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Is it hard to become a dentist?

Should I persue a career in Dental Hygiene and work under a dentist or study Pre-dental and become the dentist

  • Most people who are going to answer this are probably going to say, why would she ask this question knowing that she would probably be better off becoming the dentist (money wise) why stop at just becoming a hygienist? (not knocking hygienist because you guys rock!) the only way that I would seriously consider becoming the actual dentist is if I became a Pediatric Dentist which I know will take at least 10-11 years. Although I do not have children of my own I love kids and adore them, I also love Dentistry. I am 26 years old which means that I will probably be about 32-34 before I actually became a dentist that's if I pursue a career in dentistry. But I could also become a Hygienist which will take 3-4 years and still work with children, I will just have less responsiblity which can be a good and/or bad thing. Anybody have any advice on this matter, I will be starting school very soon and I wanted to know if I should do dental hygiene of pre-dental. Either one will make me happy

  • Answer:

    What are you grades like? You might not have a choice. 2 girls in my class choose dental hygiene because they couldn't get into dental school. For me, I knew I couldn't get into dental school so hygiene was my only choice. Most programs will take 4 years to acquire your hygiene degree because it takes about 2 years for the pre-req's and 2 yrs in the program. I have talked to the dentists in my hygiene program about becoming a dentist and he told me that some of the dentists in his class were hygienists. He said they had an advantage over the dental students because they already had experience working in the field. Hygienists make decent money as soon as they get their licenses. One recent grad I know in the San Francisco Bay area is making over $450/day. Hygiene school can be a lot of fun and I'm sure if you get in you'll make some friends and have a blast. Btw - what Gracesgirl wrote is totally untrue. My boss is always oncall but emergencies don't happen that often. My boss has a very good personal life and he only works 4 1/2 days per week (we get every other Friday off). He goes up into the mountains just about every other week to go fishing. The schedule of the dentist is solely up to him and you can work as many hours or as few as you want to schedule.

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I am a dental hygienist and I was sort of faced with making a decision on whether to go on to dental school or go to dental hygiene school. My decision was based on a couple of things, I hate school so I didn't want to spend the next 8yrs in school. I wanted to have children and to be able to be involved in my kids and a dental hygiene schedule is VERY flexible. I didn't want the responsibility of the business aspect. They really don't teach you much on business in dental school, so you have to kind of learn on your own and lots of trial and error. Lots of people say that hygiene is the same thing over and over, well it really isn't. You see a different person a different mouth every patient. Don't get me wrong it is still work but I love it. Best of luck, which ever way you choose it will be tons of fun, lots of work and very rewarding!

avanlangen33

Good question. There are a lot of things to consider. First of all, what type of lifestyle do you want to have? I'm not talking about financially, I'm talking about how you want to live your life. You say you don't have children but you love them. Are you planning on having kids of your own? Are you married? In becoming a dentist, yes, you will make more money in the long run. However, you will pay a lot in tuition and start-up costs for running a practice. Malpractice insurance is at an all-time high, as is overhead costs of running a practice. When talking about lifestyle choices....if you become a dentist, you must be prepared to be on call and not have much of an outside life....not to mention working tons of hours as you become established. As a hygienist, you work as much or as little as you want, and there are no after hours emergencies, so that wouldn't interfere with your life outside of normal work hours. Every hygiene school I know of is 2 years (actually 5 semesters), so it shouldn't even take you 3-4 years (unless you have to get all your pre-req's out of the way first). I guess my best advice would be to go talk to some dentists and some hygienists....ask them what the pro's and cons are....they will usually be up front and honest with you. Good luck in whatever you choose!!

gracesgirl

It all depends on *your* reasons for becoming vs not becoming a dentist. Pick up a sheet of paper, divide it in two parts (left and right). On the left, put why becoming a dentist would be great for you, and on the right put why becoming a dentist would be bad for you. That will help you discover your fears, understand whether they are reasonable or not, and even give you a hint on how to overcome them. Btw I vote for you becoming a dentist. Be the best that you can (not dissing at hygienists here!), challenge yourself, become a better person. You'll be more tired, but happier ;)

Ro'

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