It takes 8 years tobecome dentist in U.S.

What do you think the debate over health care reform?

はじめまして。とてもよくわかります。

Hi,

I don't like a dental clinic, but I went to the clinic near my house for about two months last summer.;)

Hi! Other member have already corrected your Japanese properly.

In Japan, dental clinics are facing excessive competition. Some young dentists are categorized as "working poor." It is said that such dentist's difficulty was caused by chaos of the public health system of Japan.

Brieさん、こんにちは。
Did you buy an electronic dictionary?
I like reading a dictionary but I don't use it while I read a book because it's troublesome(^^ゞ
I have some dictionaries.There are Oxford,Longman,Cobuild Stdent's and Oxford Picture Dictionary.
The Oxford Dictionary is and electronic dictionary but the other are paper.

Yoshiki - Thank you for the corrections. I couldn't decide if I should say "natsukashii deshita" or "natsukashikatta desu." It's hard for me to tell the difference! As for the health care debate, we need some reform but not a "public" (government) option!

Tairon - はじめまして。なおしてくれてありがとう。I meant that after four years of university (bachelor's degree), we attend four years of dental school, which is at a university also (doctor of dental surgery DDS). I wasn't sure what to call it in Japanese.

Ydori - ありがとう！Is 米 inappropriate to signify the US? How do we distinguish which word to use?

dairy attrny - Thanks for your comment! I didn't know that the dentists in Japan are having such a hard time. But I have always felt that public health care is a bad situation for both the patient and the doctor/dentist.

Hi coco-lapin! I bought a rather cheap but useful paperback dictionary (Random House). Before, I was using my grandmother's pocket dictionary which was very tiny and had limited vocabulary. Also it was so hard to see the kanji. But my new dictionary has many more words and I can read it more easily! だけどおばあちゃんの辞書はまだたいせつです！

Hi again,

「米」 is used as an abbreviation of 「米国」.
And, we don't use 「米国」 in casual writing very often. I understand that 「米国」 is mostly used in articles of mass media, since the space of the headlines is limited.

As to public health care policy, I for one think that it has basically worked well in Japan, because of the composition of population and Japanese people's attitude to medical care. I know such "public" insurance system is now on the issue in the US, but the same argument cannot be applied to each of our countries.
Such chaos in dental care in Japan was seemingly caused by drawing line between health insurance treatment and private treatment.

私は、歯科医 / 歯医者です。普段は患者さんの治療をしていますが、先週はじめて先生 / 教師になりました。歯科大生の監督です。とても面白い経験でした。

アメリカで歯科医になるには、大学で四年、歯科大学 / 歯科医学校で四年の、（合）計八年も勉強しなければなりません。更に専門分野に進む人は、この後も二年から四年の勉強を続けます。

私が監督した学生は、歯科大学の四年生でした。だから治療の仕方もよくわかっていて、処置も申し分のない出来でした。私の仕事は、ただアドバイスをして、治療が終わってから / 治療（終了）後に / チェックをするだけでした。

学生だった頃 / 学生時代が懐かしくなりました。

NOTE: 私は、まだ少ししか漢字を習っていませんが、最近辞書を買ったので漢字をたくさん使っています。

「歯科医」 sounds more professional and cool! However, 「歯医者さん」 sounds friendly and more widely used.
We call dentists and also other doctors 「先生」, so it's a bit confusing. However, 「先生」 is more friendly and can be a comical joke here.
When you have enough space, 「アメリカ」 is easy to read. 「米国（べいこく）」 has a formal image but okay to use. 「米」 can be misread for rice. ><;;; It's useful to make a noun, for example: 「日米（にちべい）両国」, 「全米（ぜんべい）オープンテニス」, 「北米（ほくべい）大陸」, 「中南米（ちゅうなんべい）」, 「英仏（えいふつ）海峡」.

Great! Using 漢字 on the net is not as difficult as writing on the paper, isn't it? ^_^
Oh, you're a dentist! I brush my teeth every night. It's very troublesome. ^^;;; Do you know by any chance a better way to keep my teeth clean and healthy? :D

Hi Bire,

As you may know, 米 was originally from 亜米利加 in the Meiji era. 亜米利加 is not used anymore, but 米 is commonly used with another word mainly in newspapers. For instance, 米大統領 (American President), 米軍 (US military force), 米国 (America), 米歌手 (American singer), etc. But normally we call your country アメリカ in speech or writing. As for 米, 渡米 (moving to America) is exceptional; it is the most common phrase to express to move/go to America.

Sometimes 合衆国 (United States) is used maybe in magazines. 彼の国 (かのくに) is a literary expression to signify the U.S.

So, for one's journal entry or email, アメリカ is the best option.

Wish you luck with your new diary and your grandmother's one. :-)

dairy attny - Thanks for your additional help and comment. Yes, systems that work well with one country/culture may not apply so well in others. It's quite a complicated issue.

Manabu - Thank you for the explanations and rewrite! Yes, typing kanji is different from writing; I'm only learning to recognize the characters. If asked to write anything on paper, I wouldn't be able to! You're doing the right thing - brush twice a day and floss once a day. Preventive maintenance to prevent decay is always better than getting cavities (mushiba) and needing fillings (tsumemono) or root canals (konkanchiryou). I know Japanese dental terminology because I had many Japanese patients when I lived in Washington DC!

Ydori - Thanks for the thorough explanation. I thought 米 was a neat way to express the U.S. but I have now been corrected!

Brieさん、こんにちは。
私の日記を添削してくれてありがとう。
とても丁寧で分かりやすかったです。
無事、台風は去り、今日はすごく良い天気です。
今日と明日、仕事を頑張れば、いよいよ日曜から2日間お休みです。
Brieさんも良い週末を過ごして下さいね。

Hello.
Long time no see and now you use many Kanjis. It is very cool!
By the way, I didn't know that 8 years is needed to become a dentist in the US.
In Japan I guess it is 6 years like medical doctors and pharmacists. But some more years might be necessary for them as a kind of intern.

ken - It's been a while! Thanks for your suggestions and comments.
Yes, it takes 8 years of education (same as medical doctors in the U.S.), and longer for certain specialties. But after that, internships are optional.