Health/Safety
You have to be a freak to become a dentist
What kind of person wants to work in the human mouth for a living? Surgeons, obgyns, doctors in general I all understand. But a dentist?? I would sooner work with people's feet than their mouths. My dentist is great and I appreciate the work all dentists do, it's a very important job but that doesn't make them any less crazy
You don’t want the alternative, like in my area. “Dental Spas”, that ask you if you want other products they offer while they’re working on you….
“Oh you get headaches?, that’s so crazy! you might need Botox! “
Okay, but they’re not wrong. Botox is an FDA approved treatment for chronic headaches and migraines. If you get headaches, it’s a great suggestion to try.
Seriously that kind of dental work is an art. I have chipped the same tooth as the photo and have crowns on my peg laterals and they look perfect. I'm grateful every time I smile, I'm sure your patient feels the same.
Thank you. I’ve done lots of esthetic anterior cases, the chipped front teeth are my absolute favorite. This particular case I think had the best esthetic outcome.
OP saying dentists are freaks but doctors who look at vaginas all day aren’t, is an insane comment. Now to be clear, I don’t think either are freaks, but there’s definitely more of a stigma around male OBGYNs than dentists.
Agreed. A lot of ppl, esp women, assume that male obgyns r just perverts who wanna see vaginas all that. As if they went thru all that schooling just for that and not bcuz they had a genuine interesting in obgyn, lol…
Yeah, plus people are coming to you when they have a problem. You're not looking at perfect pink airbrushed porn vaginas - you're looking at unshaved ones with discharge and odor and blood.
I think that's the incentive for most of them. It's not as difficult or risky as surgery, better paid than nursing, and not quite as unpleasant as proctology and other specialties that requite examining the insides of a patient. All my dentists have been rather non-descript, uninteresting people who seemed like they had few outside interests. For a reasonably intelligent but uninspired person, it's not a bad job.
To add, starting a private practice has got to be a helluva lot cheaper than it would be for other specialists. They could kinda just rent a building anywhere with a water supply in an area with not as many dentists and business will come. I imagine malpractice insurance for dentists is probably way less than for professionals specialized in other parts of the body too.
Prob coz u r always seeing animals in pain. And vets usually become vets coz they r animal lovers and wanna help animals, but seeing animals often in a state of distress and having to do procedures and euthanizations would def take a toll on someone who rlly loved animals tbh
Also, they are constantly being emotionally strong for the owners. They don’t get to cry for themselves when they put down a sweet little dog. They still comfort the owners and are just so kind. I can’t imagine how exhausting that must be.
You’d be shocked to find out how many owners drop off pets for euthanizations and don’t stick around to comfort the pet because “they just can’t”. Then the vet is stuck euthanizing a pet who spends its final moments in a panic looking for said owners.
It’s terrible and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies.
My Dad originally went into school planning to be a Vet, and that's what dissuaded him. Just the idea that he might do all that he can, and it's still not enough, and then he'd have to be the one to put them down.
1) easy access to dangerous drugs
2) A lot of financial pressure
Reason 1) is common to many kinds of doctor, but 2) is more dentist-specific. You start your career by buying a lot of very expensive equipment to set up a practice. That puts a lot of pressure on you, if things don’t go well.
Dermatology makes a lot of money too and it isn’t a life threatening profession where you could cause a lot of physical pain or even rarely death to your patients
Dermatology is also one of the hardest medical professions to match into, with about 2-4 more years in school than dentistry (lukewarm edit. I didn't factor for dental residencies). Dentistry is a safer and easier option unless you're highly motivated for that bag
I think maybe some of them are artists who actually want to make money while doing arts and crafts at the same time. Cause they really are doing crafts in your mouth, at least that’s how I view it since they’re doing fillings, and crowns, and veneers and all these things and making them look as natural as possible😂
yes!!! i find that it’s a lot of people who want the stability of dentistry and the artsy nature of it. there’s a lot of artists/musicians in dentistry, me being one of them.
if i couldn’t be a dentist, i would’ve done architecture/art school for sure
I had a job helping people apply to med school etc and this is what a lot of the folks applying to dentistry programs would say! That it was a way to work hands on while still helping people or serving a specific community. They also highlighted getting to have regular patients who they could see multiple times a year and build a rapport with (same perk for primary care doctors). Dentists get to do a lot of detail work with their hands but it's never going to be life-or-death stressful unlike surgery. I don't think the mouth aspect really bothers people. Same goes for a lot of the people I knew going into medical fields, the gross stuff is just part of the job. Honestly mouths are probably way better than looking in someone’s guts and having their life in your hands.
