[Ayshizzle]

(Original post by bigbottle)
Cross-infection is a biggie!

Indeed! I think she felt more angry about it as others had been let off for bigger mistakes.

But what can you do eh, apart from remembering to wipe the thing in the resit.

[Miryo]

You seem to have been honest in this and told us about the negatives, a thing many people wont do, many people aren't ready to slate the career of their choice.

I would like some verification though from other dentists before I completely accept all this.

[bigbottle]

(Original post by Ayshizzle)
Indeed! I think she felt more angry about it as others had been let off for bigger mistakes.

But what can you do eh, apart from remembering to wipe the thing in the resit.

Is it just me, or do you also feel the the OP is slightly exagerrated. I mean a lot of those things I have come across whilst doing my work shadowing, so I don't know why he's surprised after graduating.

Yes the 2006 contract was not very good, but they're changing that now.

And did he really think that new graduates would be able to go straight into private dentistry? I mean, really?

I don't see why not being able to get away from the NHS is a negative point about Dentistry ...

Although there is some truth in the majority of the points, I've just taken them with a pinch of salt. Things change all the time, who knows what the situation will be like in 5 years time.

[EcclesReece]

I still don't see how there are easier ways to earn £50k a year. For me, the biggest part of becoming a dentist is the job security. There's always dentists needed.

Any other job, in my opinion, has the usual risk of being laid off, etc etc. A girl I know went to Cambridge and then walked into a £30k job....however, she works full time, in an office, late most days and Sunday is her only day off. I think I know which I'd choose.

I personally find this very pessimistic. You seem to make out you're struggling along on £50k a year. No offence, but you even said yourself your family never experienced financial difficulties, so I don't think you really know what 'struggling' means. Just because you don't live in Brentwood with a Porshce and a Range Rover doesn't mean you're not well off.

[mogambo]

Although I'm not interested in becoming a dentist any time soon, thanks for an interesting and insightful post OP

[bigbottle]

(Original post by mogambo)
Although I'm not interested in becoming a dentist any time soon, thanks for an interesting and insightful post OP

Are people just copying and pasting this now.

[Ayshizzle]

(Original post by bigbottle)
Is it just me, or do you also feel the the OP is slightly exagerrated. I mean a lot of those things I have come across whilst doing my work shadowing, so I don't know why he's surprised after graduating.

Yes the 2006 contract was not very good, but they're changing that now.

And did he really think that new graduates would be able to go straight into private dentistry? I mean, really?

I don't see why not being able to get away from the NHS is a negative point about Dentistry ...

Although there is some truth in the majority of the points, I've just taken them with a pinch of salt. Things change all the time, who knows what the situation will be like in 5 years time.

It is yes, but I do feel that his experience may be because of his location (presumably London?), and the dental school he went to.

All (prospective) dental students know how busy dentists are, we see it on our work experience, you're always hearing about patient waiting times being too long because they have too many patients, so I don't understand why you wouldn't be expecting this. Or, maybe because he wasn't on clinics much as a student he forgot it would be like that once he finished?

I do agree with him about dentistry being a challenging course, but anyone who goes into it thinking they are going to have an easy ride is deluded.

And with the private work thing- ofc VT dentists can't do private work lol, that's a well known fact. Or it should be. And if you are wanting to do some private stuff, private work is actually easier to come by than what you'd think (in a lot of areas) as a lot of practices now do both NHS and private work, so you only have to work in one place to do both NHS and private stuff.

And another point- never seen/heard of any associate dentist earning less than 60K. Unless they're part- time.

[mogambo]

(Original post by bigbottle)
Are people just copying and pasting this now.

lol I genuinely found it interesting!

[combbrah]

(Original post by EcclesReece)
I still don't see how there are easier ways to earn £50k a year. For me, the biggest part of becoming a dentist is the job security. There's always dentists needed.

Any other job, in my opinion, has the usual risk of being laid off, etc etc. A girl I know went to Cambridge and then walked into a £30k job....however, she works full time, in an office, late most days and Sunday is her only day off. I think I know which I'd choose.

I personally find this very pessimistic. You seem to make out you're struggling along on £50k a year. No offence, but you even said yourself your family never experienced financial difficulties, so I don't think you really know what 'struggling' means. Just because you don't live in Brentwood with a Porshce and a Range Rover doesn't mean you're not well off.

