Fellow dentists & doctors
Discussion
I have mentioned before, but I'm a fairly newly qualified dentist (2008) who is bored/fed up of my job. Now I know there is the option of trying to work somewhere else but not sure it's the answer.
Options:
specialise endo
Go back to uni and study medicine for mac fax or ?see if another branch medicine appeals (surgery).
Both will be long time/money investment and I just would like to hear what others would do if they had the option (or what they still may do)
Cheers!
Options:
specialise endo
Go back to uni and study medicine for mac fax or ?see if another branch medicine appeals (surgery).
Both will be long time/money investment and I just would like to hear what others would do if they had the option (or what they still may do)
Cheers!
If you do not like general dentistry after such a short time, which is relatively varied, would specialising in one niche help?
I personally like being a dentist and have contemplated an Msc. However this is because I enjoy some parts of the dentisry more than others.
Really the question you need to answer is what you do not like about your current vocation.
I personally like being a dentist and have contemplated an Msc. However this is because I enjoy some parts of the dentisry more than others.
Really the question you need to answer is what you do not like about your current vocation.
pauldavies85 said:
I have mentioned before, but I'm a fairly newly qualified dentist (2008) who is bored/fed up of my job. Now I know there is the option of trying to work somewhere else but not sure it's the answer.
Options:
specialise endo
Go back to uni and study medicine for mac fax or ?see if another branch medicine appeals (surgery).
Both will be long time/money investment and I just would like to hear what others would do if they had the option (or what they still may do)
Cheers!
Do not do medicine and then max fac, it's a waste of time and you'll be stuck with NHS medicine which as a job is really sOptions:
specialise endo
Go back to uni and study medicine for mac fax or ?see if another branch medicine appeals (surgery).
Both will be long time/money investment and I just would like to hear what others would do if they had the option (or what they still may do)
Cheers!
t, frankly. There are plenty of options available as a dentist. Email peterpeter and ask his advice, he's essentially a cosmetic dentist but has changed his career a lot recently....
I was bored/fed up with dentistry soon after qualifying in 1985. After 20 years of the NHS treadmill I went private in 2006 and have actually not hated it as much for the past 5 years. I do alot of endo but I wouldn't like to specialise in that as its even less varied than general dentistry. Stick at it, get your excitement out of work. You will be hard pushed to find a job that pays as well for a 9-5 job.imho
I'm a hospital doc (5 yrs + out of med school). Foundation training now (first 2 years if practice out of med school) are awful and don't really prepare you properly like they used to. I've got a couple of mates - in fact 2 prevous house officers - who were qualified dentists and then went onto medical school. Both hated the NHS training so much, they quit after one year. Both felt patronised and deprofessionalised by the system and the powers that be.
I think you may be able to do maxfac SHO on calls without any further medical training? This means you can try it out before and see how you get on. Try a locum agency to see.
My 2p and maybe different to other peoples experience.
I think you may be able to do maxfac SHO on calls without any further medical training? This means you can try it out before and see how you get on. Try a locum agency to see.
My 2p and maybe different to other peoples experience.
Almost finished my ucas application, figured best to apply anyway
So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
pauldavies85 said:
Almost finished my ucas application, figured best to apply anyway
So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
It's not F1/2 that suck, it's pretty much all of postgraduate training upto the most senior registrar level, which is where I am, in a surgical speciality. You'd be mad to do it and frankly you'll get bored dealing with what Max Facs do anyhow, as it all becomes rather repetitive. By the time you get to a position where you'll actually be able to develop your practice, after 5 more years at med school, then 2 foundation then 7 specialist training, you'll be sick of it.So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
If I were you, I'd explore other avenues. The pathway to get to Max Facs consultant jobs take a very very long time and I'm not sure at the end of it, you'll find it as rewarding as you think.
You could be telling my life story. I "felt burnt" out before I was 30, want to specialise, now 15 years later desperately looking for a career change.
If you find general dentistry boring, concentrating on a much smaller part of the field is not going to interest you for long.
I also found the 4 years of specialising very unpleasant, being treated with no respect, it seemed you have to go through Boot Camp, being broken down & humiliated before one day, miraculously, you're accepted into the fold with all human rights restored. The time, effort, money & lost income invested in specialising is not worth the reward.
The problem with dentistry is that you only have 2 hands to generate you income with, there is no chance of a promotion, bonuses, company cars, etc, lots of customers looking for any excuse to take you to court, and thousands of administrators & regulators trying to tell you how to live your life.
My advice: Work like a maniac for the next few years, (the NHS is at the moment the safest place to be)trying to save as much money as you can, don't get caugt up in loans, mortgages, etc, and invest in alternate income sources. (Personally, I think now is the ideal time to find cheap buy to let properties). Once you can start doing dentistry as a hobby & not as your sole livelyhood it becomes a lot more acceptable. In the meantime I'd suggest to get involved in implant dentistry, it is to me the most rewarding part. The Royal College of Surgeons offer a very good part-time course which is considered the minimum standard of training.
Best of luck anyway.
If you find general dentistry boring, concentrating on a much smaller part of the field is not going to interest you for long.
I also found the 4 years of specialising very unpleasant, being treated with no respect, it seemed you have to go through Boot Camp, being broken down & humiliated before one day, miraculously, you're accepted into the fold with all human rights restored. The time, effort, money & lost income invested in specialising is not worth the reward.
