Why DENTISTRY and not MEDICINE!!!

H E L P ! ! !

I have been over sooo many questions, and this is the one that really stumps me. Dentistry and medicine have so many things in common, and the majority of answers that I come up with can be argued against. Someone help me please!

Reply 1

jokjok11

ok, theres many differences, but also similarities. If we're talking generally,
Dentists get to work individually but as well as in a team. you are constantly working with your hands. Dentists will see many patients constantly, building friendships and able to meet ongoing patients, whereas doctors will only see people who are ill...
Theres many more, but i cant think of any at the moment because im falling to sleep lol....

I know that some of the things i have pointed out can be argued, and fair dooz, but don't start havin a rant please...
Dan

Reply 2

Rainbow24

8

There's also a business aspect to dentistry - you can open and run your own practise which may appeal to you...

Reply 3

OneUniqueKid

OP

thanks a lot for your help guys :smile:

Much appreciated

Reply 4

SDDentist

dentistry is so much more practical than medicine and is more specialised than medicine

Reply 5

cam1000

3

ahah - heres a good answer - "i actually think dentistry and medicine are not two different things, but are essentially one. A person must have good oral hygiene to prevent further problems occuring in different parts of the body, so dentistry is often fundamental to preventing many health problems."

Reply 6

kvithani

Cam369

ahah - heres a good answer - "i actually think dentistry and medicine are not two different things, but are essentially one. A person must have good oral hygiene to prevent further problems occuring in different parts of the body, so dentistry is often fundamental to preventing many health problems."

hey thts actually a gd response...although there are a lot of health problems tht are totally unrelated to oral hygiene...

might be slightly risky if they pick up on tht...

Reply 7

kvithani

SDDentist

dentistry is so much more practical than medicine and is more specialised than medicine

a dentist actually does more than just prescribe medicines. a GMP (doctor) just consults and precribes...BORING...a GDP (dentist) however, performs intricate treatments...

dentistry is therefore much more fulfilling and rewarding...

Reply 8

cam1000

3

kvithani

hey thts actually a gd response...although there are a lot of health problems tht are totally unrelated to oral hygiene...

might be slightly risky if they pick up on tht...

yup true,but i was implying that a lot are also as a result of poor hygiene but not all

Reply 9

Flugtag

Cam369

ahah - heres a good answer - "i actually think dentistry and medicine are not two different things, but are essentially one. A person must have good oral hygiene to prevent further problems occuring in different parts of the body, so dentistry is often fundamental to preventing many health problems."

then they will ask: what kind of diseases?

Reply 10

logicallyinsane

like they did for me at bristol, and trust me - its not a position u wanna be in!

Reply 11

Carpediemxx

17

SDDentist

dentistry is so much more practical than medicine and is more specialised than medicine

I am a medicine applicant, and i am reading this thread out of interest, as it is indeed an interesting topic>>

However....the person who said this, would get totaly FRIED AT INTERVIEW...Denistry more specialised than medicine?????? WHAT???
That would be my candidate for the stupedest thing said of all time. Denistry deals with oral health, teeth, gums, dental hygiene and other issues arising from mouth problems.

Medicine deals with the ENTIRE human body, which with such diversity is bound to breed SPECIALISATION....Just think about it...There are countless ailments for the mouth....there are many many more for the rest of the body, Medicine deals with them all, and they all need to be equally attended to, which leads onto speciality.

As to the topic of this thread, why do dentistry over medicine? some arguments presented:
I think the positives of it is the ability to become an individual practioner, building up a lasting relationship with your patients, not just when they are ill......however what does a family GP do? checks up on healthy patients as well as treating them when they inevitably get an illness..theres no difference

Someone said GPs just sit there and prescribe medication...BORING...Firstly, the question is not Densitry over general practice, rather medicine...interviewer could turn round and say....well why not a surgeon??? DO they have a boring UNSPECIALISED job?
Advice? DO your research on what a medicine course actualyl entails, not just your pre-defined opinions of it, cos if you present those as arguments, u will be grilled to buggary.

