Dr Amanda with Street smile Solutions Street smilesolutions.com and from time to time I do
a video that's not really about orthodontic biomechanics or Orthodontics in general and
today we're going to talk about it's going to be a piece of advice to Future Dental
student me 20 plus years ago advice that I wish people had told me you know in terms
of making decisions things I just never really considered in terms of where to go
um how much to spend everything like that so I just want to give you I'm not trying to dissuade
um especially females from going into dental school not at all but I just want you to be aware
of things that will come up a decade later you know and having this in the back of your mind when
you'd make the decision to go to dental school which dental school to go to to specialize to not
specialize is really going to help you later so just things to keep in mind certainly nobody told
me any of this so um obviously you've probably seen advice on Facebook groups and Facebook groups
course didn't even exist when I was applying to dental school social media didn't exist
the email barely existed and the internet barely existed but there definitely was no social media
so I really had I knew very few to know female dentists let alone female Specialists
um I knew I could do it that wasn't that was the least of my concerns I was not
worried about being able to get in to be able to succeed like those were the bottom of my issues
um I worked very hard and I'm very driven when I say I want to do something I'm going to do it so
um that was a non-issue for me which is a lot of people's issue I did know that I wanted to
borrow as little money as possible and at the time I was dating someone very
seriously in another state we'd gone to college together thinking about having a life together
um and I almost went to dental school in the midwest at the last very last minute I got into
UCSF which I'm from California originally I kept my residency even though I was living in another
state and I was able to go for a fraction of the price to a top five dental school so I
was like okay well that's that then so um he at the time stayed in the Midwest and I went
to San Francisco and that was the end of that for obvious reasons I'm not saying that you can't make
that work but obviously both of you have to be on the same page and it it didn't seem like it was
gonna end anytime soon and that's fine you know whatever whatever is meant to be is meant to be
ended up meeting my now husband the first day of dental school and that was that from there so
um we have some pretty cute kids as far as I'm concerned um great kids not just cute and
um pretty happy there but yeah things to think about I mean obviously borrow as little as
possible live like a student when you are a student live like a student this is a tip one
the first five to ten years after you finish school and residency that's that's where a
lot of people get themselves in trouble it's very difficult especially after you've been a student
for 30 years you know and you're graduating at 30 or in your late 20s um and and when those student
loans hit oh my goodness do what you can do to avoid at all costs taking out any loans that are
above three four five percent interest if possible otherwise it's basically like having a credit card
um definitely stay away from private student loans um certainly I would take a less desirable
dental school that was significantly cheaper if you got Merit or significant grants any day
over a more expensive school it really does not this is a key point it does not matter
where you go to school now that being said I actually loved my dental school a lot did
I love my residency no you guys know what I think about that but it was terrible but
um I loved loved loved UCSF I have nothing bad to say about that school they treated us super well
um I just I mean it wasn't hard to me at all um I mean it was challenging but it wasn't impossible
I don't really think they failed people out I mean certainly you want to know a little bit
about the culture at the dental school you're going to I've heard a lot of horror stories
um not unlike my own residency where I've kind of recently made a video about that but horror
stories about the way people are treated in dental school horror stories about assessing
additional fees horror stories about people getting kicked out for this and that you know
um I think you really want to talk to current students and just kind of see their level of
stress the one thing I liked about UCSF and and they may not do it this way now so I
mean but this is I totally had never thought about asking I think I just got really lucky
um was that they used the system called the rvu system which was relative value units
um and every procedure had a certain value obviously like an endo or a crown prep is
going to have more value than a one-sifist surface filling if you get the idea and there really was
no minimum requirements you could graduate as long as you had enough value or credits so I love that
I knew I was going to not go into certain types of procedures I mean obviously you had to do an oral
surgery rotation and other pedo rotation there's things you had to learn but if you really really
hated a certain procedure and if you knew you weren't going to General Dentistry you really
didn't have to do that or I think you had to do one so I think I did one Endo my entire time
maybe it was two but it was something very very minimal um because I was so not interested in that
um but I think thought that was cool it definitely took the stress level down I think also one major
thing you need to keep in mind and this is something that before I even pick dentistry
and and it's it's moving in different directions but it's not there yet I didn't realize I'd have
complete lack of flexibility to relocate from state to state I kind of just figured you could
pick up and go you know and it wouldn't be a problem once you graduated as long as you
passed your exams and it doesn't work that way at all um there's still State Dental boards there's
Regional Dental boards there are some schools that integrate the dental boards into the curriculum so
you'll graduate with that no matter what whether it's state or Regional there's some where you
