Dear colleagues:

Here we are in our last year of dental school, how many of you out there are afraid or worry that you may not get that DMD/DDS due to lack of graduation requirement completions? I know each and every year 4th year dental students express concerns in this regard including myself currently!

Our education is so different from our medical colleagues. Medical students show up to take exams, pass their rotations and pass their licensure exams and they get their MD/DO degree. In our education, as much as you are academically focused and motivated, there are "graduation barriers" such as lack of clinic chair availabilities, frequent patient cancellations, patient financial constrants, and laboratory production turnover time that can hinder our production/graduation requirements! By you showing up everyday (having perfect attendance) the last two years of school may not be enough to graduate!

At this time, I have in my patient family, every procedure I need to graduate in May 2006. The question is now can I get them done!? Having the procedures in my patient family and getting them done are two complete different stories! I have this elderly patient that has three important procedures I need to graduate, but she often can not come into the clinic due to lack of transportation (she relies on her husband). On average, this particular patient come into the clinic once every two weeks. Out of urgency and sick of treatment delays for this patient, I have volunteered to offer her rides from and to the dental school so I can finally work on her! :eek:

We study our butts off, getting the grades, now our future depends on "production"! Any thoughts or personal stories y'all want to share? Any of you out there feel the same?

I feel for you andy
I just graduated in may and i can tell you that its a real pain in the ass. Get what you can to finish requirements, even if you have to pay for certain procedures. And if you have a bridge requirement, i suggest you start it rightnow and get it over with.
I do not know abt the lab you guys have at Nova, but at NYU, they were a bunch of crack heads.

Everybody in my class finished, i finished the day right after graduation, so you will too. Just keep on top of it.

every day is a new day buddy. you can do what i do when i feel the pressure on I sing to myself "JUST KEEP SWIMMING, JUST KEEP SWIMMING, JUST KEEP SWIMMING...." Sure it sounds wierd, but my mantra works for me. 6 clinic months and i'm done with this shmithole.

At this time, I have in my patient family, every procedure I need to graduate in May 2006. The question is now can I get them done!?
There were several times in dental school when my patient portfolio "contained" all the procedures I needed to graduate. But it never happens because some of them quit coming, and the treatment plans are always changing. I learned to quit getting excited about the 6-unit bridge a patient needed when I doubted they would have any money left after Perio, Operative, etc. Assuming they even brushed their teeth enough to pass Perio.

.....

At this time, I have in my patient family, every procedure I need to graduate in May 2006. The question is now can I get them done!? Having the procedures in my patient family and getting them done are two complete different stories! I have this elderly patient that has three important procedures I need to graduate, but she often can not come into the clinic due to lack of transportation (she relies on her husband). On average, this particular patient come into the clinic once every two weeks. Out of urgency and sick of treatment delays for this patient, I have volunteered to offer her rides from and to the dental school so I can finally work on her! :eek:

I am (and everyone else around here) in the very same spot, for the very same reasons plus some more. Here @ Pacific we have to attend several rotations that may keep you out of clinics for weeks at a time! Or a new one: my new patient just told me she can't come, because finding parking is just near impossible in SF.

Some other classmate have issues getting their requirement in their patients pool, while those of us who are bilingual have to deal with having way way way too many patients. My problem is finding fellow students who are willing to take some of my patients 'cause I just can't handle it. But still that doesn't guarantee we'll be able to make it by June 11th.

It's anywhere from frustating, to desperating, etc, who knows. I do think I'll make it by June, but I also know that as of January my sleepless nights will increase. :(

Do you guys in NSU have "production" separate from "requirements"? We do and that's a whole separate ordeal.

Anyway, enough complaining, good luck with you OS applications Yah E you've work hard to deserve it, it feels like yesterday when I was reading about a first year in Nova. :) Good luck :luck:

Some other classmate have issues getting their requirement in their patients pool, while those of us who are bilingual have to deal with having way way way too many patients. My problem is finding fellow students who are willing to take some of my patients 'cause I just can't handle it. But still that doesn't guarantee we'll be able to make it by June 11th.



hey meggs,
why do ur biling classmates have get more patient than the other classmates? i thought there are translators on the clinic floor, right? btw, which school are you at?
thanks.

It sucks getting ready to graduate.

I have had so many freaking patients flake on me, it's not even funny. In fact, I bet we're all shocked when we have a pt. who actually wants to finish their treatment! It comes along so rarely. I still have to do my bridge, partial gold, and nitrous competency. Uh....I don't even HAVE a bridge or partia gold lined up. It's all about luck. My classmate has been done with everything for a couple months now. Lucky bastard. Not to mention finding pts. for our mock boards, real boards, and all the stuff in between.

Thanks a LOT to my school for uh, helping us out!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

hey meggs,
why do ur biling classmates have get more patient than the other classmates? i thought there are translators on the clinic floor, right? btw, which school are you at?
thanks.

Pacific. Official translators? nope we don't have those, it will be too expensive for school. It's just easier to have multilingual students. I mean, if a pt comes in and you need help at the moment you may find some other student/staff member to help you. But chances are you won't get assigned a patient with a language you don't speak.

The less students speaking a popular language, the more patients those students will have. Thanks God for the Mormons. Still, English only students tend to have the lesser patients, but still there's plenty of everything in SF.

I appreciate this thread! So there are thing to stress about as a 4th year. I thought that 3rd and 4th years had it easy and stress free. I guess I have lots to learn! :)