[Pretorian]

I am trying to decide whether to go to Dental school or not. It will cost me 4 years and God knows how much money and effort. What do u think, if there are any future for dentistry postpeak?

[Fergus]

I am trying to decide whether to go to Dental school or not. It will cost me 4 years and God knows how much money and effort. What do u think, if there are any future for dentistry postpeak?

Cavemen and farmers get cavities too. Just not sure what local they used for pain. But it cant hurt and if there is no collapse, your set for life.

[Tyler_JC]

[web]http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005142569,00.html[/web]

My sarcasm aside, I strongly suggest going to dental school.

Dentists serve a vital function in society and are likely to remain employed (and well paid) into the far away future.

You have to ask yourself the following questions though:

How much debt will I pile up to go to dental school?

Do I have any savings that I could use to pay for my education?

Do I have other financial obligations that will have to be put off while going to school (children, spouse, mortgage, etc.)

Do I really want to be a dentist?

If I didn't know about Peak Oil, would I want to be a dentist?

I don't need the answers to all of those questions to give out my free advice. But if you think that you can manage the cost of school and it is something that actually interests you...I see no reason not to pursue it.

[cynthia]

Much of today's dental practices are rooted ( ) in the abundance of cheap oil. All that plastic.
We have alternatives to allopathic medicine for the day-to-day common ills with most of those ills being a direct cause of diet (mostly refined grains and sugar). Some folks believe those refined substances are also responsible for dental decay, gingivitis, etc. Genetics are important in determining oral health.
We don't have many alternatives for dentistry. Knowing how to make teeth might be a good skill to have and being able to install them a plus. (Would require lab tech experience and DDS. Maybe you could work in a dental lab to support yourself through school?)
It's a huge debt to incur but a good skill to use for trading if things come to that in y/our life time.
I did a brief stint as a dental assistant. People's mouths in general are pretty darn gross, but I found the work interesting.
cythnia

[Aqua]

As anyone who has suffered the agony of a severe toothache will know, dentists will always be in demand. Apparently it is one of the oldest professions in human history if the link below is to believed.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/05/news/teeth.php

Peak oil preparations, stock up heavily with lidocaine, it might be worth more than its weight in gold at some point in time.
Would not fancy the pelican with zero anaesthetic and two burly yobs holding me down but then again who would.
http://www.bda-dentistry.org.uk/museum/ ... tentID=346

[rexxz]

This is very comforting, my girlfriend has plans on going to dentistry school, to become an assisstant though. Hopefully I can persuade her for Hygienist training.

[Aqua]

Anybody seen Castaway? The Pelican seems tame to DIY dentistry with a big stone and a skating boot. I reckon dentists will always be in demand!

[magician]

yeah the local would be clove powder or calamus root. at least with the end of the oil age we can say goodbye to poison leaden "tooth paste" and the obvious use of flouride to kill us, lower our IQ's, put holes in our enamal, and save money for the aluminum industry.

use dr bronners peppermint soap with Grapefruit seed extract on your teeth.

and dude if you do go to dentistry school make sure you learn (probably have to self teach) about alternative dentistry that makes use of plant substances and raw materials. because thats what you may be left with by the time you pay off that debt. id rather be homeless, cold and hungry than owe anyone thousands or tens of thousands of money. make sure that dentistry is your lifes calling and your true will before you enter into debt in this time on the edge of economic collapse.
good luck

--fr coyote

[mikeh433]

Gawd, having just had a check up a month ago, I chipped a back-tooth.

You betcha dentists, if you made it through and learned enough (say in one year in case everything shut down), would indeed be useful. Wild west movies with a dentist, etc. Everywhere, everyone has teeth and potential teeth problems. Find a way quick though in case school shuts down quick.

[Pretorian]

You have to ask yourself the following questions though:

How much debt will I pile up to go to dental school?

Do I have any savings that I could use to pay for my education?

Do I have other financial obligations that will have to be put off while going to school (children, spouse, mortgage, etc.)

Do I really want to be a dentist?

If I didn't know about Peak Oil, would I want to be a dentist?

I don't need the answers to all of those questions to give out my free advice. But if you think that you can manage the cost of school and it is something that actually interests you...I see no reason not to pursue it.

Well here comes the tough part.. I'm almost 30, married, with a 4 months old kid. I make 35-38 K a year, doing non-interesting and dead-end job. My wife makes more than double of that ( at least pre-tax ) and after I cut down a lot of common american waste, we started to save up a lot of money. By american standarts, a hell of a lot. However, using a bulk of our savings for my tuition is out of the question ( despite that it is me who manage all income/savings) . its just too selfish, so if I dont get the loan, no school for me. If I will not be able to work at least part-time ( or loan a hell of a lot ), no school for me..
I definetly need a post-grad school to make a difference here in USA, but, MBA's are worthless, law school is not a very smart choice for a foreigner, medical is unfortunatly too long (sigh) with 3-4 years residence and stuff, so with my strong backgrounds in biology and chemistry only dental comes to my mind.. However, I was interested in dentistry for awhile. Long time ago, I've read hundreds of books on dentistry. I've invented one little thing which could theoretically make half of the dentists out of their offices.. It was preventing cavities way better than any regular teeth-brushing possibly could. Basically, ' way better' is not the exact word as my experimental rats didnt get any caries ( cavities ) at all. But, in order to make it fit for commerce, I had to make it easy enough for everyday use , and I couldnt make it. I'm not saying it wasnt possible, but it was way, way beyond my little organic chemistry possibilities.. So I finally let it go.. It was easier to say than to do as it took a good chunk of my life...

