well, I like your deep convictions and extra mile you go in educating the public regarding Dentistry. Those who believe Dentist are second to MD would perhaps leave with us and beyond in the near future. We cannot run a campaign to adress the issue of confusion that many public member also believe and their perception cannot be dealt with, ofcourse lots are done now by hiring top consulant firms in letting know the importance of seeking best health care, this takes time but never the less, it a good direction. It's good that you are not ducking the tough hurricane of despise that until today seems to blow on the dentistry proffesion. Word of advice keep it in your own love for your proffession and do not speak on others who you are limited in Knowledge. Maybe some little research on Optometrist/Chiropractor would enlighten you. You might be suprised to know some requirement need to enter MD school are same as those required to enter Optometrist program, talk about credentials. Do you know many Optometrist choose Optometrist than MD or DDS, since according to New England Journal of Medicine Optometrist is considered cool proffesion and most favoured by young Americans than any other Medical field, I guess this speak for it's self.

Here is some analysis done by Independent Health care group in States:

DENTISTRY

PROS:
-very old proffession
-Good pay
-Help people when in Dental emergency
-Solid Education
-limited skill apart from the most complicated procedure of root canal the rest can be done by Dental hyginist
the only advancement is limited to Orthodentist and very few get into it due to limit space in University


CONS:

-Is termed by many GROSS
-Highest suicide proffession in the world
-Takes long to finish
-Lots of Dentist retire or quit the proffession early than others due to lack of Job satisfaction
-Many think is not that important as other health care since Tooth is not associated with well being of an individual and many can leave without teeth and live good life, Africa is case example with many of it's population with poor dental and still live normal lifes.
-Stereotype by other proffession as second to MD, no other single proffession suffer from this other than Dentristy.
-only can dispense pain killers and antibiotics, which you can get of counter.
-Other procedure such as Crowning or Root canal takes long hours to perform and hence very stressful


OPTOMETRIST

PROS
-New proffession compare to Dentistry( 20th century proffession)
-Good pay
-Solid education
-less stress
-since eye is considered an important than teeth one wonders given the choice to loose a tooth or one eye, -100% of people would choose they have both eyes.
-can prescribe and dispense at same time. Even MDs are bound only in prescribing and let pharmacist dispense.
-You can specialize in Laser surgery if interested without going for advance trainning.
-Treat patient with variety of eye conditions such as diabetic patients, Glacoma and so fort.
-No need in advancement since it's all inclusive proffession unlike dentist who need to specialist in order to fit braces.
-very designer oriented proffession, many Optometrist deal with high end Optical frames such as Gucci, Versage, Calvin Klein and so forth.
-Most government plans e.g medicaid or welfare cover eye care 100% not to mention private insurance which pays high premium for eye check up and Optical prescriptions which can be all offered by Optometrist
-eye check up takes only 15 minutes and hence less boring.
-through use of contact lense, Optometrist can treat cross eye condition unlike dentist who can only claim of streating teeth by use of braces a ruther cosmetic benefit than a medical one.

CONS

-Very easy proffession (It's for you to judge if easy is bad) meaning less stress.
-Small member assocation (I love the fact that I don't see any Optometrist in every corner in the city like Dental center in every intersection) hence less resource toward add campaign and competition from peers members, no wonder wheneve you go to different Dentist they always tell you that your fillings was not done properly and you crowns look weak, proffession greed is high in this proffession


In conclution Dentrist is similar to proffession like Podiatrist which both enjoy being regulated but the public can live without needing their service e.g unless you have emergency situation you can stay without going to Dentist same as Podiatrist who primarly help individual by prescribing Orthotics and treating Ingrown nails, unless you got sore feet and pain in you achili tendons you don't need Podiatrist. But you need Optometrist every time you have vision problem, I think you agree with me when people or Scientist say "sight is number one most importance senses" and then sense of hearing but not senses of Dental. You can see why Audiologist are considered more important than Dentist, I personally ruther loose my teeth than hearing.


One final thing, no offense to those who are interested to join Dentistry word of caution please and I repeat please give lots of thought before you go into this proffession as we speek there is a break through in Dental health and many expert inluding Dentist agree that the new finding by a reasearch team in England regarding new ingrown tooth is a breakthough in Dentistry, the reasearch is final and and once for all now need to have root canal or expensive procedure instead you will be able to have a new tooth implanted in you which would grow into full teeth in few months, many experts believe Dentristry proffession is doomed. Very few clinics are doing this procedure but lots of Dentist lobby group are fighting in this endless battle in order to protect their weekening proffession.

Dentistry profession is doomed? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol.gif) so this is a wake-up call to all dentists!

I think I know the article you are referring to, pay close attention to the first sentance of the article. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shiny.gif)




- TD

Well I do agree it's not that soon but it my come into effect in 3-4yrs from now, which means if you plan to attend Dental program this September you might be disapointed to graduate same time that this medical breakthrough is in full effect. The reaserch is in pipe-line face, it is possible to get new teeth that is unquestionable. The research team are trying to make it available in every level of society. Remember the proverb "If there is smoke there must be a fire". Definitely I would be concern with this breakthrough if I was planning to attend Dental School, that is fair statement.

The article clearly states the following....

