I am 37, mother of two, and owner of my dental clinic. I am a general dentist in rural Minnesota. Since May 2006, I decided it was time to go after my dream of being a physician. So, here I begin to record the process.

Before applying to dental school, I thought heavily about medicine but thought that my aspirations to be a mother and business owner meshed better with dentistry as a career. If I was going to have children, then I wanted family to be there for them, not ship them off to daycare.

I entered dental school at the age of 29. I had my first child as a 4th year dental student. I had my second child after my first year of buying my practice. I work 4 ten hour days, with Fridays off to catch up on business work and to spend time with my kids. My husband stays home full time. I am very lucky that this arrangement has worked out for us. He has a business backgound and also completes my accounting, taxes, etc.

It seems like a great life and it is. My problem is that I am not satisfied being contained only with problems of the mouth. My brain gets the best of me and that old aspiration of going into medicine, research, and teaching haunts me day and night. So, instead of keeping lid on it, I've decided to go ahead and pursue it. You only live once and my brain needs more stimulation.

I'm sure most of you reading this have to think I am crazy. Believe me, I question my santity all the time. My kids will be in school in a couple of years and that is when I plan to take the plunge.

I think there will be a lot of areas where dentistry and medicine will cross over. I am very into prevention and I could see myself going into preventative medicine as a career. I would love to teach medical/dental students and I could see myself serving some niche in that area.

Owning a business is a lot of work and I will say I will not miss that aspect of my job. I am sure I will miss setting my own hours. However, I am always at the beck and call of patients so things are not as flexible as you might immagine.

I will post more at another entry.

DDStoMD

I am studying for the MCAT. My kids are 4 and 2 so it is very difficult to get study time in when they are awake. Because I have been out of school for a long time, I really need to reveiw all the subjects on the MCAT. I hate physics!

I am not going to retake any coursework. I will only apply to schools that are ok with my old prereqs. I did well on them and after all the debt I have from undergrad and dental school I just don't see the point in retaking them.

I am just going to study until I am sure I will do well and then take the MCAT. I am a very driven person and studying on my own goes well. I started studying on and off since May 2006. I usually study in the morning before work, when the kids are still asleep. Doing it this way is very slow, but I take my time and really learn the material. My plan is to take the MCAT one year from now, May 2008.

I decided to take a couple classes through independent study, just to see if I was up to the task of school work. Currently, I am taking Statistics because I never took it in undergrad and always wished I had. I also plan to take Cell Biology, another course I did not take as an undergrad.

In undergrad my major was International Studies. I went back to school after graduation in 1993 and took all the prereqs for dental/med school so my science background was bare bones. In dental school we had to take all the hard core science and I feel some of that is fairly fresh. I graduated from dental school in 2003.

Well, all for now. I have to go to the tooth world and prep some teeth.

DDStoMD

Another day. Work is nerve racking right now. My dental assistan quit 3 weeks ago and we have been scrambling to find someone to take her place. There is nothing more stressful for the dentist then having to deal with business issues when she should be doing dentistry. Oh, well, the life of a business owner, not my favorite part.

I wake up at 5:00 am every morning and study for the MCAT for 30min-1hour every day. Like I said before, it is a very slow process when that is all the study time I can get in each day. It will take some serious time before I feel prepared enough to take the test. I am using the EK books, supplemented by my old text books when necessary, and that seems to work well.

I've completed the EK Bio book and now I'm half way through the Organic Chem book. I have been really taking my time going through the books. I will probably go through all the books at least one more time and maybe twice before I attempt to start practice tests. I'm about half way through the physics, although for that I am using the Nova book, much better than the EK book for someone like me that needs major refreshing.

I actually really enjoy studying for the MCAT. It really gets me excited about school again. I love to learn and studying for the MCAT has helped solidify concepts that were vague for me in undergrad and then in dental school. In dental school, as I am sure med school will be similar, you don't have time to dwell on little details. You have to look at the big picture and look at it fast because gobs of information is being thrown at you from all directions. So studying for the MCAT is almost fun.

Ok, enough for today. Off to work I go.

DDStoMD

It is Thursday. For me it is my Friday. Thursday is also the day that my body aches from dentistry. My back is the real killer.

Overall, dentistry is really hard on the body. It is a very physical job. Sometimes you have to get into some uncomfortable positions in order to prep a tooth. Being in an uncomfortable postion can last for an hour or more. Then you get to dismiss the patient and sit in another uncomfortable postion.

