A dentist to doctor career change is a big commitment, but if medicine is genuinely right for you, a few extra years is a small part of your life. My friend Dr Onkar was a dentist for seven years before starting a three-year graduate medical degree in London. He took a financial hit, struggled academically in his first term, and still says it was the right decision because he knew his why.
Key takeaways
- Be clear on your why before you switch. Onkar’s came from patients he met on a head and neck cancer ward, and he couldn’t shake it.
- Expect medicine to be harder academically. The breadth and the depth of what you need to know is a shock, even for an experienced dentist.
- A rejection isn’t the end. Onkar didn’t get in when he applied in 2022, spent the time building his portfolio, and got in when he applied again in 2024.
- Your dental soft skills transfer straight across. Talking to patients and families with confidence puts you ahead on placement.
- Don’t take a complete break from revision. Two weeks off at Christmas meant Onkar had forgotten everything by January.
- Listen to advice from family, but remember they aren’t the ones who have to live your life.
Why would a dentist switch to medicine?
Onkar loved dentistry. People know him on social media as the dentist who tells everyone off for not flossing. He did the courses, did the learning and gave it everything. So what changed?
His first SHO job was in Max Fax at UCLH, a head and neck cancer job. He was 26. His biggest stresses were a smashed iPhone screen and train delays. On the ward were people his age and younger who had lost half their face or half their tongue to aggressive cancer. And they were positive, chirpy and giggling on the ward.
He couldn’t shake that. When he spoke to a consultant about it, she told him that once you’ve had that dangerous thought, you’re never going to be able to unthink it. He tried to repress it for ages. He didn’t want to do three more years. He didn’t want to be the oldest F1 ever at 31.
Then he reframed it. He was going to be 32 regardless. Did he want to be 32 and unhappy, or 32 as an F1 who was competent and genuinely happy? And he never wanted to be 60 with regrets.
It’s worth saying that for most people who feel stuck, the change they need is not applying to medical school. For Onkar it was, because he’d always had that thought that he wanted to do medicine one day.
Is a few extra years really too long?
I hear this all the time from students who come to Future Doc for help getting in. They’re 26 and they ask, can I really afford four years of my life? I always think it’s a small amount of your life compared to the two very different paths it sets you on.
That isn’t me saying everyone should do it. It might not be for you. But if it is, four years is nothing. It’s the same with specialty training. People say they couldn’t give up eight years of their life, but they’d end up doing something fulfilling that’s in line with who they are.
At dental school, the senior tutors who mentored us used to talk about this. One of the biggest things I heard from the dentists who hadn’t specialised was that they regretted it. They’d even be asking the ones who had specialised for advice.
Onkar was honest about the cost. He has taken a massive financial hit, he earns very little now, and his life is mostly revision. He still works part-time as a dentist and does shifts. But he says it’s been the fastest year of his life, and his mental health is better than before.
Is medical school harder than dental school?
We’ve both done both, so we tried to settle it. The honest answer is that they’re hard in different ways.
Dental school expects a lot of you early. From second year onwards it felt like a nine to five job. You have your own patients and you make your own treatment plans at around 20. If you’re ill, your patients get cancelled or someone has to cover you. Tutor groups are small and everyone knows who you are. By final year you’re basically a baby dentist getting ready to work in the NHS.
Medical school is bigger and more self-directed. Onkar’s year group has about 500 people in it. It’s easy to get lost. On placement you’re often a fly on the wall, and the expectation is that you turn up, get as much learning as you can for yourself, then go home and revise.
Academically, we both think medicine is harder. Dentistry niches you in quickly, so you learn the specifics of one area. In medicine, every time you think you’ve got something down, another linked condition opens up. What shocks people is the breadth and the depth. There’s just so much to know.
If you’re still weighing up the two from the start, read my guide on medicine vs dentistry and which one is right for you.
What is the first year of graduate medicine really like?
Onkar’s three-year course squeezes the early years of the undergraduate course into the first year. In his words, he crashed out every day of term one.
Haematology was the big one. As a dentist who loved oral surgery, all he’d cared about was clotting factors and how much a patient bleeds. Now he had to learn the leukaemias, the blood cancers and all the different blood disorders. Then there’s the UKMLA, the exam at the end that you need to pass to become an F1. You think you know headaches or the thyroid gland, and then you see the full specification.
He also found the revision world had changed. The undergraduates in his group, fresh out of sixth form, were telling him they’d done 500 Anki flashcards. He’d read two slides and done three MCQs. There were days he really missed dentistry because everything felt so foreign.
Here’s the mistake I’d want you to avoid. He took two weeks off at Christmas and didn’t revise at all. When he went back in January he’d forgotten everything and crashed out again. Then he locked in from February, and by April everything made sense and it was just exam questions.
I remember my own first year of dentistry as a graduate medic. I was paying a mortgage, doing a nine to five degree that crams five years into three, and working outside that to earn my keep. I blinked and the year was gone. If you want a feel for the week-to-week reality, have a look at a week in the life of a first year medical student.