Whilst I'm sure a lot of what OP says is true, 50k a year sounds like complete bull****, unless he's talking about fairly newly qualified dentists.

Average NHS pay varies according to sources but is usually stated at 90-110k, never seen it significantly lower than that. Not sure how any dentist with experience will be making only 50k, that is a pretty unimpressive salary for a career which involves as much training and studying as dentistry

[bigbottle]

(Original post by combbrah)
Whilst I'm sure a lot of what OP says is true, 50k a year sounds like complete bull****, unless he's talking about fairly newly qualified dentists.

Average NHS pay varies according to sources but is usually stated at 90-110k, never seen it significantly lower than that. Not sure how any dentist with experience will be making only 50k, that is a pretty unimpressive salary for a career which involves as much training and studying as dentistry

Most associates in the NHS get 60-70K.

[combbrah]

(Original post by bigbottle)
Most associates in the NHS get 60-70K.

"It's difficult to earn more than 50k now" according to OP. Sounds like *******s to me

[Xmb]

(Original post by combbrah)
"It's difficult to earn more than 50k now" according to OP. Sounds like *******s to me

That is probably not true he's just exagerating because the profession isn't what he thought it'd be probably. All the dentists I shadowed (10 dentists) say the expected associate income is about 70k-80k (if they work full time). The VT I was shadowing said he was expecting 50k-60k next year and he likes to have a really chill day and he's really slow so yeah haha.

Anyways, for reasons such as quality of life I'll go usa/australia after my degree.


btw: According to this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/29...re-salary.html

Dentists on average earn 100k on 37 hour work weeks on the NHS.

Sounds a bit exagerated though, probably before some expenses or something

[RenB]

This post has really confused me.. all the work experience I have done so far has been in dental practices, I haven't actually considered studying anything else in university, I'm really confused now 'cause dentistry doesn't seem so rosy, I'm from Wales so maybe things are different here?

[Incisive]

This has scared the hell outa me!
I honestly did stereotype the career to be a guaranteed and reliable career. Now I don't know what to think...
Suppose I'm going to have to reconsider my options.

[Patchey1000]

(Original post by RenB)
This post has really confused me.. all the work experience I have done so far has been in dental practices, I haven't actually considered studying anything else in university, I'm really confused now 'cause dentistry doesn't seem so rosy, I'm from Wales so maybe things are different here?

Please don't make a life decision based on something a stranger wrote on the Internet, do your own research, talk to welsh dentists, look into other courses

[bigbottle]

(Original post by Incisive)
This has scared the hell outa me!
I honestly did stereotype the career to be a guaranteed and reliable career. Now I don't know what to think...
Suppose I'm going to have to reconsider my options.

Yes, please reconsider. It'll decrease the competitive for me.

Spoiler:

Show

On a serious note, if you do work experience, the dentist you shadow will most likley be able to tell you all about that stuff.

[RenB]

I don't even know how to use this thing lol that was my first post, that's true the dentists I've spoken to in Wales and many first year and third year students have all given me different opinions but as they are already "in it" I felt they'd be reluctant to give criticism.. I don't know I've had doubt for a while I'm considering optometry too. I know I want to do something which helps people but there's loads of things you can do to "help people" I just don't want to regret anything...

[RenB]

(Original post by Patchey1000)
Please don't make a life decision based on something a stranger wrote on the Internet, do your own research, talk to welsh dentists, look into other courses

Do you do dentistry or are you a dentist already?

[Ayshizzle]

(Original post by RenB)
I don't even know how to use this thing lol that was my first post, that's true the dentists I've spoken to in Wales and many first year and third year students have all given me different opinions but as they are already "in it" I felt they'd be reluctant to give criticism.. I don't know I've had doubt for a while I'm considering optometry too. I know I want to do something which helps people but there's loads of things you can do to "help people" I just don't want to regret anything...

No. Dentists/dental students will criticise the profession and tell you the ins and outs as they do want you to make an informed decision- the application process and getting through dental school itself are way too hard for you to just choose dentistry based on a whim.

The best way to make your mind up is to do more work experience and to speak to dentists and dental students about their experiences.

[Bright.Inspiration.]

(Original post by Ayshizzle)
x

Hey Ayeshizzle, how's your first year been?