How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1207 Location: Somewhere there
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: Dentistry- Post Peak
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?
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:00 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
Pretorian wrote:
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.
Joined: Sep 25, 2004 Posts: 4358 Location: Boston, MA
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:21 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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. _________________ "www.peakoil.com is the Myspace of the Apocalypse."
Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5032 Location: Oklahoma
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
Fergus wrote:
But it cant hurt and if there is no collapse, your set for life.
Sure, after (s)he (?) pays off all the debt from school with the money all those cavemen and farmers give him. Oh, wait...
Pretorian wrote:
It will cost me 4 years and God knows how much money and effort.
Seriously, while I do think there will be some demand for dentistry in the future, if you haven't researched this well enough to know exactly how much money (debt?) and effort is required you probably need to do that before you make a decision... _________________ "Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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.
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/museum.cfm?ContentID=346
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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.
Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 99 Location: outside of consensus reality
Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:21 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:15 pm Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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.
Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1207 Location: Somewhere there
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:22 am Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
Tyler_JC wrote:
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...
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:19 am Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
Pretorian wrote:
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.
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 11:59 am Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
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.
Dentists serve a vital function in society and are likely to remain employed (and well paid) into the far away future.
I strongly second this!
But Pretorian why don't you simply go low tech? In my opinion in a post-PO world we won't need a man with 4-5 years spent on books but someone who can just pull or cure a rot tooth.
You can start from "Where there is no dentist" and ART dental treatment system and then maybe attend to a practical dental training for missions.
You will get an unvaluable skill with no debt and loooow cost!! Don't you love this way?
Joined: May 24, 2004 Posts: 3428 Location: California, USA
Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:23 am Post subject: Re: Dentistry- Post Peak
Even if a vaccine for caries comes along, there are still mechanical injuries to deal with, and various other items that require interventions.
Re. anaesthetics: If lidocaine becomes scarce, there's always cocaine, and I'm not being sarcastic. Derived from the coca plant, produced long before petroleum. Nitrous oxide was also pre-petroleum, they were using it back in the 1800s to knock people out for surgery. And ether, if I'm not mistaken, is similar enough to alcohol that it should be possible to produce post-petroleum also.
However, I believe that even in the worst-likely scenarios, anaesthetic and analgesics will continue to be produced in ample quantities for any surgery that needs to be conducted. And let's not forget morphine, derived from the opium poppy, which can be grown in any reasonable climate.
Freedom from surgical pain is not something humans will readily give up.
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) in the abundance of cheap oil. All that plastic.