The problem with dentistry is that you only have 2 hands to generate you income with, there is no chance of a promotion, bonuses, company cars, etc, lots of customers looking for any excuse to take you to court, and thousands of administrators & regulators trying to tell you how to live your life.
My advice: Work like a maniac for the next few years, (the NHS is at the moment the safest place to be)trying to save as much money as you can, don't get caugt up in loans, mortgages, etc, and invest in alternate income sources. (Personally, I think now is the ideal time to find cheap buy to let properties). Once you can start doing dentistry as a hobby & not as your sole livelyhood it becomes a lot more acceptable. In the meantime I'd suggest to get involved in implant dentistry, it is to me the most rewarding part. The Royal College of Surgeons offer a very good part-time course which is considered the minimum standard of training.
Best of luck anyway.
and also pauldavies85 said:
So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck?
Depends on the rotation tbh.After being a qualified dentist, I'd probably find it hard to go back to the general dogsbody role of:
- chasing the bloods
- chasing the scan results
- ordering unnecessary imaging (and arguing with the radiologist) because the consultant has asked for it
- keeping the blood folder up to date
- getting grief from pretty much everyone and receiving thanks from very few
- actually doing very little medicine
pauldavies85 said:
Almost finished my ucas application, figured best to apply anyway
So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
I'm guessing you're going for the 4 year grad entry programmes?So let me get it straight, f1/2 suck? I've done some work at local hospital max fac,mainly minor surgical stuff, nothing beyond scope practice really.
I think I enjoy the technical part of work, but don't feel mentally challenged enough, I have a pretty short attention span.
I also struggle with the business mixing with clinical work, I output the most work in my practice by a fair distance ( including my boss) but it doesn't drive me, I need more from my work.
Ive recently completed a year course in advanced restorative/aesthetic work, was good to have some greater focus but has also opened me to exploring other avenues.
I'm sure they have their reasons, but I think there are some very negative viewpoints on here. Most of the doctors I work with do enjoy their jobs, and don't deter their kids from entering the professions. I work with plenty of Foundation docs who are still enthusiastic, but you'll get people in every profession whom it doesn't suit.
To me, it sounds like surgery might give you more of what you want than dentistry. Although maxfax is the obvious route for you there's nothing to stop you entering another specialty if it appealed more strongly. Orthopods always seem pretty cheerful to me - maybe that's a possibility?
Good luck with your application!
icg823 said:
The problem with dentistry is that you only have 2 hands to generate you income with, there is no chance of a promotion, bonuses, company cars, etc, lots of customers looking for any excuse to take you to court, and thousands of administrators & regulators trying to tell you how to live your life.
If you own the practice, you have far more hands generating income for you. I own 2 dental practices and although I agree with your points about regulations and customers, it is still worth putting up with. Do a business degree/course.
N Dentressangle said:
I'm guessing you're going for the 4 year grad entry programmes?
I'm sure they have their reasons, but I think there are some very negative viewpoints on here. Most of the doctors I work with do enjoy their jobs, and don't deter their kids from entering the professions. I work with plenty of Foundation docs who are still enthusiastic, but you'll get people in every profession whom it doesn't suit.
To me, it sounds like surgery might give you more of what you want than dentistry. Although maxfax is the obvious route for you there's nothing to stop you entering another specialty if it appealed more strongly. Orthopods always seem pretty cheerful to me - maybe that's a possibility?
Good luck with your application!
Negative views based on personal experience of 12 years of medicine and 6 years of undergraduate training. It's a hard, hard road and to choose it as a remedy for being bored, is a mistake. If that pathway is taken, it needs to be considered extremely carefully. I would certainly deter my kids from becoming a medic, though if it was what they truly wanted, I would be supportive. In this country, within the NHS, it's an extremely hard road to take, particularly to specialise in hospital practice and once the end of training arrives, then a new set of frustrations occurs dealing with a monolithic system that is appallingly managed. As a surgeon I'm faced with these situations on a daily basis and faced with the ever changing political landscape that presents with an ever tightening pot, to treat patients with.I'm sure they have their reasons, but I think there are some very negative viewpoints on here. Most of the doctors I work with do enjoy their jobs, and don't deter their kids from entering the professions. I work with plenty of Foundation docs who are still enthusiastic, but you'll get people in every profession whom it doesn't suit.
To me, it sounds like surgery might give you more of what you want than dentistry. Although maxfax is the obvious route for you there's nothing to stop you entering another specialty if it appealed more strongly. Orthopods always seem pretty cheerful to me - maybe that's a possibility?
Good luck with your application!
968 said:
Negative views based on personal experience of 12 years of medicine and 6 years of undergraduate training. It's a hard, hard road and to choose it as a remedy for being bored, is a mistake. If that pathway is taken, it needs to be considered extremely carefully. I would certainly deter my kids from becoming a medic, though if it was what they truly wanted, I would be supportive. In this country, within the NHS, it's an extremely hard road to take, particularly to specialise in hospital practice and once the end of training arrives, then a new set of frustrations occurs dealing with a monolithic system that is appallingly managed. As a surgeon I'm faced with these situations on a daily basis and faced with the ever changing political landscape that presents with an ever tightening pot, to treat patients with.
Could not agree more. Great job, rubbish system (Urology SpR).Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff