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Doctor or a Dentist

Just wanted to know who has the higher starting salary, A Dentist or a Doctor? and the highest average salary?

thx in advance

Reply 1

cobra

14

i would guess a dentist cos doctors have to do all that bussiness in hospital 1st dont they, with a dentist dont you just become one

Reply 2

mjf

1

dentists definately. If you are in it for the money Id go for dentistry if not then medicine may be more your thing.

Reply 3

Unregistered

dentists are on about £103,000 a year but all the equipment and such brings it down to about £47,000 ,

for a Doctor £45,000 but raises are miniscule and slow incoming

dont forget they are on like 53 + hour weeks

Reply 4

madmazda86

8

DazYa

dentists are on about £103,000 a year but all the equipment and such brings it down to about £47,000 ,

for a Doctor £45,000 but raises are miniscule and slow incoming

dont forget they are on like 53 + hour weeks

Wow, I thought the Orthoptics wage looked good (£24k p.a.) but obviously my piddly Saturday job (£4.65hr) has lowered my expectations somewhat :wink:

Ach well - job satisfaction, luvvies, job satisfaction! *loving her work experience at Addenbrookes* :wink:

Reply 5

Bitewing

9

Being a dentist is by far the better option. They get the benifit of working 9-5 days while doctors (well the junior doctors at least) slog through ridiculously houred weeks for the same (or sometimes less) money.

Reply 6

yusufu

16

Dentists earn more at the start of their career but the salary stays pretty much the same once they have settled after a couple of years. Doctors start lower, work alot more at the start of their career, but eventually, after 10-15 years earn more and work less than they sarted out, depending on how far they go up the ladder, e.g surgeon or consultant)
(info from my sister who is studying for a dentistry degree.)

Reply 7

Sahir

2

But you shouldn't be focusing on the money aspect anyway.. its a bloddy stressful job and the pay reflects that.

Reply 8

Bitewing

9

Sahir

But you shouldn't be focusing on the money aspect anyway.. its a bloddy stressful job and the pay reflects that.

It's the pay that attracts people the most though. It was soooo tempting to say that when they ask at interview "So, why do you want to be a dentist?" probably wouldn't have got me very far!

Reply 9

devc

true. but my honest resons for doing dentistry are that it has all the perks of being a doctor without the disadvantages. you get to work 9-5 never have to do weekends. get paid well right from the start and later when your wallet gets fatter u can eventually get ur own practice so its got the business aspect too. plus, once u have graduated, unlike doc's theres no more exams or studying if u dont want to although its advised u keep up to date with current dental issues. i have one bro whos a dentist and one bro whos a surgeon so i know what both are like. So if u are interested in a science based career/health profession dentistry is the way to go!

Reply 10

Bitewing

9

devc

but my honest resons for doing dentistry are that it has all the perks of being a doctor without the disadvantages.

Exactly. Dentistry is the way to go!

Reply 11

madmazda86

8

Bitewing

Exactly. Dentistry is the way to go!

How come nobody's heard of Orthoptics? It's a wicked job - not as well paid as Dentistry but if you want to work with children in a medical capacity and play around with lots of cool electrodiagnostic tools and prisms then I highly recommend it :wink:

Reply 12

DjPRO

It really depends on the type of doctor you are...
I mean, surgeons are the highest paid doctors.
From certain statistics, on average:
- Surgeon = £73,603.65
- Dentist = £59,516.65

From these statistics, even GPs earn more:
- General Practitioner = £59,087.00

If in a business, then maybe the salary is higher...

IMO I would prefer doing medicine, since I think a career of treating people's teeth can get a bit tiring after a while...

DjPRO

Reply 13

akk713

2

but wouldn't it be a bit boring facing people's mouth and teeh all day

Reply 14

Bitewing

9

madmazda86

How come nobody's heard of Orthoptics? It's a wicked job - not as well paid as Dentistry but if you want to work with children in a medical capacity and play around with lots of cool electrodiagnostic tools and prisms then I highly recommend it :wink:

I considered doing orthoptics, but in order to do it, you need maths, and I struggle in that department! Is that what you're going to do?

Reply 15

madmazda86

8

Bitewing

I considered doing orthoptics, but in order to do it, you need maths, and I struggle in that department! Is that what you're going to do?

Yup - I did a week's work experience at Addenbrookes Orthoptics Department and loved every minute of it! :biggrin:

It's such a relief to finally have a direction to aim in because I was torn between Orthoptics and Zoology (as I have an offer from Edinburgh and I was a bit reluctant to give it up :wink:

)

You don't actually need Maths for it - it's more physics orientated because they use prisms of different dioptres to measure the degree of squint etc. They teach the Physics aspects from GCSE level anyway (one of the students on clinical placement at Addies admitted that he skipped the first month or two of Optics lectures because he'd done it all at A-Level and had gotten bored.)

I actually have Maths AS Level but they don't want any higher than a B in it (thank God I did retake P2.) In fact, on my work experience I ended up having to explain the principles of chi-squared to the Orthoptics staff during Journal Club - the only maths you really need is statistics and you can learn those just as easily in Biology as you can in Maths. You only really need that if you want to go into research - everything else is worked out using electrodiagnostics (I'd be screwed if we had to work out visual fields manually!)

I have an offer from Sheffield (A2: BB | AS: AB) to study Orthoptics and I have a selection day at Liverpool on March 3rd - really excited because we do some clinical tests and they'll be peasy now I know how they work! :biggrin:

Reply 16

Daveo

16

I hope your not considering either profession based on salary.

Reply 17

yusufu

16

DjPRO

From certain statistics, on average:
- Surgeon = £73,603.65
- Dentist = £59,516.65
From these statistics, even GPs earn more:
- General Practitioner = £59,087.00
DjPRO

Are your statistics referring to NHS practitioners or private?