i find this disturbing and completely false. such people are not idealists... and many people pracice professions they are passionate about. As Dent_Guy mentioned, there are many dentists in practice who are evidently not financialy motivated. It just seems many of you have wrong impressions and understandings of how occupations work.
A lot of doctors/dentists retire at relatively young ages (still 50+) to teach and work at the universty level. A pathway which i am looking to take myself. Why would one do that? certainly not for the money.
A lot of dentists do extensive work with school dental services even though they would earn less. Why? because for some people (and myself) the prospect of working with children, playing the role of an educator and interacting with the general public is appealing and overrides the alternative of me sitting in some private health clinic and making loads of cash each day.
If you wanted money, then why study dentistry in teh first place? its hard to get into, takes many years to study, takes a LOT of effort (ergo, it requires passion and motivations) and requires great commitment. Why on earth would someone chose that over commerce if they only wanted to make a good living and get rich???
Irrespective of salary (and MANY occupational pathways offer high salaries) the reason amny people study dentistry specifically is based upon their passion for the subject and their motivation to study, investigate, practice and educate (yes dentists educate a lot) oral health. I admit the money may be a nice sweetener, but it is only a sweetener, an accesorial advantage - it is not the key motivation.
IF money was the key motivation, then why dentistry? there are other jobs wich are FAR easier to get into, with FAR less required studying and FAR less required effort whch pay FAR more. (but yes dentists do earn a fair bit themselves) - hence if someone does decided to study dentistry, then PUT aside the money issue here and take a moment to appreciate their passion for the profession and their motivation to practice it.