Hi. As the title says, I'm debating becoming a dentist. So, for context, I'm currently 27, and I haven't been in school for about 5-6 years. I had almost completed my bachelor's, and had about 1-1.5 years left, but I couldn't afford to continue schooling at the time because I was supporting my mother at the time and the career I was going for at the time (history education) really would not have been able to make real headway in payments on any loans I might have taken on. So, I could not afford to pay out of pocket anymore. Well now I'm not supporting anyone and am currently splitting the bills with two flatmates, making about 45k a year. And it looks like soon I'll be in a job working 3 days a week making about that same amount. So on one hand, I'm thinking about going to school for dentistry because the pay is pretty good and the job actually always interested me, on the other hand I'm debating sticking with moving further into the field of heavy equipment operators (the 3 day a week job) and trying to further develop opportunities there.

What I'm wondering is, what's probably the realistic cost financially of going back to school to finish my bachelor's and then go dentist school with the free time I'll finally have? I'm aware it's probably in the hundreds of thousands, but I'm looking for a ballpark estimate as to what that actually comes out to for most people in monthly payments, and about how long it would probably take to both finish the schooling and then to pay the loans. Knowing this will help me decide if this path is for me. Thank you in advance for any help