which course is harder- dentistry or medicine?

I don't think the two are particularly different in terms of the difficulty of the content. Though with medicine there is a greater volume of theory to know. Also, in third, fourth and fifth years in dentistry a large part is practically orietated in the clinics. I'm not sure what happens for medics.

Reply 3

Unregistered

yes, agreed with bitewing; at med school its the VOLUME of information that you have to take into account, not so much in the first year because a lot of it is working in the hospital and the theory is foundation science , but in the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th years.... ( and of course the BSc at the end ) things start to get tough

Reply 4

DazYa

yes, agreed with bitewing; at med school its the VOLUME of information that you have to take into account, not so much in the first year because a lot of it is working in the hospital and the theory is foundation science , but in the 2nd, 3rd 4th and 5th years.... ( and of course the BSc at the end ) things start to get tough

Hmmm, your knowledge of Med school courses is somewhat different from mine.

Here, the first three years are spent working towards your 2nd MB (pre-clinical medicine) exams and your BA (would be BSc at any other uni, but Cambridge only awards BAs). The first year stuff is very much not foundation level - it is tough, although no doubt it's going to get harder. We don't see the inside of a hospital at all.

Once pre-clinical training is finished (after 3rd year) you go into hospitals for clinical training, which is another 3 years. There you have even more to learn, and you don't get university length holidays. You get your BA/BSc after 3 years; after 6 you get your MB BChir.

Reply 5

theycallmemrpig

bah humbug,

bleeding dentists calling themselves doctors now, bugger them

do medicine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply 6

theycallmemrpig

bah humbug,

bleeding dentists calling themselves doctors now, bugger them

do medicine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why not do dentistry and then call yourself a doctor! - get the best of both worlds!

Reply 7

theycallmemrpig

yeah and when they ask u,

I see ur a doctor ?

well actually i'm a dentist.

need i say more ?

Reply 8

Magnanimity

14

I think dentistry. It requires much more manual dexterity!

Reply 9

junglemonkey

I think dentistry. It requires much more manual dexterity!

*cough*neurosurgery*cough*

Reply 10

Magnanimity

14

Helenia

*cough*neurosurgery*cough*

Thats not medecine though, thats a specialisation!

Reply 11

junglemonkey

Thats not medecine though, thats a specialisation!

And there are several others like it which require just as much dexterity. Not all medical areas require it, I'll grant you that, but they need other skills - especially skills with people, which I shouldn't think dentists need so much, as everyone hates them anyway :tongue:

Reply 12

Magnanimity

14

Dentists do need to have good people skills! Most people who come to the dentist are very nervous and they have to deal with some panicky patients. For this reason they need to make their patients feel comfortable and talk them through everything! A lot does depend on their people skills, in some cases it's the borderline between a good and bad dentist

Reply 13

Interpersonal skills are almost as important as the ability to carry out the treatments in dentistry, - if the dentist isen't capable of calming down nervous patients and reassuring them etc. the patient isent likely to make return visits until they in extreme pain and by then it may be too late.

Reply 14

Hmmm, interesting point. They don't have the variety of things to deal with though - there's only a limited number of things that can go wrong with teeth, I'm sure! Not that it's in any way easy, I'm just saying I'd rather be a doctor any day.

Reply 15

madmazda86

8

Helenia

*cough*neurosurgery*cough*

Eye surgery too - I've seen it and they use the TINIEST suture needles - no more than about 5mm long. Though how they managed to do a bilateral medial rectus recession and discuss Holby City AND ignore the anaesthetist and nurses running around trying to transfer heart-and-lung-machine oxygen supply tubes over before the backup cylinders ran out is completely beyond me! :rolleyes:

Reply 16

Helenia

Hmmm, interesting point. They don't have the variety of things to deal with though - there's only a limited number of things that can go wrong with teeth, I'm sure! Not that it's in any way easy, I'm just saying I'd rather be a doctor any day.

I thought they're only be a small number of things to deal with, sadly I was mistaken! - there's loads! Nowhere near as many things as doctors have to deal with though, I think my brain would explode!

Reply 17