What skills does a dentist bring to medical school?
Onkar didn’t realise how much he had until he got there. Most of it is soft skills:
- Communicating with a patient and knowing when a moment of silence is right.
- Knowing how to address the patient and the family in the room.
- Small things like a reassuring hand on the shoulder.
- Being confident talking to a patient even when you know little about their condition.
His first placement, two weeks in, was on a gastro ward with quite unwell patients, before he’d learned much gastro at all. He was the only postgrad and the only dentist in his group. The others were fresh out of sixth form and said, you talk to the patient, we don’t want to. He didn’t mind. He’ll talk to anyone.
Dentistry builds this because the chair is a vulnerable place to be. Onkar’s most rewarding moments were turning phobic patients into people who booked extra appointments because they liked coming in. People remember how you made them feel. That’s not a shortcut to doing poor work. You still need to do good work every time, and treat people how you’d want to be treated.
How do you balance graduate medicine with the rest of your life?
Onkar has a social life, family, friends and part-time dental shifts. At first he struggled to find the balance. Now, if a Saturday is a friend’s engagement, he doesn’t study all day and he’s okay with that, because he’ll find time elsewhere in the week. In his first degree, missing a day would have left him feeling guilty. Now he knows that missing a day won’t make him fail an exam.
Paradoxically, I find being busy makes medics better at this. You have to be efficient with your time, so you’re purposeful with your time off. When you’ve got infinite time, you tend not to do anything with it.
Watch out for the opposite trap too. Before the switch, Onkar was working six days a week, Monday to Saturday, on about six hours of sleep. He loved it, but the people around him could see he was low and tired. You can get used to being tired without realising it.
What should you do if you're thinking of switching?
Here’s what came out of our conversation:
- Finish the degree you’re on first. When Onkar asked me and a few others at dental school about a second degree, we told him to get through dental school first and see how he felt. He’s glad he did it that way rather than dropping out after two years.
- Don’t quit at the first hurdle. A lot of people get their first ever failure at dental or medical school. You’re surrounded by the top 1% and you’re used to being the top achiever in sixth form. One failed exam isn’t proof you’re on the wrong course.
- Use a rejection. After 2022, Onkar kept working as a dentist while building his portfolio and doing more surgery, so he had more to show when he applied again.
- Keep your options wide. Everyone assumes a dentist doing medicine is heading for Max Fax or head and neck surgery. But you could go back to dentistry, or become a GP with dental knowledge.
- Expect doubt from people around you. When I left medicine to do dentistry, a lot of people asked what on earth I was doing. Onkar’s dad told him to go for it, while his mum asked if he was sure at his age. Often people just want you to be comfortable. But they aren’t the ones who have to live your life every week.
Not everyone has the circumstances to do a second degree, and some people need to work straight away. If yours allow it, though, there’s nothing wrong with change. For the application side, read my graduate entry medicine tips and how to stand out as a graduate entry medicine applicant.
Medicine and dentistry are closer than people think
Having done both, Onkar’s view is that there should be far more collaboration between medics and dentists, and less of the online beef about dentists being fake doctors. Plenty of disease can present in the mouth, and you can get a good general overview from looking at someone’s mouth, even if it’s not as dramatic as Instagram makes out.
Dentistry is a niche of its own for a reason. Someone online suggested adding a year to medicine so doctors could cover teeth too. It’s not that simple. There’s a lot to know in each.
And if things haven’t gone to plan for you, Onkar’s story is worth remembering. He missed his A-level grades, took an unplanned gap year and started dental school at 20, not believing he’d get in. Your grades aren’t a reflection of you as a person, and the path doesn’t have to be linear.
Frequently asked questions
Can a dentist become a doctor in the UK?
Yes. Dr Onkar had been a dentist for seven years before starting a three-year graduate medical degree in London. Once he finishes, he’ll go on to F1 like any other medical graduate.
Is medicine harder than dentistry?
Academically, both of us think medicine is harder because of the breadth and depth of what you need to know. Dental school puts more responsibility on you early, though, with your own patients and treatment plans from second year onwards.
What if I get rejected the first time I apply to medicine as a dentist?
Onkar didn’t get in when he applied in 2022. He kept working as a dentist, built his portfolio and did more surgery, then got in when he applied again in 2024. A rejection can give you time to make your next application stronger.
Am I too old to switch from dentistry to medicine?
Onkar worried about being an F1 at 31 or 32. He realised he’d be that age anyway, so the question was whether he’d be unhappy or doing something he loved. If medicine is right for you, a few extra years is a small part of your life.
Should I drop out of dentistry to do medicine?
Our advice is usually to finish the degree you’re on first and see how you feel. Onkar is glad he completed dentistry before switching, and lots of people who hit their first exam failure think they’re on the wrong course when they aren’t.