Insult me for this if you may, but my aim's not to be a prat, but to show that the arguments on this thread arent that convincing....at least not to me...by all means, point out my ignorances.

Aside from that though, good luck for all you budding dentists :wink:

Marc

Reply 12

Rainbow24

8

I think dentistry is more specialised than medicine.
Medicine may lead to a wider variety of areas to specialise in but as a general career dentistry is all about oral health therefore is more specialised.

Reply 13

Carpediemxx

17

I disagree....Being more diverse doesnt mean that the specialisation is less specific than dentistry at all.

You could perhaps look at it this way....Being a part of the body, the mouth is susceptible to similar things that the rest of the body is...such complex and specialist ilnesses such as cancers.

Both medicine and dentistry deal with things that are not fully understood, there are diseases of the mouth and other parts of the body of which we have no cure, and therefore specialisation into this is on an equal plain.
Research is predominant in both fields, and therefore could be argued that neither is more specialised than the other
Broadness of subject doesnt nessesarily have to come into it
Depends on how you see it

Marc

Reply 14

Carpediemxx

17

Having said that however, you did say how a general dentist career is about oral health and therefore more specialised
However, Medicine isnt all the same, you specialise into seperate areas, and research into them is equaly as concentrated as oral health.
Therefore i dont really agree with you.

Marc

Reply 15

Nirav1

well naturally most doctors specialise in whatever field they choose. and you always have the option of specialising as a doctor, surely having a wider variety of fields is a plus point for medicine compared to dentistry? of course GDP's are more specialised than GP's - but compared to a neurologist? theyre not. this is what I assume you'll be told if you say that..?

its a tricky question, just try not to make overly generalised statements about it. I think carpediem got it right when he said the arguments arent conving here.

What I would do, is to compare GDP to GP, GDP has many of the same advantages as GP (hours, patient interaction) but GP lacks the surgical creative part of dentistry (what does the "S" stand for in BDS after all?!). Surgeons, although have a big oppertunity to use their hands in a technical/surgical way, cant really have the kind of relationship with their patients that GDP can. which for me, is a downside.

For me, GDP combines the best aspects of both GP and surgery.

Comments?

Reply 16

Nirav1

*convincing

Reply 17

Rainbow24

8

I agree that medicine can be just as specialised as dentistry but what I meant to say was that a GP is less specialised than a GDP. And I'm not saying that's negative in any way!!

Reply 18

Carpediemxx

17

Nirav1

What I would do, is to compare GDP to GP, GDP has many of the same advantages as GP (hours, patient interaction) but GP lacks the surgical creative part of dentistry (what does the "S" stand for in BDS after all?!). Surgeons, although have a big oppertunity to use their hands in a technical/surgical way, cant really have the kind of relationship with their patients that GDP can. which for me, is a downside.

For me, GDP combines the best aspects of both GP and surgery.

Indeed...this topic is getting better now
To begin with , it was pretty lame answers to this question, but now we seem to have established proper distinctions within this large question.

If they ask you this question, i this Nirav was getting to the point much better. Break down the question to different areas of medicine, and DO comment on the GDP GP differences as one of your reasons, because it is a perfectly legitimate reason>
However, they will accept this, but then move on to , say, oncology or another very specialised profession...so be ready to have a different argument.
Its good to see that this is now a much better thread for ideas....Personaly i think its very difficult to give a reason as to why Dentistry over certain medical speciality...especialy those affiliated with dentistry....SO thats over to you guys now, cos im medic lol

Marc

Reply 19

w8wizz

2

well, 5 years dentistry is more specialised than 5 years medicine but not as diverse.

most ppl think dentistry is only about teeth. ppl ask me why are do you have to learn about blood, stem cells, metabolism.......... dentistry is 5/8 years oral maxillofacial surgery.

i chose dentisty because you get to specialise in a region of the body relatively early- end of year 2, at the moment (1st year) about 15% of our work is dentistry, the rest is medicine related to dentistry. also i dont have to get stuck in a training job for 5 more years after i graduate, probably better money.

in my opinion the only thing medicine has over dentisty is the status.

Why DENTISTRY and not MEDICINE!!!

Related discussions

Articles for you