I study Dentistry - Ask me anything (AMA)

Hey not a dental student just saw your post wanted to ask you what's your best advice for healthy teeth ?? 😃

FLOSS YOUR TEETH ONCE A DAY...SERIOUSLY JUST DO IT!

Brush properly (google modified bass technique) with an electric toothbrush and a fluoride toothpaste.

Limit your sugar intake to a maximum of 6 occasions a day.

Mouthwash after meals.

When brushing...spit...but don't rinse.

Thank you . . .I seriously noted it all down in my notebook super helpful to have these tips
😊

Hey there, we have what's called DF1 (dental foundation 1) which is immediately post graduation. After this there are a few different careers paths open. You can stay in general practice, then specialise a few years later (or not), you can go back to hospital and start DCT1,2,3 which are hospital rotations in restorative, paeds, oral/maxfax etc.

Personally i always wanted to be a maxfax surgeon, however things are changing a but now and i'm thinking that perhaps i'd like to specialise in restorative or something. I'm not 100% on whether or not i want to own my own practice yet, i'm not sure if the stress is worth it or not.

In first year it's 9-5 lectures which are more or less identical to the medics, all basic sciences and anatomy etc. usually around 5/6 lectures 5 days a week.

2nd year is different, lectures about 2 days a week with much more emphasis on pathology and disease. We start in the labs and seeing patients in this year.

3rd year is lectures one day a week with much more emphasis on learning the science and art of dentistry, you see many more patients.

4th year the focus is mainly on patients, we have one morning a week of lectures and the rest is clinics and labs

5th year is much the same as 4th year but with more patients and higher expectations.

In terms of the time needed...i'm very very busy, this week just gone...i was in by 8am every day and didn't leave before 6pm each night. Tuesday i had to work through lunch. When you have patients, your responsibilities are much more pressing and you have to grow up into a clinician very quickly, i feel like medics don't really appreciate this sometimes.

Money was an aspect yes, as it is with ANY job. Money is basically the only reason that anyone works, we need money to live. I always find it really weird when people ask if i only did dentistry for the money, i sortof feel like saying.. do you ask the person who serves in the supermarket why they took that job etc. It feels like sometimes in healthcare that we should be ashamed of being paid well because we provide a health service and the perception in this country is that because healthcare should be free that people should not make good sums of money from it.

When people say did you only do dentistry for the money, it feels like what they are really saying is. "there is no reason to study dentistry other than the money" and "you earn lots of money and i don't think that the job you perform deserves it" for example, people never say the same sort of thing to doctors for some reason, even though we train for the same amount of time and share a lot of common ground.

I also happen to really enjoy dentistry and find it a really exceptionally fulfilling career that appeals to me on a number of levels, emotionally, creatively and financially. I would still study dentistry even if it were an average pay.

EDIT: I'm aware parts of this sound quite ranty, but on behalf of all dental students i wanted to address in a public forum something that i've been asked/accused of a fair few times.

Hi thanks for your comprehensive reply.
It seems interesting and similar to most medicine courses in that you start of mostly learning anatomy, pathology etc and then patient contact comes later on in the course as competence develops.

My cousin graduated from Birmingham a couple years back and is now specialising in periodontology and was telling me how expensive and sometimes difficult it can be to specialise.

Maxfax sounds awesome dude. I shadowed a friend of mine who's a dental grad and was doing an SHO in maxfax and he was really making the concept of oral and maxillofacial surgery sound interesting. But it does require a dual degree of both medicine and dentistry and I don't think it matters much which order you do them.

Wow 8am-6pm that requires tremendous responsibility, tenacity and dexterity

Please don't take it the wrong way, the only reason I asked is because I know a Dentist nearby whom I shadowed and he was on a very nice three figure salary.
Even for medicine obviously money and financial incentive is important simply because of the years of hard work put into the profession and everyone wants a stable financial career at the end of the day.

But one thing I learnt in medicine and just as much in Dentistry is the importance of people skills and maintaining a sense of trust and good communication with your patient and like you say in both professions you have to be passionate and find the job fullfilling.

As a medic I have huge respect for Dentists
(Their just Doctors who happen to specialise earlier)

Personally i always wanted to be a maxfax surgeon, however things are changing a but now and i'm thinking that perhaps i'd like to specialise in restorative or something. I'm not 100% on whether or not i want to own my own practice yet, i'm not sure if the stress is worth it or not.

As the title says - ask anything you like!

Why do you not want to be a max fax surgeon anymore?

What did you do for A levels, and what did you get?

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Hi there, this is such a great thread! I'm hoping to study dentistry and would love to apply to QMUL. Although I was wondering how pricey it is to live in London, as I know housing can be super expensive!

There are scholarships available though, I'm on one called the John Abernathy Scholarship - this covers full tuition fees, so that's a big help obviously! There are also bursaries available from QMUL and an NHS bursary in the 5th year.

Ryan.

It's not that I don't want to, It's more that I have a more open mind now. I initially went into dentistry with the idea that I was definitely going to become a maxfax surgeon, However, since doing some more practical dentistry I've actually found that I really enjoy some of the more cosmetic procedures and restorative dentistry in general.

Aside from the fact that I quite enjoy dentistry It's also a matter of work life balance and self-determination. I like the idea of being my own boss and having a degree of flexibility in my working life. The training pathway for maxfax, although not as long as most people think it is, is still not insignificant. It requires absolute commitment and the dedication of a lot of time and effort, not to mention money!

So, basically I haven't ruled out maxfax as a career, I'd like to go back after my DFY1 year and do some work in a hospital service where i can experience some maxfax as well as other dental specialties. I think this should help to crystallise my feelings about what i want to do.

Ryan.

How'd you get that John Abernathy Scholarship?

I got the highest marks in my first year exams.

Wow, that's amazing, is this something that's only at Barts?