Want help with your application?
The Predictable Offer Protocol is Future Doc’s complete programme for medicine and dentistry applicants, with one coach coordinating every part of your application.
Video transcript
Transcript from “Doctor vs Dentist: We’ve Done Both, Which Is Better? – FD Podcast Ep. 4” (11 October 2026)
And I really was having days where I was just missing dentistry so much. It's a massive commitment. I've taken a massive financial L. I make no money anymore. I said, please, sir, stop screaming because you're scaring the patients in the waiting room.
Welcome back to the Future Doc podcast, where we talk to people from all different walks of medicine. Today, we've got with us Dr. Anker, who is both a dentist who has now shifted to go into medicine and has just completed his first year. So I'll let him introduce himself and we'll get into some of the differences between medicine and dentistry and why someone may want to change career, do both, or maybe you can actually use both together in a very hybrid career. So Anker, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi, Dr. Ash. Thank you for that lovely intro. My name is Anker. You guys might know me from social media as Dr.
Anker, or the dentist that tells everyone off for not flossing. I have been a dentist now for seven years. This is actually how I met Ash. We met in dental school. And I have now started my medical degree.
I'm doing a three-year medical degree in London. And yeah, like you said, just kind of exploring all options and kind of wanting to see where the medical degree can take me as a dentist that always wanted to kind of keep learning and kind of keep doing a bit more, basically. Yeah, and we'll dig into the reasons for both of us, starting with one and then going to the other. So I did medicine first and then dentistry. You did dentistry first and now doing medicine.
Let's settle it finally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which one's hardest? I don't want to get canceled. I think the main thing to be aware of is I think you'd agree that I think dental school and medical school are inherently quite different beasts.
I don't know if you would agree with that. But I think how maybe I've got the gift of now being older doing medical school, I'm sure you'd agree. Dental school, they expected a lot from us. It almost felt like a full-time job. From second year onwards, it's a nine to five.
We had our own patients. We were formulating our own treatment plans. The tutors knew who we all were. There were small tutor groups. And I felt like dental school, everyone knew who we were.
We were expected to be in. We had a lot of stress quite early on. You're like 20 making your own treatment plans. And I feel like that kind of progressed, progressed, progressed until fifth year. We were basically just baby dentists doing a job, getting ready for our first year of working in the NHS.
Free labor. Free labor, free labor at dental school. And I feel like that was difficult for me realizing that I had one year of fun as first year. And then second year onwards, there was a lot of responsibility. I think medical school, and I will say this again, I'm sure you'd agree, it's quite easy to get lost in the source.
There's like 500 people in the year group where I'm at uni. It's a big year. I don't necessarily feel like I've got that one-to-one relationship with my tutors or people because you're always going on different placements, right? And I think the expectation of a medical student is to rock up to placement, make as much learning as you can for yourself and be proactive, and then go home or revise, you know? Whereas I feel like in dental school, there was a lot more expectation.
So I think they're both challenging in their own different ways. And I think the medical degree is kind of looking at a lot more complex ideas and you're learning more, whereas dentistry niches you in quite quick and you're learning specifics of something. So academically both challenging, expectations-wise, so different. Yeah, I'd agree. So when it comes to medical school versus dental school, I would say that the big thing is that medical school, a lot of the time you're in placement and they will keep an eye on you and it gets this become a lot stricter these days.
But really you're just a fly on the wall and it really doesn't make a difference whether you're there or not. Whereas in dental school, you have patients who you're responsible for. You are the person booking them in, you need to see them. And if you're sick, they either get canceled or you have to ask someone to cover you. You've done that for me once.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But yeah, I think academically, I must say, I think medicine is harder. I would say that I have had a lot of academic struggle this year, like learning to pick up all of these new things. And every time I feel like I've got something down, something new opens up, another condition opens up that's linked. So academically, I have found that I'm challenging myself more with medical school for sure.
Dental school, I also found hard, but I think by my third or fourth year, when you've done the majority of the learning and those final years are just wrapping everything up, it was less of a struggle for me then. But I can see medicine consistently having to learn new things and new conditions will be quite challenging for me. I'm enjoying it though. I think it's great. It's everything I wanted in my second degree.
It is so much fun. Yeah, yeah. And I think the difficulty that shocks people is not only the breadth, but the depth. There's just so much to know. And yeah, I think the other thing is that I always say that I don't know if I would have done dentistry first.
If you want to be some of that Voss bougie water, if you want to be Avion, middle of the road, but still quite good, you know. So people have choice now. And the nice thing about it is that it's very nice work. You have more of a casual relationship with your patients, right? And that means that you can get to know them a bit better.
They become a bit more like the kind of relationship that you'd have with a hairdresser rather than, say, a formal doctor-patient relationship, although you still have to maintain that professional boundary. But you get to know them, like you say, over a long time. You're doing nice things for them. They want to see you. They've come to see you.
