Pilot or dentist? Can't decide
 

For a long time I've had a love for aviation and dentistry. I can't decide which I'd like to do and it is really bothering me. I love dentistry almost as much as I love aviation. On a scale of 1 to 10, I think dentistry would be a 9 and aviation would be a 10. Obviously, there are big lifestyle differences.

Could anyone help me out? Pros? Cons?

Thanks!

I have a cousin that graduated two years ago from IU's dental school, spent about $120K, and he's bringing in about $150k working for another dentist's practice, putting in about 35 hours a week. I went to ALLATP's and spent about $50k to get my ratings and am flying for a part 135 cargo carrier making $25k working about 55 hours a week away from home. Become a dentist, buy a plane, and fly for fun on weekends and vacations. You get do to both. Can't see a senario that you become a professional pilot and get to work on people's teeth on your weekends.

Just a thought.

Can't help you with pilot/dentist, but I'll try and do pilot/MD for you.

I won't tell you to be a dentist and fly GA planes on weekends. For some of us, that simply isn't enough.

Firstly, what's your background? Are you a high school freshman or a college junior?

Timeframe to money: In med, you're doing 4years of school then at least 3 years of residency. After those 1st 4 yrs, you'll typically have quite a bit of debt to pay off, while getting 30-40k during residency.

In aviation, you should be able to get all your ratings within 2 yrs of college graduation. You should be able to make 30-40k 2 or 3 years after that.

As a resident, you'll work 80 hours a week. As a pilot, you'll fly 80 hours a month. Your duty time will be longer, but it won't be 320hr/month. Many residents dislike the fact that they make ~$10/hr.

You've got to look at job security. A medical degree is recession-proof. You'll always have a job. Somewhere. You may not be able to change your car every year during the bad times, but you certainly won't starve. Not so with aviation.

Also consider "professional seniority". You can leave a senior position at one hospital for an equivalent position at another hospital. In aviation, generally, if the most senior captain at British Airways leaves to fly for Pinnacle, he will be the most junior FO.

Lastly, ask yourself which one you'd rather do for free. Of course you should NEVER give professional services freely (except for charity), as you have worked long and hard to attain your professional status. However, the question can be useful in helping you to decide.

Of course, one could also ask why not do both? You'd have a great skill to fall back on either way.

I wouldn't recomnd being a dentist just for stability or income if have no interest in it, but since it appeals to you...

My dentist really seems to enjoy her gig, I'm sure that financially she beats out all but the most senior widebody CA's.

I have to agree with rickair, I want to become a pilot myself and I'm not doing it for the money I can make at high seniority positions at airlines. I'm becoming a pilot because I love flying and I love the sensation of being "on top of the world" so to speak.

My guidance counselor told me something, that if I wasn't so hardcore on being a pilot I could be a something else and doing flying as a hobby. So you could always be a dentist and after your start raking in the $$$ you can buy a Cessna or a Piper and live out your dream of being a pilot.

You should do something you love to do and can afford to do. Being a pilot I enjoy my job but there is a lof of junk you have to put up with.

If I had the grades to go to med school or dental school I would have gone, if for nothing else the security. But I did not have the grades so I did what all average students do...become pilots.

dentist and then buy a plane

In a former life I owned/operated a FedEx Ground route. The toughest people to deliver to were dentists. Most were not open on Mondays, they opened at 10AM, and took long lunches. The older guys with the more established practices were open on TUES-WED-THURS.

I came to refer to dentists as "pro golfers who every once in a while drill a tooth."

One great guy on my route was a dentist that flew in his spare time.....he did, unfortunately die while on an instrument approach into an airport in the northeast shortly after he retired.

I really don't think that there's a choice he when you weigh all of the factors.....if I had the brains, I'd be a dentist.

Call a dentists office, ask if the dentist is in. Chances are NO. Then, get a tooth drilled. Look at the bill. It becomes clear after a visit that they 1) dont work that often compared to others and 2) they make a lot of money for what it quick work. plus, look at job security. You'll always have pilots getting their teeth worked on becuase they could not afford a cleaning for 5 years. unless you're like me and there is nothing else you want to do but fly, which you're not, be a dentist and buy a plane. Go get a P210 and take a week off and fly the heck out of it. Of the 550,000 people with pilots licenses in this country, very few really ever to to command a 757 or 747. A flying career is NOT for the people that are not sure what they want to do, ask any pro pilot on here.

"Dentists' odds of suicide "are 6.64 times greater than the rest of the working age population," writes researcher Steven Stack. "Dentists suffer from relatively low status within the medical profession and have strained relationships with their clients--few people enjoy going to the dentist." One study of Oregon dentists found that they had the highest suicide rate of any group investigated. A California study found that dentists were surpassed only by chemists and pharmacists. Of 22 occupations examined in Washington state, dentists had a suicide rate second only to that of sheepherders and wool workers."

The lesson here: don't become a sheepherder in Washington state. :D