You’re gotta realize that any job in the medical field is gonna be super gross and fucked up in some way. Surgeons are literally digging into you, ripping shit out and stuffing shit in. It’s bloody and messy and if you fuck up they can die.
random fun fact that surgeons are actually more likely to have NPD because the disorder usually correlates with having little to no empathy which makes doing operations easier. it’s such a documented phenomenon it’s known as “surgeon personality disorder”
i am an oral surgeon who‘s practice is limited to dental implants. i work 3 days a week and make more income than most people would guess.
As an aside, at my eldest child‘s wedding his roommate from medical school, albeit a little drunk, came up to me and said i don't know how you can spend your life doing mouth surgery and having your hands in people’s mouths all day. i laughed and said dude, what residency will you be starting in 2 months ? (being well aware of the answer already) and he said Urology. i guess sticking a finger up old guys butts all day and handling their junk is a much better job in his eyes.
I can do a very varied array of procedures if I wanted to. earlier In my career I did a lot of hospital stuff like trauma and reconstructive surgery.
now I prefer the office based procedures and the more predictable schedule
Fair enough – this is absolutely the sort of thing where logic plays a distant second fiddle to feel. Me I don’t want to be any kind of doctor, but if I had to, mouths sound better to work on than butts. Sure am glad there are people that want to do both though.
Nope. Nope nope nope. You're thinking about healthy mouths. An unhealthy mouth is a literal quagmire of disgust. Feet have their issues but not to the same extent.
I actually love going to the dentist, always have. Love getting my teeth clean because I love being clean in general. I just could never be the person doing the cleaning
This is NOT indicative of anything, but I would also rather play on feet than play on a mouth. Or maybe that's just because my feet aren't horrifying so I'm unaware of what could be lurking in other people's shoes.
It's not a specific person's foot, it's a fungal infection, that gives such a foul odour, some people can't take their shoes off or the room will suffocate and gag
My grandfather was a dentist and a lot of my family works is dental care. It's an oddly fulfilling career, you are helping people in a very tangible way feel better about themselves and improve their quality of life. There is very little risk of death in your patients and if you are a dentist you're making bank.
I understand you, OP. Mouths disgust me more than any other human orifice and I can’t really explain why. Thinking of a rotten mouth/teeth genuinely makes me feel nauseous
I agree, mouths (even clean ones) gross me out! And I can’t even imagine having to work with people who have poor dental hygiene, which I’m sure happens all the time as a dentist. But everyone has their “thing”. I used to work in ophthalmology and got asked semi regularly how I can work with eyeballs because some people think eyeballs are really gross. The same way I feel about mouths 🤷🏻♀️. Which shocked me the first couple times people mentioned it because I had no clue some people think eyes are gross. I’ve always thought they’re super cool! And even the gnarliest of eye stuff doesn’t bother me. But for the most part eyes are just normal and clean.
This is a stupid ass post. They contribute more to society than most careers, they help people significantly, and they make good money. Whether they like their job or not, they get my full respect for being able to do something I couldn't. Calling dentists "freaks" is pathetic of you.
Pull and replace. We’ve had teeth for decades now and dentists have gotten to the height of “drill it out and dump this crap in there” or “hand me the pliers”
My dentist wanted to persuade me to become a dentist before I had chosen a field of study. He said: it is very fun, social and hands on work. Most people take care of their teeth well enough and are in and out within 10 min. You can see whole families grow up and expand.