It's not like, I've got a toothache. Oh, I hate being here. They actually want to seek you out. And I think that's nice. Yeah, so it's a nice string to your bow, is the way I tell people if you're considering it.
So a lot of people who we know that have gone down the dental career, dental route, have had great careers and never looked back. Yeah, for sure. So tell me, what is it about dentistry that you felt wasn't enough for you? I think, like, do you know what? I always loved it.
You came to my practice. I think I cleaned your teeth a few times. I've done some treatment for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been drinking a lot of coffee.
I'm really not quite as good as this. I think with me, anything I do, and it sounds so cliche and so personal statement, but I'll give 127%, even more. I'll just give, give, give, yeah? So I did the courses. I did the learning.
I did everything that I thought I should be doing. And it was like, something just wasn't clicking. And I think externally, you'd look at my Instagram and think Dr. Onkar loves teeth. And I do.
I love teeth, but I love the patience. I love the patient journey. I love getting to meet new people. And I think there was never a point that I didn't enjoy it. I still woke up and went to work and had a great old time.
But if I had never done that first job in Maxfax at UCLH, where it was a head and neck cancer job, and I've told this story before on a different, you know, on the internet and on TikTok and all these other places, but there were patients our age. I was 26 doing my first SHO job. And my biggest stress was like my iPhone screen has smashed or like, you know, there's train delays. And there was people on the ward that were my age and younger that had had half their face chopped off and half their tongue cut out for aggressive cancer. And they were so motivated and positive and they were giggling and chirpy on the ward.
And I'm like, my problems are minor. Like, I'm so blessed to have health and happy, healthy family and all this stuff that we take for granted. And these people are actually very unwell, but they're more positive than me. And I was like, I could never shake that thought. And I spoke to a consultant about that.
And she said, once you've had that dangerous thought, you're never going to be able to unthink that. And I tried to repress that thought for ages. Like, I don't want to go back to med school. I can't do three years. I can't do F1 and F2 age 31.
I'm going to be in the oldest F1 ever. But it's not that deep. Like, so you're recommitment, the lifestyle at the same time. It's not that deep. Come to Jesus, man.
Yeah, and I feel like there's going to, I was going to be like 32 regardless. You know, you're going to be that age anyway. So do I want to be 32 and unhappy or 32 being an F1 who's competent, knows what they're doing and is actually really, really happy. And also I never wanted to be 60 with regrets. Like that's it.
So it was a big old bold change. I had loads of people telling me, don't do it. You're going to make massive financial loss. Do you know what you're getting yourself in for? What if you get shipped off to like Wales for F1?
But I know all these things. God forbid. No shade to Wales. I love Wales. Only spent six years in Wales.
Yeah, sorry. I mean the rural countryside. But like, you know, I know I'm getting myself in for. No disrespect to Wales. No, we love Wales.
Sorry guys, straight to camera. Camera one. We love Wales. But I think like, I know I'm getting myself in for, you know, I'm a big boy. So that was the moment, Ash.
And I couldn't ever shake it, you know. So that was it. That was really it. Yeah. And I think I get this all the time with students who have come into Future Doc for, you know, help with getting in.
They always go, you know, there'll be 26 and they'll be like, oh my God, can I really afford four years of my life? And you think like it's so ridiculous to think that it's such a small amount of your life really. And to kind of the two paths that it will direct you on. And it's not for everyone. So that's not saying that like, is this amazing thing versus not saying anything.
It might not be for them anyway. But if it is for you, four years is nothing. And it's the same with specialty training, right? People are like, you know, even the ones that take eight years, people are like, oh, you know, I couldn't do it because it's eight years of my life that I have to give up. But actually, like, you end up doing something very fulfilling and that's, you know, in line with you.
And I don't know if you heard it a lot, but at dental school, I used to hear it a lot amongst the senior tutors who would mentor us. And one of the biggest things I heard a lot amongst the dentists that didn't specialize is that they regret not specializing. Yeah, they wish they did it. Yeah, they all said that. Exactly.
The ones that hadn't. And I'd hear them ask. It's almost like, although they're both mentors, the ones who had specialized, the other ones would be asking them advice. I don't know if you remember, I remember asking you lot when you guys were in my year at dental school, like, what's pushed you to the second degree? And I always had that little thought in my head that I want to do it one day.
I remember speaking to you and a couple others and you were like, just get through dental school first, see how you feel. It's a big commitment. And it was like, I think it's good to have realistic advice. It's a massive commitment. I've taken a massive financial L.
I make no money anymore. My life is literally revision. It's changed. I didn't think that would be me at this stage in my life, but I'm happy and it's genuinely been the fastest year of my life. I started first year, which is the undergraduate third year, last August.
We're already now in August the following year. It's been the fastest. I honestly don't know where this year has gone. And weirdly enough, like mentally, it sounds so cliche again, but mental health is better. My social medias have grown.
