Rob,
Seems to me that a major question you're going to have to answer is "Do I see B.S. in my future with the dental gig?"
I agree with the other posts in this thread that you should be able to pursue your I.D. creative urges in parallel. Like a lot of design-based careers, I.D. jobs will work you to death early on, paying you next to nothing (on a per hour basis) with no real "light at the end of the tunnel" unless you're very, very, very good at it.
Finally, looks like you've got a mentor of sorts in the owner of the dental company - good ones that are really concerned about your future are hard to find - I'd suggest sitting down with him and talking more about your future and what you want to do - he might surprise you with what he comes back with.
-Bill
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Retired NASA Rocket Scientist
Most famous NASA "Child" - OSIRIS-REx delivered samples from asteroid BENNU to Earth in Sept. 2023
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