have to later hustle and take your boards after school that was extremely stressful I mean I did
it I passed it first time not a problem I was also took me a good nine months to prepare for
it I was very organized in terms of preparing for that practical exam um getting the perfect patient
um very very very very stressful right after graduation I certainly would avoid that if
possible I think the whole thing about having external Dental boards is kind of BS I think
it should be integrated in the curriculum if you're passing your clinicals within
the school you shouldn't have to do this I mean obviously a written test makes sense to me one
two three like medicine but you know you know Physicians are not doing Hands-On practical
I mean they are in in the curriculum but they're not doing like a standardized practical test I
think that's just ridiculous and the amount of money that you have to spend in order to do these
exams you have to like pay the patients you have to have transportation I mean you don't have the
money for this it was thousands and thousands of thousands of dollars and that's money I did not
have you know that I had to borrow from friends and family in order to be able to even just pass
that test so just you know thinking keeping that in mind just watch out where you decide to go and
make sure it's going to be some place that you can laterally move other places you don't want
to be boxed into a certain State even nowadays you can be boxed into a certain state but in
order to get reciprocity a lot of times there's restrictions so for example uh some of the states
I've wanted to go to if unless you took a regional board there's a restriction if you took a state
board you can't do it if you graduated before 2004 you can't do it they make all these states
make some really weird rules and they think it's for protecting people but a lot of times it's just
control because they're trying to avoid too many dentists moving into a certain State and upsetting
the status quo or they're trying to prevent people from having multiple licenses in multiple States
and there really should just be one National license you know as far as I'm concerned and
maybe you just pay a fee to work in a different state kind of like medicine or nursing and a lot
of other professions but anyways that's just my two cents worth on that but things to think about
um it is very easy to get boxed in and not be able to have the flexibility to relocate I've
I've encouraged my kids to not at all go into Dentistry I said you know what until things
change it's not the profession you want to be in it is very saturated right now
I mean and there are definitely parts of the country where it's not and if you are somebody
who you and your spouse are willing to pick up and move someplace more remote
more small town maybe a little less desirable parts of the country in air quotes it might
be desirable to you but maybe not desirable not a coastal town you know not a warm place
um you might do very very very well so don't get me wrong that just was not I'm very flexible and
things like that but you know my husband's definitely not so um just something to keep
in mind the more desirable the place you want to move and the more saturated is the less money you
will make and and of course higher the usually the cost of living so the less money you will
take home therefore the lower your standard of living obviously eventually you can own multiple
practices and then things will change and that's basically what you have to do but you can't just
be like an employee and do really really well now there are some dsos that claim you're making 300
400 5 000 100 000 a year these are factories and and I've done that before don't get me wrong I've
worked at DSO factories and when I was 30 31 32 it was okay you know I I was pretty decent at it
but all it takes is one rotten manager one Shady manager there's always somebody rotten that that
that that shows up and can make your life a living nightmare at these places you have zero control
um obviously Specialists have a little more control than a GP GPS are very disposable and
you're gonna feel disposable at these companies um just be careful you know don't don't put all your
eggs in one basket um diversifying is a great idea multiple different locations but then you probably
won't get Healthcare or benefits so um but other things to think about just you know thoughts I
mean think about you know when when do you want to have kids um if you want to start a family
obviously for females the desirable time to start a family is well under age 35 the longer you wait
the more expensive and the more challenging and the more risks there are um I have so many friends
over 35 that had to do in vitro just almost all of them to be honest some got lucky but most did not
um it's pack on your it's really challenging on your body to go through that you may not be able
to go through the process and still work um it is makes you can make you very ill I know I'm
not speaking from personal experience but I know enough people who've been through it and
financially I mean six figures easily um it's it's an incredibly expensive process I um to go
through and and it's gonna really wipe out your savings so definitely starting earlier is a good
idea but once you have kiddos Everything Changes Things We don't think about I mean I grew up in a
very large family with a lot of siblings I was the oldest of five five yeah I do have four youngers
um all different ages and and I know kids get sick but I I don't think I realized how that works with
school how that works with daycare how that works with child care whenever they get any sniffle and
I think it's even worse now I mean before we get Papa a Motrin for our kids and still send
them and usually you know when you get caught if it was something minor but nowadays no way
anytime your kid is sick they are not going to child care which means one of you is going
to have to stay home and it is going to happen more frequently you think you're
not talking about once or twice a year we're talking five to ten times a year you know at
age two three babies I mean there's so many illnesses from colds to hand foot and mouth
um a lot of different things they they will catch and they can't catch um and it's just a hassle you
