole life in a career I don't really like! I live my life for others!

I'm not exactly the 7 year old you described , but please do bear in mind I'm 5 years younger than you and not exactly in your let's say high position in terms of achievements and knowledge.

What you actually said was a big demotivator and made me slightly sad to be honest.

Okay for some reason, it ate my post so sorry if anybody read this when it was just a quote. Very bizarre

Anyway, to briefly sum up what I said before IBS consumed my reply:

If my post made you sad because you realised that what you said before was of basically no real value, then to be honest, it did its job! Everybody needs a reality check when they're talking rubbish.

However, it did also help you to provide your own answer You've just summed up a whole load of stuff - a whole load of decent reasons, unlike trivial stuff like prestige which is difficult to take seriously - which genuinely motivates you. Look at your own list! Then think: could I achieve this in Dentistry? Could I achieve this in Medicine? That's exactly how proper decisions are made - think about the criteria which really matter and then weigh them up. Think about it.

If your parents are Doctors, then you should have a pretty realistic idea of what it involves - and I'd certainly recommend shadowing them (or a colleague) for a week or so on work experience in any case. Honestly, it helps you decide a lot. It really helped me. And try to do the same with a Dentist. They're 2 very different jobs, after all.

Being told that trying to use criteria like "dissection is disgusting" to decide your whole career is trivial shouldn't be demotivating - I mean, it IS trivial! Getting your criteria in order is hardly the basis for motivation for your whole career.

[dessskris]

as you're from an Arab country I suppose you're religious enough. pray, ask your God what you should do. and follow your heart.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Desy Glau

[Andyboi]

Yeah, my dad's a doctor (podiatrist) and he does a LOT of surgeries. Like this past month he's done around 50 surgeries. Also, he always tells me in college how many cadaverous he had to dissect... kind gross to me. However there are other doctor professions like an anesthesiologist who technically do not have to perform the surgery itself.