Everything has just gone well, touch wood, that it was the right thing for me. But you have to take the leap. You can't just say what if, what if, what if. And I think that's the important thing. Yeah.
And also it's okay to take a wrong turn. It's so okay. I've definitely taken wrong turns and gone, well, in hindsight, probably shouldn't have done that, but so glad I did because X, Y, and Z thing happened. Got to learn from the L always. And I applied for this medical degree in 2022 for the three year and I didn't get in.
So that's when I put it off for three more years. And in those three years, I was just doing my normal dentistry, but building my portfolio, doing more surgery, getting stuff that I could utilize for the second time I applied. I didn't know when the second time would be, but then I applied then again, like 2024 and it all went well. So I think it's just about knowing your why and why you want to do stuff because it's a massive commitment, but there's nothing wrong with change. I'm an advocate for change at any point in life.
I think it's really good. I think it's your own responsibility to keep life interesting for yourself. It doesn't have to be career, right? But I know, I think GPs are the ones, for both dentistry and medicine, so general practitioners are the ones that can get suckered into the, I'll just do four sessions, well, eight sessions, so four days a week, and it'll just be the same thing over and over again. Whereas other GPs I know who are like, I'm really interested in this.
I'll go and teach at the university one day a week. I'll go and do X, Y, and Zed and really keep it fresh for themselves. I mean, you had it, even though you love dentistry, you had a time when you were just working constantly and you got a bit disillusioned, didn't you? Six days a week, yeah. Yeah, I mean, so much.
It's a lot better now. But you know what? I feel like a lot of people go there and then you don't realize you're there. And again, one of my mates is now a Max Fax Reg, he's training. And I just remember being like, how did I used to do six days a week in a row?
Like six days, Monday to Saturday, and then you just get used to it. And I was like, would I not realize I was tired or was I just working through burnout and being tired? And he's like, you probably were just used to being tired. You know, like every day, six hours of sleep, go, go. I loved it, but I recognized it.
And I think a lot of people around me recognized the fact that I was quite low and quite tired and I had to make a change. And I think for most people, that change is not applying for medical school. That change might be going to Bali for three months, but for me, it was something I wanted to do. And if I didn't do it, I would have been very regretful. Yeah, and I guess like, you know, equally to deep it a little bit, like you can get, you can find things that are objectively more tiring that energize you.
Yeah, agreed. Like I remember my first year of medicine, sorry, dentistry as a graduate medic. And that was crazy. I was like trying to pay a mortgage. I was trying to do this nine to five degree, which is, by the way, cramming five years into three.
And then on top of that, you've got to work outside of that Monday to Friday nine to five to try and earn your keep. It was just insane. And like you, I blinked and that first year had gone. It was nice, it's a nice feeling. I feel very fulfilled and I feel like it's the right thing and I'm glad I've done it.
But, and I would never not do it, you know, now I've one and a half years left and I just can't wait to see how it all goes. But yeah, I think it's, yeah, I think it's going well. Yeah, good, good. Well, I guess it leads on nicely to the question I wanted to ask you is because there'll be a lot of people here, whether they're in medicine or dentistry, who are thinking of changing, right? They want to jump to the other one.
What would you say to people who are in that position? And do you think you would have done anything differently had you had better or certain advice back a few years ago? I think for me, like I always, when I was in dental school, I really enjoyed it. And I never really had the thought in that time that this is the wrong thing for me. I just knew that I wanted to do med at some point in my life.
And I think inherently my guidance that I had was, I think it was always right. I never, I think for me, I think I did it the right way. I couldn't imagine, you know, doing two years of dentistry and dropping out and doing med. I'm glad I've completed the one that I always wanted to do first. But I think if anyone is looking for a swap or they feel like they're in the wrong place, again, this is going to sound very wishy-washy, but I'm a big believer in like, trust the process.
Everything that you do, whether it's a degree that you may not utilize in the future or it's a qualification, they all help build you up to somewhere. With dentistry now and learning medicine, everyone thinks that the natural path of progression is max fax or head and neck surgery. But there's nothing wrong with doing this degree and then going back to dentistry or doing a medical degree and then becoming a GP with dental knowledge. There's so many things that you can benefit from just broadening your horizons and learning more. And I can appreciate that that is not open to everyone.
Not everyone might have physical income to pay postgrad fees or they might have other circumstances that are important that they need to work straight away. But if life circumstances allow you to, then I would always necessarily say, when you meet your first hurdle in something, don't immediately just be like, this ain't for me. I need to give up. I want to change. Try and work through that hurdle, especially with academia, I think.
Because a lot of people get their first failures in dental school or medical school, right? You're surrounded with the top 1% of the country on your course and you're used to being like the top achiever in sixth form. And then suddenly you fail an exam and you're like, I'm on the wrong course. I shouldn't be doing this, you know? And I think that's where a lot of people have their first seed of doubt.