know and I can tell you you know if you have your own practice you might be able to get pre creative
um obviously you're going to lose out of money because you're still going to pay your staff if
you don't pay your staff and you shut down your staff's going to quit um so I mean every time
you're out it's not just losing your salary it's also the overhead that you have to pay
um four five six thousand a day that you're out I mean ridiculous amounts of money that are going to
go down the tubes every time your kid is sick um you can't keep your kid in a bubble so and and if
you work for a DSL or um you know once twice after that they're gonna fire you I mean even though
they're not supposed to they will they'll find they'll find a way to fire you if you're taking
off for your kids being sick they will definitely find a way to do it it will definitely not last
so um I mean great if you have you know parents or family members that can watch your kids a lot
of times a lot of people say that they will and then after a month or two they change their mind
so and it's they're not as flexible anymore and and certainly as parents and grandparents
get older you know and and relatives and aunties and stuff you know they don't necessarily want to
be around sick kids because it's a risk to them you know and we definitely went through that with
covid where it was like okay well no we're not taking your kids you know because we don't want to
get sick so it just changes it changes the whole concept of things and in terms of how you can work
and meanwhile those student loans don't go away they're they're Relentless you know um you don't
want to get behind on them but I mean I don't want to sound like a giant bummer because Dentistry is
wonderful when everything's lined up but you know things to think about before you even go into it
you know what do you want your life to be like you know and like I told you I've got one kid that's
going to go into directly into BSN nursing school when she goes to college and the sun's gonna go
into engineering and they'll both be able to make a six-figure job as soon as they graduate college
and in hindsight I probably would have done that had I known that but I didn't know right because
we're all kind of chasing the the big lucrative careers and thinking that we want to do something
big and fancy but sometimes doing something big and fancy isn't the best thing to do I don't
regret the path that I've taken I love what I'm doing now with my consulting company and I and I
really appreciate all of you who do support um and continue to support me and my company and that's
why I give back with as much advice as possible um to all of you and I've definitely had some amazing
conversations with a lot of female Dental students and people um considering to apply to dental
school I welcome those conversations they are free you just can just go to my website and schedule
they're up to 20 minutes long I just listen I mean I'm not a trained therapist by any means but
um I think you should talk stuff out and think about it you know before you jump into it
um and if all the Ducks line up and you've got the full support system that's there then go for
it you know definitely but you know there's there's certainly no you're gonna have a lot
more flexibility doing something like hygiene and being able to work two or three days a week um as
a you know a W-2 um you can usually set your own hours hygienists are so in demand you can demand
whatever you want you know um sometimes you'll get lucky as a dentist I mean I know we had one
that interviewed with one of our offices recently has young kids and you know my husband definitely
recognizes that what it's like and he's giving her the schedule that she wants which is some pretty
funky hours but that way she can be home every day to be there when the kids come home from school
um and have a guaranteed you know what she needs but I mean he gets that you know but
it's there's very very very few places where you can be a W-2 have a guaranteed salary and
get out at a certain time it's just not gonna happen so all right hopefully that helps you
um you remember these kids are only with you for 18 years I'm certainly experiencing experiencing
that now with one going into college shortly um super excited for him um just stoked for
him and everything that he's done and I feel so blessed that I was able to have this flexibility
this last 10 years and really be there to be with them and take them all the places he needed to go
be there for all his sporting events be a huge part of his life be home for dinner every day
be home to help them with their homework I think it really made a massive difference
um you know the first eight yeah the first five to seven years my kids were basically raised by
nannies and a few family members and I a lot of times I didn't see them for Days by the time I got
home they were asleep and I was up before they got up and that was it was like literally like
a revolving door um and meanwhile you know I'm working seeing 80 90 100 patients a day commuting
hour and a half each way and you know like what am I doing this for this sucks you know this is
not fun this is not what I signed up for you know really regretting and and there's a lot there's a
lot of dentists that are miserable out there and I want to let you know that you're not alone I'm
not miserable right now but I I've been there I've definitely been there I know a lot of people who
are there and I want to let you know it's okay to be sad and it's okay to Pivot but you need
to brainstorm with your family and find a way to Pivot and there's I have a couple other videos on
different non-clinical side hustles for dentists um different ways other dentists can make income
from home you know decent income and it's it's not going to be giant amounts you know but it'll start
small but it's something and it's certainly a heck of a lot more than being a Lyft or an Uber driver
um but people need to know who you are unless they know who you are and you're and you're
engaging with other people virtually on LinkedIn Instagram things like that people don't know that
you have value and knowledge so definitely the first step is to get that social media
up and going and start connecting and posting all right thank thanks so much