what are the steps to become a dentist?

5489

Platinum Member
Aug 12, 2001
2,163
0
0
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis
 

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
18
81
Originally posted by: 5489
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis

You could go into pharmacy, and from what I know (not much about it) Dentistry school is also very hard.
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Originally posted by: 5489
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis

You could go into pharmacy, and from what I know (not much about it) Dentistry school is also very hard.

It's a helluva a lot easier than pharmacy school I can tell you that.

For Dental School, take necessary pre-med courses apply to dental school and take your DAT's.

btw.. i'm graduating this year with a joint Bio degree with possible minor in Literature from Rutgers/NJIT and applying to pharmacy school out west.
if all else fails, i'm gonna be a cop or go into edumakation.
 

5489

Platinum Member
Aug 12, 2001
2,163
0
0
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Originally posted by: 5489
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis

You could go into pharmacy, and from what I know (not much about it) Dentistry school is also very hard.

Is it much harder than going to doctor route?
hmmm, I dont think such a high paying job should have EASY schooling. I just dont know if i'm capable of going through that hard of an education. I mean, maybe I should reconsider if im just going to be failing all of my classes, and getting kicked out of college or something.
I think to become a dentist, it's alot less school then becoming a doctor.
Is anyone here a dentist? Some advice or information about your education would be nice.
 

isekii

Lifer
Mar 16, 2001
28,578
3
81
Originally posted by: 5489
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Originally posted by: 5489
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis

You could go into pharmacy, and from what I know (not much about it) Dentistry school is also very hard.

Is it much harder than going to doctor route?
hmmm, I dont think such a high paying job should have EASY schooling. I just dont know if i'm capable of going through that hard of an education. I mean, maybe I should reconsider if im just going to be failing all of my classes, and getting kicked out of college or something.
I think to become a dentist, it's alot less school then becoming a doctor.
Is anyone here a dentist? Some advice or information about your education would be nice.

It's usually 3+4+Residency. Most if not all medical programs are I believe unless you complete an undergrad degree. Then it's 4+4+residency.

After you do your undergraduate program, you're gonna have to do 4 years at med school if not more if you fail courses. Pharmacy schooling is a lot harder study wise i hear, but when you get your PharmD the job should be a lot easier. (i.e. Retail Pharmacist)
 

Whisper

Diamond Member
Feb 25, 2000
5,394
2
81
From what I've heard, med school is the toughest (especially the first two years), then pharm, then dentistry. Med school is also tougher to get into, for the most part (because so many people want to do it).

But none of the above would be easy by any stretch of the imagination. I just know that many people who don't make the med school cut end up trying out dentistry or pharmacy. Once you've done all that undergrad coursework, it's sorta tough to just completely drop it all and try out something else.
 

5489

Platinum Member
Aug 12, 2001
2,163
0
0
Originally posted by: isekii
Originally posted by: 5489
Originally posted by: Excelsior
Originally posted by: 5489
quick summary:
want to go into medicine
trying to become a doctor might be to stressful for me
less competition in dentistry or orthodontics (?)
going to UC Davis

You could go into pharmacy, and from what I know (not much about it) Dentistry school is also very hard.

Is it much harder than going to doctor route?
hmmm, I dont think such a high paying job should have EASY schooling. I just dont know if i'm capable of going through that hard of an education. I mean, maybe I should reconsider if im just going to be failing all of my classes, and getting kicked out of college or something.
I think to become a dentist, it's alot less school then becoming a doctor.
Is anyone here a dentist? Some advice or information about your education would be nice.

It's usually 3+4+Residency. Most if not all medical programs are I believe unless you complete an undergrad degree. Then it's 4+4+residency.

After you do your undergraduate program, you're gonna have to do 4 years at med school if not more if you fail courses. Pharmacy schooling is a lot harder study wise i hear, but when you get your PharmD the job should be a lot easier. (i.e. Retail Pharmacist)


wow
But you gotta work hard if you wanna make the big bucks. I was talking to my girlfriend's mom, who is a dental hygenist, and she says that you go to school for 4+3, and go to a job that pays close to 500 a day, then when you save up the money, you get your own office, which is close to half a million.
she says the dentist's office where she works at makes a little over 1 million, and he brings home around half of that
 

ingenuiti

Member
Aug 1, 2002
189
0
0
Most people I know in dentistry couldn't make it into med school. You do not need to be pre-med, however, you do need to take the required courses and DATs to apply for dental school.
 

moshquerade

No Lifer
Nov 1, 2001
61,504
12
56
Dentistry is a great field. I don't know how many docs tell me they wish they had went into dentistry.
You don't have to be on call. You really don't hafta deal with insurance.

I would go to your regular Dentist and ask if you can trail him for a day or so and see if you'd like to do that type of work.
 

CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
12,404
2
0
I know someone who's in dental school right now. It's supposed to be FAR easier to get into dental school than medical school. It's not even comparable. Supposedly the entrance test is much easier, too.

There's a lot of competition in dental school to go into the orthodontics field because it's the most well-paid field.