We are suppose to really watch our posture, and for the most part I do. However, patients come in that, due to medical conditions, can't go back very far in the chair or turn their neck or have huge tongues and tons of saliva and then the work gets tough. I would say in a day that half of the patients end up being difficult to place in an optimal position for me to work on them. So, my back gets the bad end of the stick and by Thursday morning I am feeling it.

Dentistry being such a physical occupation is one of the big reasons why most dentists only see patients 4 days a week. You have to let your body rest or you won't be able to do your job. There have been some weeks when I have worked on patients for 5 days and threw my back out. Then I was out for a week because I couldn't even get out of bed. If you are considering dentistry make sure you have a strong back. This is not an occupation for wimps.

Okay, enough about dentistry.

DDStoMD

It is the weekend and it is so much fun to spend time with my kids. They are growing so fast and I cherish all the things they say and do.

The weeks continue to fly by and I keep plugging along with my MCAT studying. I think I mentioned I am taking a Statistics class. I am loving it. I always tried to stay away from statistics in undergrad because I thought it would be hard, but I am finding it fun and very useful. And of course, it makes me want to get back into school again!

I am also continuing with studying Organic Chem for the MCAT and that is going well. I really enjoyed organic chem as an undergrad and even considered a chem second major. That was before I took physics and calc. It was downhill from there. I got a bit more realistic after those classes.

My kids are napping now so I will close for now. I need a little adult time without kids tugging at my pantlegs.

I will not be applying to med school until this time next year for 2009, but I am carefully trying to get a schedule so I can submit June 2008.

There are so many little details, transcripts, recommendations, etc. With my limited time during daylight hours for things other than work and family, I have to be organized. I know one year will go so fast.

I am looking forward to medical school, but I know there are a lot of things that are going to have to happen to get there. There is also the dreaded trying to find a buyer for my dental practice and how that is going to all work out. Oh, a lot to think about.

What a week. We were on vacation for a few days. That was nice. But the aftermath of returning to the office after having been gone is not fun. The emergencies to resolve, etc. It ended up not being that bad, just hectic.

My assistant situation has been resolved. I hired two new people that seem to be working out. So the stress is much less and I am happy. When work is going well I even reconsider my decision to be a physician.

Am I crazy for thinking of going to medical school? I know I am.

My income as a physician is not going to be better than a dentist, that is for sure. I make really good money. Granted, being a dentist and business owner is extremely stressful, but at least I know what I am dealing with.

Everything as an MD is going to be new, and also stressful. However, as an MD I do want to go into academia and research. I don't want to be as involved in clinical medicine. That in itself will resolve some of the stress for me personally. And I know I will never be a business owner again!

I wish someone would say,"You absolutely cannot be an MD". Then I could just forget about the whole thing. My problem is that little voice in my head that wants more stimulation, wants to learn, wants to discover. I wish it would shut up!

My husband is at his wits end with me and my career decisions. He already lived through dental school hell and now I want to put him through another 4 years and more of school. After all the loans I took out for dental school $150,000 and loans from undergrad $50,000, I understand where he is coming from.

The reality is that I could not go back to school unless I was able to secure a significant portion of the cost of med school with scholarships. I know that is going to be a limiting factor. If I can't get enough money than I will be stuck being a dentist and maybe that is what I should be doing anyway. Well, I guess I will just have to find out and go from there.

Enough complaining. I am going to follow through with my med school plan for now. What do I have to lose? If it doesn't work out at least I have a good job to fall back on. I get nervous when I think of starting med school at 39 and with two kids! I think anyone would, though.

Friday today, yeah! My body is aching from the week of work. Dentistry really takes a toll on my body, especially my hands and back. I desperately need three days to recover. By Monday I'm usually pain free and ready for the work week again.

A lot of kids this week and that is why I am so sore. Kids won't stay still which means I employ any position to get the job done fast...and that hurts.

Studying for the MCAT continues, but I did not get a lot done this week. Next April is a long way away and it is hard to stay focussed. Little by little, I will get it done.

My new plan for MCAT study is to review through the all Exam Krackers books, including 1001 books until Sept, then one more time through the material drilling my week points through Dec. From that point on, old tests until April. As you can see I have to have a lot of time to study, but I want to do really well!