The Complete Guide to Becoming A Dentist, All Other Specialist

I was on the fence about applying to dental school until I read Chapter 1 about what hospital dentists actually do all day. The author clearly has been in the room - the description of working with your foot on the rheostat while the anesthesiologist nods is exactly the kind of detail you don't get from a career counselor. The financial breakdown in Chapter 4 made me realize I'd need to live like a resident for 5 years after graduation, and I'm honestly glad I know that now. This book saved me from making the decision blind.

Solid, practical book. The salary tables are realistic and match what I've heard from older colleagues who did hospital residencies. I docked one star because I wished the education chapter had gone deeper into the specifics of the different fellowship pathways - the comparison table was helpful but a bit general for someone who's serious about, say, special care dentistry versus emergency work. Still, the self-assessment checklist in Chapter 2 is brutally honest. If you're prone to being squeamish around blood, this book will save you $300,000.

Good resource for someone like me who's switching careers from engineering. The author doesn't assume you've been shadowing dentists since high school. The day-in-the-life chapter was worth the price alone - I had no idea that a good chunk of oral medicine is managing patients with chronic pain who've seen 5 other providers already. That's patience work, not just technical skill. I'd recommend this to anyone considering the field, but know that it's written for serious deliberators, not casual readers. You'll need to put in the work of doing the self-evaluation.

It was fine. I'm a junior in college and my pre-med advisor recommended this. The information is accurate as far as I can tell, but the tone is a bit too much like my dad lecturing me about financial responsibility. I get it - student debt is serious. I was hoping for more info on the actual procedure work and less on the economics. Chapter 6 on the daily schedule is the strongest. If you already know the basic structure of the career and just want details on what it's like to be in the OR, skip to chapter 6.

This is the guide I wish I had two years ago when I was googling "oral surgeon salary" and getting nothing but recruitment spam. The Chapter 1 breakdown of the tools - from the surgical handpieces to the cone-beam CT systems - gave me a concrete picture that I couldn't get from any website. And the breaking-in chapter is practical, not just "network and apply." The interviewer questions listed in Chapter 5 are the same ones I got in my actual interview. I walked into my oral surgery residency interview feeling prepared because of this book.

As someone who's been an RDH for 6 years and is now considering dental school, this book gave me the honest picture I needed. The author doesn't romanticize what it's like to be on the other side of the chair. The coverage of work environments was particularly useful - I'd never seriously considered hospital dentistry until I read about the interdisciplinary teamwork with ENTs and radiologists. The financial math on Chapter 4 is sobering but fair. It's not a book to scare you off; it's a book to make sure you go in with your eyes open.