But I think just keep going and you will get there. I genuinely believe everyone does get there and they do pass and everyone finds their way. And I think you talk about pressures of switching, pressures on yourself. I think also pressures from your peers and my parents. When I told them that I was kind of putting my medical career on pause, although I wasn't.
But that's what it seemed like to them to go and do a dental degree. A lot of them are like, what the hell are you doing? Yeah, I don't get it. But at the end of the day, there's that saying of people wish bad things with good intentions. And then sometimes they're the ones who just want you to be comfortable.
Or they want to be able to say, sometimes for parents, they just want to be able to say, my daughter, my son is a dot, dot, dot. But ultimately, whatever their reason is for the advice or the doubt that they might put in your head, they're not the ones who have to live your life. It's you that has to be there and go through that and do like, they might wish you to just stay in something and stay doing something that you know isn't right for you. They're not the ones who have to endure that every week. And it's true because I remember telling my parents, like, I want to do med.
And I think my dad was very pro, like, live your dreams, like, go do it, go do it. And my mom was just being a very caring mom and was like, are you sure at this age, like, you want to change what you're doing? Are you sure, like, do you know what this means? And I'm like, yeah, no, I know, I know. And I think for me personally, I agree with you.
I think it's hard because what is it? Comfort breeds, comfort breeds. There's a really nice phrase, which is like, yeah, comfort breeds something. I'll Google it. We can put a subtitle there and mute my audio.
But, you know, being comfortable isn't always, we should strive to challenge ourselves. And I always feel like that. Like, that's it. Something, life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Something like that, right?
So, yeah, yeah, one of those ones. One of those wishy-washy ones. One of those that book, like, yeah. Yeah, yeah, live, love, love. But it is genuinely true.
And I do feel like, yeah, it's all about pushing and moving forward for me. And I'm just happy with where I am. But I think you should never be scared to take that next step, even if it feels so foreign. It's something that you should, you know, open, welcome with open arms, you know? Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess what's interesting for people is to understand the skills that you gain from dentistry that you might not from medicine. So having, you know, started the medicine side of things now, what are the things that you see you've gained from having been in dentistry for so long that others don't have? I genuinely would say like a lot of it, I didn't even realize I had a lot of it. I genuinely didn't even second, like, give a second thought about. And a lot of that is the soft skills, you know, like communicating with a patient, knowing when a moment of silence is appropriate, knowing how to address the patient and the family in the room.
And like, just little things are like the reassuring shoulder, hand on the shoulder, and like being confident to be like, I'm happy talking to this patient, even if I know nothing about their condition, for example. And that's happened many, many times now, you know, going into a gastro ward when I have learned very little gastro as a dentist. And, you know, I'm starting to learn gastro in my third year of med school, my first year, whatever you want to call it. And my first placement two weeks in is gastro, right? And they're quite sick, unwell patients.
And I was in a lovely group, my group this year, I've been the only post-grad, the rest, like the only dentist, the other people in my group have all been undergrads, right? So fresh out of sixth form. And they're like, you talk to the patient, you talk, we don't want to talk. And I'm like, I don't mind. Yeah, I will talk to anyone.
So I crashed out every day, like term one, like I messaged you, like I crashed out every day of term one. And it's like, especially trying to learn hematology and all the leukemias and all the cancers and all the different types of blood disorders. And I'm like, what is going on? As a dentist who used to love oral surgery, all I cared about was clotting factors and how much a patient bleeds. And now I've got to learn so much.
And I remember that first term of like similar, you said, you're squeezing the first three years into that first year, right? So my first year has been squeezing all those first three years or the first two years and then the third year content. So I'm in the library and like, I've got all of these things and I've got like three coffees and like a white monster. And I'm just, I'm trying to lock in. And we're older now.
So things have changed in the revision world. Yeah. So I'm with my mates who are, you know, like I said, fresh out of sixth form, maybe taking a gap year. And they're like doing this. And I'm like, what are these kids doing?
Like respectfully. They've been like, I've done 500 Anki flashcards. I've done 7,000 Ankis. And I'm like, I've read two slides and I've done three MCQs. Like I'm out of the revision game.
And I really was having days where I was just missing dentistry so much because it felt so foreign to me. Like, what am I doing with my life? Like there is so much to learn. I'm not going to get through it. And you know, that UK MLA, like the exam we have at the end to become an F1, that specification is so big.
There's so much to learn. And you think, yeah, headaches. I know headaches or I know the thyroid gland. And then you go into the minor specification of everything you need to know about thyroid or headaches. And you're like, okay, I need to just breathe and try and get through it.
But yes, I crashed down many times. Times in term one and then I took Christmas holidays off to not revise at all for two weeks, to give myself a break. And that was the worst mistake ever because then I went back in Jan and I'd forgotten everything again. So then I crashed out again in Jan. But then we locked in for February and then from February, March, great times.
