Dentistry

[sausagesforteatonight]

DD (y10) considering dentistry.

Does anyone have any experience of dentistry as a profession? Would you recommend it? I have been encouraging it, but know very little about it. She is capable of getting the A level grades required in chemistry and biology. I am interested in whether dentists would become dentists if they had their time again!

Thanks all

My dd's is just finishing at Newcastle. She's loved it and enjoyed the actual dentistry and working with patients more than I thought she would.
Has your dd managed to get any work experience at a dentist's yet? That was the major hurdle, only 1 out of 30 dentists she approached would let her .shadow but they were very good with her, explaining procedures and talking about their careers.

Glad your daughter is enjoying it. No - just about to embark on sourcing some work experience, so thank you for the heads up!

Dentist here 10 years qualified. I wouldn't encourage my Son's to become a Dentist. It's becoming more and more stressful. No win no fee lawyers / ambulance chasers. I spend more time writing notes in case someone wishes to sue you in the future than actually spending time with the patient. One of the highest suicide rates in the world. I'm burnt out and I have 30 years left of my career. Seriously considering a career change. The attitude from patient's gets worse year on year. A lot of negativity towards us from the general public.

DS1 considered this for a long time and actually did two weeks work experience this Easter (year 12). It was our own dentist who kindly took him on, many others didn't even reply.
It's massively competitive, even more so than medicine I believe, and at one uni he looked at there were about 17 applicants for every single place. And that wasn't London.
As well as the A grades required there's also the UCAT or BMAT tests to consider. Then interviews. Any good college will start prepping them for all this from year 12 as it's an October application I believe. Thousands of excellent students meeting all these criteria still get rejected, and it seems to be the norm to accept it's a two or even three year application process.
It was the dentists themselves though that actually put DS off, and he has decided that it wasn't for him.

and enjoyed the actual dentistry and working with patients more than I thought she would.

@RedHelenB I hesitate to ask, but what, apart from those two aspects, were you imagining that she would like about the course?

Ex dentist now in commissioning. I wouldn't do it again unfortunately.

The public hate you generally, they don't understand the funding model (the dentist has to pay for everything, there is no NHS money invested in NHS practices, and NHS rules are prohibitive if you want to provide a good, ethical service), a lot of patients don't want to make any investment in their own oral health, instead they blame you.

The litigation climate is crazy, the worst in the world.

The red tape is phenomenal and insurance is ridiculously expensive.

The only way I would go back into practice is as a salaried dentist doing emergency care only. I used to do this (on a zero hours contract) but was messed around so much that I resigned and sadly, wasn't replaced so the emergency clinics reduced by 50% (I shared it with one other dentist).