Dental Specialists vs. Specialist Internists (Dent v Med Part 2)

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
1

<p>Hi, this is the second part of a two part thread that I’m posting to try and figure out whether I should pursue a career in dents or med. So I was wondering if anyone could answer any of these questions below:</p>

<li><p>If I choose to specialize in either field, which one sports more competition for its spots? The fields I’m interested in either field are for dent: oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics (although I’ve heard that a significant amount of GPs handle root canals now). For med, I like: pulmonary medicine, oncology/hemotology, neurology which are considered to be low-moderate competition, moderate-modertately high competition, and low-moderate competition respectively (although I could be wrong) for the medical specialities, but I have no clue if this is true for med also. So if I specialize, which one will I have the hardest time getting into a speciality from?</p></li>
<li><p>Sorry but I have to ask this superficial question, which specialists in general earn more, especially from the fields that I selected above? I know it varies widely, so I’m asking for a general consensus. Refer back to my previous thread for reasons why you shouldn’t think I am in dents/med just for the money if need be.</p></li>
<li><p>Which specialists have the better lifestyle?</p></li>
<li><p>So after reading parts 1 and 2 of my threads, which field do you consider better: med or dent?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>I'll get to the residency stuff later on, b/c I'm hungover and don't feel like writing so much right now.</p>

<p>But in regards to #4:</p>

<p>Each field has it's pros and cons, and how those match up for you is going to be different than how they match up for me or BDM or anyone else on this board. I personally could not handle looking at teeth all day, especially when they're diseased and gross and stuff. We're occasionally shown pictures of teeth in terms of various disease states (congenital syphillis is one of the worst) and I just cringe. But I know plenty of people who love it, and feel the same way about some more medically related problems that I find interesting. </p>

<p>I honestly think that the best thing you can do is try to shadow some dentists and physicians, see what it's like in their practices and which you find more interesting. That's going to probably answer your questions better than anything I can tell you.</p>