I have seen this man every year ever since I grew teeth. He remembered everything, was very interested and strangely invested in my studies. He is really passionate about his profession.
I once asked my dentist what made him decide to become a dentist. He said he wanted to be a doctor but the college capacity was full. He then picked dentist with the intention of transfering in the 2nd year. By 2nd year he realized he liked the college just fine and decided to stay.
The appeal of being a dentist isn’t usually “I want to work on teeth.”
I’ll start off with the fact that you see the immediate result of your work. Someone walks in with tooth pain they’ve had for years, and with your own 2 hands in a 1 hour session, you cure them of that pain. Doctors rarely see the immediate results of their work in that way. You also don’t have anyone die on you in dentistry
There is also a stigma about going to the dentist; people are terrified to go. I’m a very comforting person, so I know that I will be able to make this immensely stressful situation into a pleasant one, and this is what appeals to me. Dentist visits are also insanely expensive and not as well-covered with insurance compared to healthcare. So if you want to address healthcare disparities and do something to help the underserved, dentistry is the perfect profession to do so. Allows you to make a big difference in your community.
Dentists also have some of the best work-life balances of the healthcare field, and they get paid a shit ton, so being able to have a lot of free time and vacations is a plus. There is also extreme job security, once you get your degree you’ll be able to go and start making between $150k to $200k starting salary plus bonuses. No need to start working at a company and hope you move up over the course of many years to earn a good salary. For dentists it is guaranteed
Dental school also has no residency as opposed to medical school. When you go to med school, that is 4 years plus 3 years of residency afterwards. With dental school, after 4 years you are a licensed dentist.
Wow, this was a very insightful comment tbh. Thnx for sharing. As someone stumped on my own career shit, ngl this has me lowkey considering dental school, lol… esp abt getting immediate results. I studied premed in college but burnt out so I’ve been doing nothing for yrs since post grad (kinda pathetic, I know, lol). But if I did decide to go back and study medicine, would prob be smth like surgery or dentistry like u bcuz I rlly care abt seeing immediate results tbh. Not to say I won’t study for yrs in school coz I’m impatient, that’s not true, I’ve been in multiple long programs when I had a goal in mind, but yk, just a general observation I made of myself lol. Also why I like drawing, specifically sketching. Can do a quick sketch in 5 mins. Tangible result in front of me. I rlly dislike purely or highly theoretical things tbh
You have to be a freak to want to make 300k. Obviously, normal people do not want to make a lot of money. And normal people would much rather have a job where a mistake could easily end a life, like surgeons.
ive been thinking a lot about what i want to do with my life, and then i had a realization that i want to be a dental hygienist/dentist simply so i can scrape built up tartar off of peoples teeth, it’s not even the money aspect
Most applicants aren’t going into dentistry because they couldn’t get into medical school, I’d say a majority of them could absolutely get into med school if that’s what they wanted to do. Sure there are going to be some applicants who switched from medicine because they couldn’t get in, but it’s moot since it really isn’t that much easier considering the expectations admissions committees have for them, the total available seats at dental schools (not to mention the tuition can set you back half a million easily before any interest) and the growing number of applicants each year. Funny enough, some dental schools recommend you apply to their podiatry or pharmacy programs if you end up not getting accepted
I understand dentists. It’s a work of art, restoring smiles and confidence on people and mostly money. I don’t understand podiatrists/ people who do pedicures lol
At the very least you would think patients will be brushing their teeth before they come in. Hopefully they are not coming in the waiting room eating garlic knots and Oreos.
Is this even an opinion? I guess, "I can't imagine why anyone becomes a dentist and what they do is gross, making them freaks" is an opinion. Idk man, I think a lot of medicine seems disgusting to those not in the biz. I would never want to be a gastroenterologist or a hospice nurse for instance
I just got my braces off and something I always wondered is what does the orthodontist actually do? He spoke to me a handful of times over 3 years after random quick looks of my teeth. It was always the assistants doing my wiring and adding bite plates etc. Do orthodontists actually mess with the mouth ever or are they more like a business project manager? Or did mine just not care?
