Any dentists on the board? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

I'm just finishing up my junior year in high school and have been doing some consideration on what I want to do with my life. I have put some serious consideration in pursuing dentistry. My ex-girlfriends dad is a dentist and I spent a day with him in his office; I understood all of the work and found it very interesting. I think this may be the career for me. If there are any dentists around I have a few questions for you.

When did you decide you wanted to be a dentist? Why?

Where did you go to school? Undergrad & Professional School

I have read that some dental schools are closing and the rest are producing fewer and fewer dentists each year, how is this effecting how competative admissions to dental school is?

What is the difference between D.D.S. and D.M.D.?

What is the best thing about your job?

How do you feel at the end of the day?

Starting out, how difficult is it to open your own practice and build a client base? Or, did you buy another dentists practice as he retired?

Do you feel that the rewards of your career monetary/prestige justify spending 8+ years in school?

If you could do it all over again, what would you have done differently?

If there are any dentists on the board, hopefully, I'd be very interested in talking to you on AIM, ICQ, or whatever you use to answer any remaining questions.

Thank you!

Mark
AIM: ParrotHead185

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Those are great questions, even tho I'm not a dentist

I believe DDS is someone who is trained as a dentist while a DMD is a medical doctor specializing in dentistry

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

I know that D.D.S. is either doctor of dental science or doctor of dental surgery, depending on who you ask. D.M.D. is doctor of dental medicine. But what I don't understand are the real world differences between the two degrees; such as, what are the differences in training?

 

[felix_suwarno]

dmd people are people who make toothpaste, i think.

anyway, good luck mark. at least you are not clueless about what you wanna do for the rest of your life, like most teenagers.