Then by April, everything just made sense. And then it was just doing exam questions. So yes, to answer your question, I crashed out. Yeah. I think first year is a lot, just almost like understanding how to navigate the rest of the degree, like just acclimatization really.
Yeah. But also you get this as someone who has a social life, who likes seeing their friends and family, who works as a dentist part-time and does shifts, who wants to do other things and still live life while doing med school. It's trying to find like, you know, Mary Poppins and have everything in my bag or like, you know, have every hat on. It's hard. Yeah.
And I think I was struggling initially to find that balance of doing everything while still trying to find time to study and then not regretting the fact that, okay, this Saturday is like my friend's engagement. I'm not going to study all day, but I have to be okay with that because I'll find time other places in the week. Whereas when I was in my first degree, missing a day of studying, I would feel really crap. Like I would ruminate and be so guilty. But now I'm okay with it.
If I miss a day, I'm not going to fail an exam. I'll just catch up. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree.
I think paradoxically, it's funny. I always say this to people who are thinking about studying either medicine or dentistry, but I find this more in medicine is that because you're so busy, you have to be super efficient with your time. But that also means that people are really purposeful with their time off, which means that they, and plus, you know, Taipei, very much doing doers. So you tend to do loads more with the other sides of your life as well. I find that with the medics at uni were doing a lot more social stuff and doing a lot more fun stuff because they really had to make the most of it.
Whereas it's that thing of like when you've got infinite time, you tend to just not do anything with it. So yeah, I find that with the medics, we were more organized and had more fun as well than my non-medic mates. So yeah. So last couple of questions, let's do some war stories. Tell me some of one of the funniest or scariest moments that you've had in your career as a dentist so far.
Scariest? Can I give you rewarding as well or just scary? Which one do you want? Go on, give us both. Why not?
Scariest is when I've got a denture stuck in a patient's mouth. You know, they always tell you about like, you might have a denture that gets stuck in a patient's mouth and you're like, it's never going to be me. And I'm like, I'm like five years post-grad now. This is like 2023. And I'm feeling great, you know, like NHS dentist, big boy, I'm doing well.
I'm defeated. The patients like me, you know, we're really going, I've seen 30 patients a day and like providing great quality care. So I have a patient after lunch and I've had my classic tuna sandwich and black coffee. So I'm feeling ready to go. And yeah, a bit chewing gum because you know, shout out Pratt, the tuna sandwich has onion in it as well.
So we go and it's a 15 minute denture appointment and like it never takes 15 minutes. If the denture fits well, it's like a two minute job. It's so quick. You adjust it in any sore spots. Patient's always happy.
And like, I honestly loved making dentures and I was pretty good at them. So I fit this denture and it's like, it clicks in like a glove and the patient's like, it feels so good. I'm so happy. I'm like, okay, let's try and take it out now. Yeah.
And he's like, I'll do it. Cause I've had a denture before. I know how to do it. I'm like, all right, go on. So it's not coming out.
I'm like, sir, let me try respectfully. Let me try before we break this in half because we've just made it. By the way, dentures are false teeth. They're false teeth, plastic teeth, plastic teeth. So I try and take it out and it's stuck.
And I'm like, oh, I've never really had this before, but there has to be a way around it. Cause I'm not sending my man to A&E with a stuck denture. Like Max Fax will laugh at me. The doctors will laugh at me. I have to sort this out.
You'll be put on the wall. So yeah, it'll be like Dr. Onkar, Daily Mail gets dentures stuck in patient's mouth. I was like, I don't want that. Genuinely though, when stuff like that happens, that is what goes through some people's head, isn't it?
I just thought how embarrassing. Yeah, exactly. You think the worst case scenario. And in medicine, it happens as well when like people are unwell and you're like, oh my God, it's going to be terrible. And I'm going to be the person who's…
Expose. Yes. So I didn't want that. So I basically tried to get it out, stuck. It's wedged between two teeth really, really hard.
And I'm like, patient's started screaming, uncontrollably screaming. He's not in pain, but I think the fear of the fact that it's stuck, he started feeling claustrophobic in his own mouth. So he's like, he's a granddad age, lovely gentleman, but he's screaming very high pitched, very, very high pitched. So I said, please sir, stop screaming because you're scaring the patients in the waiting room. You're also scaring me.
I feel very uncomfortable right now. My nurse started laughing because it was a funny moment. And then I tell the patient, I'm going to have to drill this denture in half. So he starts screaming as I'm drilling the denture in half. And I thought before I drill the denture in half, I'll just try and make some space around where it's tight.
So I'm drilling around the denture. It was like It was like Little Shop of Horrors. The noise is out of that room that we're coming, traveling down the staircase. And then I managed to get the denture out, thank God. And the patient was like, I'm never wearing a denture again.
I'm like, no, let's not put you off dentures. Let's just check this one fits again. But maybe let's just check in a week or so. Like, let's not do it right now. Let's just stop while we're ahead.