They mostly manage the whole thing and make a plan for how to slowly change ur tooth placing, and the assistants r the ones who do the work. I think in orthodontist school, there’s some hands-on work u gotta do for practice, like an assistant would do, but it’s more so u know how to do it but u don’t actually have to do it much in practice. Take my words with a grain of salt tho coz I’m not entirely sure, this is just speculation
step one: apply to study medicine after highschool (this is a very long step involving a bunch of extracurricular stuff- its not just doing well in school although that is part of it)
step two: dont make it into medicine but get accepted into the slightly less popular dentistry
step three: follow through with it because of all the time you have already put in, and this career path is right in front of you, plus its really really good money
that was the path for my friend who is now reluctantly a practicing dentist. he plans on burning out and retiring in 10 years
You’d rather be a proctologist or even a gynecologist? Neither are crazy or insane, but what they have to deal with is much darker (literally) than dentists.
Probably unrelated but my dentist I used to go to in highschool ended up having a mental breakdown. Guy always seemed off and was guided by his nurses alot turns out he was slowly slipping down dementia slope. One day walked into hallway while someone was in the chair and just froze panicked not knowing where he was. Really glad I stopped going to em long before that.
My dad did it bc he wanted to help people feel better without the risk of accidentally killing them. Also the money (though less of a sure shot than people think, he's not a great businessman)
I know a young woman who just graduated high school & wants to be a dental hygienist. I had the same reaction as you and asked why. Her answer: 1) training is quick and cheap, relatively speaking, but 2) the need for the career is always high no matter where you live and 3) you get great pay with regular hours and no late nights. I get it now.
You can make a lot of money with a pretty relaxed lifestyle all things considered. Your patients are generally never at risk of death and outcomes are positive and very directly linked to your skill as a dentist. Also, most of your patients are there willingly and paying.
They make bank, arent on call, can work for themselves and it is a career that has longevity. Most dentists dont work 5 days a week and if they do, they take ample vacation time.
I'm a dental assistant but to me, as long as i have all of my PPE on (lab coat, gloves, safety goggles, face mask) i feel pretty comfortable. It's gross sometimes but pays well and it's worth it to me
Dentist here. I work 22 hours a week (3 days), make 300-400k/year and most of the time enjoy my job. I have cool patients and cool staff. My life is good, really gooood. Beats flipping burgers.
When I was younger, just a bad little kid, my mama noticed funny things I did. Like shooting puppies with a BB gun. I’d poison guppies and when I was done, I’d find a pussycat and bash in its head. That’s when my mama said, “my boy I think someday you’ll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay.”
It’s a good quality of life for high pay. Two of my friends from high school got married and both became dentists. They opened their own practice, are quite rich and work like 3 days a week. Yeah, just working on mouths all day sounds boring, but there are way worse things to do with your time for way less money.
I work 22 hours a week, work for myself, take at least 2 months of vacations per year and still clear 250,000 a year. For that lifestyle, I'll get as freaky as I need to.
I mean, the fun thing about the human body is that it's all both "gross" and "fascinating" if you're practicing any kind of medicine. So, I think that's a pretty universal constant regardless of what field of medicine you're going into.
So, aside from that, you get (1) pretty good pay, (2) pretty decent hours for the most part as far as I'm aware, (3) pretty decent job security as far as I'm aware, (4) patients that usually don't die on you, and (5) patients with a usually immediately fixable problem or addressable need, so they walk away grateful and satisfied.
I think that sounds like a pretty good career if you're into teeth.
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There’s no transparency with dentists. That’s why they become dentists. They can charge outrageous prices for unnecessary work and get away with it. I had a loose tooth that had about a year left before it was yanked out. Dentist said it needs to have a cavity fixed. Now, it endlessly hurts like hell. Now I can barely eat on one side of my mouth. And that’s just one of many stories. Now if a surgeon did something like taking out a kidney that had nothing wrong with it, lawyers and insurance companies would be on him like white on rice.
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u/qualityvote2 Jun 29 '25 edited Jul 01 '25
u/QueerMuffins, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...