[Doly]

However, using a bulk of our savings for my tuition is out of the question ( despite that it is me who manage all income/savings) . its just too selfish, so if I dont get the loan, no school for me.

I completely fail to see the logic in that. I mean, any loan is going to cost you more money in the end than if you use your savings.

Maybe you don't feel like you own 100% of those savings. That is fair enough. Agree with your wife how much of those savings are yours. Then you can ask a loan for the rest of the money you need, if it won't cover the whole course. Smaller loans are always easier to get and repay.

But asking for a loan when you have the money is the most illogical thing one can possibly do.

[JBinKC]

I went through three years of it and would have been a DDS at age 22 but I decided it wasn't for me when I started to go through clinical rotation which I hated. Dentists are thriving big time now given the much lower malpractice insurance rates and their services will be in demand post peak however you must be aware there is always the a high probability for development of a dental caries vaccine in the future.

[ClassicSpiderman]

Sorry to sound like a whiner... but they had to saw two of my bottom wisdom teeth into three parts and then break off the teeth. I went for a local anesthetic, I felt like I was a patient of Steve Martin's in _Little Shop of Horrors_. When they were sawing my teeth, I could smell sulphur going up my nose.

I'm now wearing a wrapped towel around my head to hold up two makeshift icepacks to keep down the swelling. It wouldn't be half as bad if I didn't half to put gauze inside my mouth to control the bleeding, and I'm still bleeding quite a bit. I've also been awake for 36 hours straight.

If my doomer fantasies come true on Aug. 22, I will be weak as a babe when the zombie horde comes for me

Oh well, I want to get all of my overdue dentistry work done prior to the full effects of the peak. These teeth needed to be pulled out like 10 years ago!

[Tyler_JC]

It's called Percocet, my friend.

Take 2 and sleep off the pain.

I know that in the days after my surgery, those painkillers provided much needed relief.

[Eli]

Yup and load up on ibuprofen like clock work take 600mg every 6 hours for pain, it will work wonders for you. At that dose Ibuprofen will not only fight the pain but reduce swelling too.

Just make sure your other meds do not have ibuprofen in them otherwise you can take the percocet or lortab with no worries at the same time. You will get the swelling down with the ibuprofen and take away a lot of the pain and then the percocet or what ever will get you doped up nice and good.

Sleep.

also ice packs 15 min on, 15 min off will help the swelling.

[TITAN]

Take care not to get a dry-socket, spiderman. That is some of the worst pain I have ever felt, and I have broken MANY bones, as well as numerous other major injuries. Dry socket ranked up there in the top 3 for pain easily...

[J-Rod]

Dr. J-Rod prescribes you a bottle of Crown and a blunt. You'll be right as rain.

[keekles]

Dr. J-Rod prescribes you a bottle of Crown and a blunt. You'll be right as rain.

LOL, J-Rod, but doesn't smoking cause dry sockets? Mj might be good for the pain, but the act of sucking the blunt or cigarette (or whatever you smoke) might bring about the dry sockets.

My condolences, Spiderman - been there myself about 8 years ago - same with the local and laughing gas. All four wisdoms never grew past slightly peeking through the gumline, and I decided they needed to come out. The percocet made me barf something fierce, though. Just make sure the clots form on those holes. Don't gargle too hard with the warm salt water. Good luck.

[Tyler_JC]

Dr. J-Rod prescribes you a bottle of Crown and a blunt. You'll be right as rain.

LOL, J-Rod, but doesn't smoking cause dry sockets? Mj might be good for the pain, but the act of sucking the blunt or cigarette (or whatever you smoke) might bring about the dry sockets.

My condolences, Spiderman - been there myself about 8 years ago - same with the local and laughing gas. All four wisdoms never grew past slightly peeking through the gumline, and I decided they needed to come out. The percocet made me barf something fierce, though. Just make sure the clots form on those holes. Don't gargle too hard with the warm salt water. Good luck.

Percs make you sick if you consume them on an empty stomach...

The doctors should have told you that.

And what is this dry socket you speak of?

I've heard the term before but am not sure of the details.

[ClassicSpiderman]

Thanks for all your replies and sympathies. My wife gave me an article to read about a man who suffered severe burns throughout his body--it kind of put things in perspective for me.

But to be fair, I didn't complain openly that much, but what I posted here was me in the worst throes of my ordeal (a couple of hours after the surgery).

7 1/2 hours later and about 3 hours of sleep I am much, much better. Good thing I booked a couple of days off.