So that was one of the scariest things ever. I got a denture stuck in a patient's mouth and I thought that was it, game over. And then I think most rewarding for me has always been changing people's perception, right? So when they're super nervous, they can't walk in the room. They're like literally seeing the dental chair triggers them and they start crying to like getting good music on, putting a nice smelly candle in the corner and making them actually feel comfortable.
And by the end of it, like again, in those three years working in my Shoreditch practice, I had patients that were so nervous that they couldn't come into booking their six monthly checkups, booking their cleanups, booking a three month appointment just to make sure everything was going well in between the six months because they loved seeing me so much. And that was amazing. I love changing the phobic patients to not being phobic. And that's one of the most rewarding things about dentistry. If you can do that, then I think you're onto a winner.
Yeah, absolutely. I think helping people and, you know, it seems sometimes a bit ridiculous, but actually, you know, impacting their lives. But having nice teeth and not having gammy, horrible, stinky teeth, it's actually quite a big, it does make quite a big difference to your life. And there are studies that say that. People remember how you made them feel in the dental chair.
They don't really care about how that filling on their wisdom teeth looks. They don't need to be perfectly artistically beautiful. If you made them feel comfortable, then a good experience, they will always come back to you. And that's not a shortcut to do crappy work and make people feel good. You need to do good work every time, but just let people feel nice and just treat everyone how you would wish to be treated.
Because it's a very vulnerable position to be in. If you've ever, there's so many dentists that have never had dental treatment and that shocks me because I've had everything done on my teeth, you know, braces, I've had teeth out, I've had fillings and baby teeth. You know, I've actually had most of the treatment done. So it's like, I know how vulnerable you can feel as a patient. So it's like, you know, making that patient feel safe.
Yeah, it's all you need to do. Yeah. And I mean, so when it going back to the contrast between medicine and dentistry, people think that they are completely different worlds. But having stepped into both now, what do you think that people get wrong about each? I think there needs to be more collaboration between the both.
I do think there's like this divide, like a north-south. And I think it shouldn't be. As someone who's done both and I've got yourself and I've got lots of mates that are now doing their Max Max training, there's a lot of connection. And I think, you know, the oral microbiome is really trendy right now. And there's a lot of stuff that's trending online about how disease first may manifest in the mouth.
But I do think it's true. There's a lot of things that can present orally. And I also think that there's a lot we can tell by looking at someone's mouth. It's not as deep dive as people on Instagram may make it out to be, but you can get a good general sort of overview. And I think there needs to be more collaboration between medics and dentists and less of this sort of fake beef online that dentists are fake doctors and blah, blah, blah, because I think dentistry is a subspeciality niche of its own, you know?
And I think there's a reason why it's not. I saw a really interesting TikTok the other day, which was like a med student who put out a video saying, why can't they make medicine like one and a half more years and we learn teeth in the mouth as well, and then just be doctors of everything, you know? But then it's like, I don't think it's not that simple. It's not that simple. Yeah, keep adding, do another year for pharmacy, just make one massive person that does everything.
I don't think it's that simple. I think inherently there's a lot to know, but I think there ought to be more collaboration and I'd like it to go that way. But I don't think they're separate as people make out to be, you know? Yeah, cool. Well, yeah, thank you.
Like, before we wrap up, is there anything else that you want to say or any words of wisdom you want to impart on people who are thinking about either medicine or dentistry or maybe switching from one to the other? I think as someone who missed their A-level grades and then gap year unplanned, started dental school at like 20 years old and was just like very much not believing in initially getting in and was quite worried. If you miss your grades or something doesn't go to plan, like work through it, you will get there. Your grades aren't a reflection of you as a person, right? And there's always other routes that are non-traditional, like doing a degree first, then doing what you want to do.
But also, like, life throws you curveballs and you should always like kind of go with the curveball to see where it takes you because it's not always going to be a linear path and I didn't think I'd be doing what I'm doing now at this old age. So I think it's important to just go with the flow and yeah, just keep up to date with FutureDoc on all their socials at futuredocyouknowhowitgets.co, futuredoc.co. On Instagram, yeah. On Instagram, yeah. Keep up their YouTube.
At Dr. Onkomoda on all socials. If you have any advice you want, any dental, anything, I'm always there for you guys. But I've been through the struggle as part of the journey and you just keep going. So yeah.
Thanks for having me. It's been great. Obviously I've known you since dental school and it's great to see. I'm getting rid of you. Yeah, and it's great to see when you were really thriving as a dentist but also when you're not sure where you wanted to take your career and sometimes it is difficult and you have to go through it a little bit to figure out what you want.
But it's really great to see you killing it now and you know where you want to go and it'll be interesting to have you back once you're at the end and if I've got down that road. One and a half more years than F1 so then we'll see. Catch me at the end of F1 with like 100 more grey hairs and hairline will be back here so let's see how it goes. Yeah, you'll see. It'll be fine, it'll be fine.
Thanks for having me. Thank you.
