medicine vs dentistry

i do not know any doctors or dentists personally. what do you think are the pros and cons of each degree. like job prospects, how academically demanding they are, postgraduation in them, lifestyles, and dont groan... pay!!!

Basically from what i've heard, is dentists get much more pay than doctors in UK especially if you have a good practice. If you specialise and go into Orthodontist then even more money can be made.

But also in medicine in UK the pay is increasing, especially if you are a GP.

The first 2 years of the course are similar, since you learn roughly the same stuff, but then in the clinical years you get more practice dealing with patients in dentistry.

At the end of the day it's up to the person himself, whatever field they are interested in they should go for.

Me personally, I would prefer medicine due to the depth of the course, and the variety, you can choose to specialise in anything that suits you, e.g. become a GP, become a surgeon, become a pathologist...etc

Hours of work:

Dentists win hands down. Its pretty much a 9-5 job (depending on where your practice is). There a very few on-call weekends (in your career) and you dont have to work very late hours either.
As a doc. be prepared to get it in the neck a bit. My sister recently had to work a 60 hours over a 3-day weekend as a junior house officer (which is slightly illegal) but that kind of thing is often overlooked. Although hours get better when you hit your speciality its a rocky road getting there.

Pay:

In the UK dentists were definately payed more than doc's however recent pay changes kicked in this year after government legislation was changed in May. (The following was taken from Prospects.ac.uk-
Typical starting salary: £27,500 for vocational dental practitioners (VDPs) (salary data collected March 06).
Range of typical salaries at senior level/with experience (eg, after 10-15 years in role): £50,000 - £70,000 (salary data collected March 06).
In trust hospitals of The National Health Service (NHS), dentists are paid according to nationally defined scales, ranging from £19,703 for a house officer (newly qualified) to £67,133 - £90,838 at consultant level (salary data collected March 06).
Private dental consultants can earn above 200,000.
Whereas with docs:
Junior doctors in their first year of the postgraduate foundation training earn £20, 741. In their second year, they earn £25,882.
Doctors in specialty training earn between £29,000 and £44,000.
The average salary of hospital doctors five years after graduation from medical school is £48,000 and can then rise by increments to around £77,000.
The basic pay for full-time consultants is £70,000 - £94,000 (all salary figures collected Dec 06 from NHS Careers).
Salaries can be subsidised with private work.

Finding a job:

Finding a job that YOU WANT as a doctor it getting more tough now (with recent government changes). Theres a national shortage of dentists so there's an abundance of VT (Vocational training) jobs in dentistry so finding a job where you want isn't that tough.

Qualifying from abroad:

If you qualify from a non-EU accredited uni then you have to sit professional conversion exams in both professions. (See the dentistry thread for specific dental exams).

Academics:

Okay so, from what I have been told... both are really difficult degrees regardless of which country you get your degree from. Both medics and dento's study pretty much the same stuff for the first couple of years and split when it comes to clinicals etc... obviously as dentists you have to go into oral anatomy/neuro a bit more than the meds, however as a medics you need to know lots and lots about everything else. But one is not easier than the other!

Woohoo!!! yay dental....