Hi everyone - hope you are all having a great week!!

As you all know, I'm in my third year of dental school, and it's been going great. Recently, on Instagram, I was posed the question:"What are the differences in the work load between Medical vs. Dental school?" As someone who comes from a large family that has always been huge on fulfilling careers in medicine or dentistry; I felt I had a ton of insight on this question.


Dentistry: 
The first two years of dental school are focused on basic sciences - biochemistry, physiology, genetics - mixed with dental related sciences such as head and neck anatomy, dental anatomy (teeth shapes, how we bite, etc), oral pathology, orthodontics and so on. The first two years are considerably the "worst" since most time is spent in a classroom setting or studying in a library. I believe at one point we had 11 classes - some having more weight and credits than others but still it is A LOT to manage.  Also, unless you have prior dental knowledge, the dental related sciences are learned for the very first time.

Depending on the dental school you matriculate at, there are also days (we had 2 days a week at UDM) during the week that are spent in sim lab. Sim lab is basically when you learn all your hand skills like drilling and filling teeth, how to make crowns, denture fabrication, root canals, and so on. In sim lab we don't work on real people, because it's technically a 'practice' until we get to clinic. However, there are a few courses that allowed us to work on each other as students doing things like taking impressions, periodontal probing (gum measurements), and cleanings.

The last two years of dental school are spent in clinic (and a lot less in the classroom). Some say it's "less stressful" but personally to me, it's just a different kind of stress. There is less to worry about when it comes to didactic courses, but more focus on getting requirements done and treating patients. Sure, we spent time in sim lab, but those were completely ideal situations - typodonts don't have tongues, saliva, or 7mm pocket depths! It takes a few weeks or even months to adjust to the hustle and bustle of 3rd year clinic. When 4th year comes around, it's time to focus on getting ALL requirements done and passing boards.

Medical school: 
Similar to dental school, medical school also dedicates the first two years on science courses. Classes like anatomy (dissection of entire body), physiology, biochemistry, neuro, genetics are taken. There are also labs like immunology and microbiology. Although some of the basic sciences may have been taken in undergrad, a lot of it is more in-depth. As you can see, much of the time is spent rigorously studying.

During these first two years, med students are also taught how to be clinicians. They learn the basics of giving physical examinations, about EKG's, lung testing equipment, getting blood drawn, etc. For example, at Wayne State, the students take a clinical/physical exam class once a week for 6 months. I'd also like to note here that Step 1 boards are taken at the end of 2nd year, and Step 2 at the end of 3rd year (but can depend on the school).

When it's time for 3rd and 4th year, students jump into clinical rotations. They rotate in specialties such as surgery, family medicine, internal medicine, peds, psych, and electives. They learn about what specialties they like and don't like at this time. Patients are seen by students and they work closely with an attending and residents. What does this mean? They are overseen but required to use prior knowledge and tested often. Students are also required to work the shifts that they have been given. Many times that means being on-call or staying for 6 hour surgeries. Think you're going home at 5pm because you're a student? Nope, not gonna happen. Being on call means you admit patients. But some call is during the day, some is overnight. Then there are some hospitals that have a night shift team (work only at night and will admit patients).

Finally, I'd also like to say that many dental students do not go on to fulfill a residency (and graduate as general dentists) but medical students need to continue onto a residency. Also, I'd like to note that some dental schools have their students sit in the same lectures as med students, but that is dependent on the program you chose.

Overall, both fields are very competitive and require a great amount of dedication. Do what you love and the struggle of getting through school will have the biggest reward at the end when you graduate!
😄

Hope this post was helpful.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me! ♥
-Nesreen