"Growing whole teeth probably is at least 10 years away. What probably will come before that is repairing teeth by growing tissue. For example, rather than fixing cracked teeth with synthetic materials, dentists would grow new cells to fill the cracks. "

Obviously, there are other dental dreams. Those hopes include technologies that will regenerate dental nerves, providing stimulation to the brain which experiments suggest could forestall senility. In any case, dental stem cells like any other stem cell research is not an easy hurdle. A good prediction would be that within five years, we would know whether dental stem cells could be manipulated to bioengineer teeth. To generate a human tooth might take an additional five to 10 years, or even more.

So the BIG if's will not be so BIG, until they are assured by series of scientific facts. In the meantime, this issue will not pose any threats to the prospect of the field for many years to come. Think about it, how will this issue impact at the patient level? probably another generation.

- TD

I like the courage you have in protecting Dentrist, but be assure it's a loosing battle. Once issues like this comes up, it's matter of time before things change into reality. Once the fact that new tooth can be developed the next goal would be to cut the time into half. Even if you assume ten years or so, lets take your scenerio, Toof is a smart student who is preparing to enter Dentristry program sometime this year, It would take Toof Doctor five years or six all inlusive(interniship). By the time Toof Doctor graduate in 2012, he would owe student loan $60,000, it would take Toof Doctor to pay this student loan back about 3-5 years dependin on the circumstance and that is if he still remains single and post-posponed having family and leave modest life, second hand car (Honda Accord-Somali favourite car), share accomodation, once a while dinner in local Somali Restaurant, not to mention a new course meal at Downtown fansy restaurant which would be out of bound for him for sometime. Once Doctor Toof graduate, he is faced with Dentist most dilemma time, the breakthough in New tooth development, Dr. Greenspoon who have been practising Dentrist for the last 30yrs is providing new tooth procedure accross Dr. Toof new Dental practive, all over sudden people are overwellmingly turn up in Dr. Greenspoon practice, the procedure becomes so available new Graduate from Dental School are Shocked many are left disspointed including Dr. Toof whose hard work and the long journey in Dentistry is bearing fruit but alas but he is dissapointed like many, he remembers long time ago in SDN forum, his was informed but was not ready to listen, he contemplates and says to himself" I wish I was smart enough, I could have traded Dentistry to Audiologist or Physiotherapist, this would not happen to me kids he assures himself, I will tell them to be carefull when it comes to making decision in life, I would be open minded about every advice I get from my fellow somalis). Doctor Toof lives his remaining life Somewhere in Somalia while reminising about the past, but given his Muslim back ground he throws his Shahadas and he call it the will of God.


Doctor Toof not to show you how your conviction is turning you blind and if you have little vision left is one of a Tunnel sydrome vision, according to many Optometrist you have what is termed as " Myopic tendancies"
your vision is blurred you cannot see beyond your arm length, you have significant problem with peripheal vision which is also known as Jack in the box effect, you are like a driver who is limited only to his viewing mirrors and avoids blind spot, only when tragedy hits he realise he made a huge mistake but again you claim you did not see the car, blind spot is a word that you never hard and does not appear in your dictonary, you are rigid in you believes and very close to be obssesed with what you like without knowing the world is a complex place and sometime it worthy looking through a magnifying glass. No pun intended but my apologies if this sound harsh to you, I though I should enlighten you before disapointed kicks in.

Before I leave you, go to time magazine issue sometime this year, there is an article about a name that is becoming familiar and have same characteristic with outsourcing. This is what is known as "Dentist Tourism" Amerians and Canadians are postponing to see their dentist until vacation time/summer, so on there vacation trip they can see local Dentist who charge rangers from $10 for deep cleaning to $70 for root canal and if you want Braces with your X-ray, so your local Dentist can do the tune-up which cost somewhere between $75-$100 by your American Doctor, it would cost you $150. So many families whose Children need Braces that can cost up to $5000, they end up doing it overseas and the number is increasing with ofcourse Dental organazation here in State are running Add Campaigns about how dangareous this is, there reason is that those Dentist are third world class Dentist bla bla, for the sake for protecting their pocket with no medical reports backing. A place called ZEBU in the Phillipines is popular with Dentist in every corner surrounding the Resort, Poland is also becoming another location for American interested with Cheap Dentistry.

I am not preparing, I "AM" a dental student. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


I will not graduate in 2012, where are you getting this information from?



On any other day, I would be mad if someone said this to me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol.gif)



Priceless! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shiny.gif)


If you think people are deciding to go other countries for cheaper medical costs, then I guess you missed the memo that addressed that issue long time ago.

I hope you don't continue to provide bogus information on these forums.

- TD

There goes TD getting upset. I did not say every one is going to have their Dental work done outside states but there are some who do. I don't see why you get emotional while you say on your own words Chiropractors and Optometrist are not really Medical proffessionals, that is insult but for you to call others piece of writing bogus coz they are bringing attention about Dentrist proffession is absurd and cheap. So you thinking about kicking me out of this forum since you are moderator, go ahead. It's unfortunate that the most educate among us are ignorant to that extent. I mean you really upset with me because I brought my findings out regarding Dentistry and you don't care what you said about other proffession, that is ignorant my friend and cheap shot.