Schools with specialty programs vs schools without

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JRC90

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So I've had the opportunity to go on a few interviews. At a couple schools, they were proud to announce that they don't have any specialty programs (SP). To them, it means that all the dental students get to do the complicated procedures that would likely be passed on to residents at schools that have those SP. So ultimately, they say that their students get more experience and practice than schools with SP. On the flip side, I've been to schools where they brag about having all the specialty programs because in their mind, you get to do rotations and gain experience and knowledge from the residents while you work along side them (even though you wouldn't do the complicated procedures).

My question for you all is, where do you fall on the issue? Is there any side of this argument that I'm leaving out or that you see that would be important to know? Is this something that I should take into consideration when picking a dental school?

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I have been siding with the schools who have specialty programs. Another plus: Many of the specialty programs at schools have a good relationship with the dental school itself, sometimes making it easier for those dental students to obtain acceptance.
I definitely think it is something to take into consideration, but I've only been seeing it as a positive in regards to rotating, shadowing, and developing relationships. I guess if you have absolutely no interest in ever specializing, it could be seen as a negative.
 
I'd opt for more hands-on experience and an awesome letter of rec than a school that just has the program there. While we don't have specialty programs, we have every speciality. Those who express interest in those fields have opportunity to get good clinical experience (more than an average dental student) in those areas. I think clinical experience carries some weight. Maybe more than just rotations, shadowing, or knowing someone.
 
My school has all of the specialties (except dental radiology). It definitely allows you the opportunity to become more involved with the field you are interested in. You can shadow/assist residents, attend seminars and pursue a minor concentration in a field, allowing you more access to courses and procedures. I also think most of the residencies here favor our grads as every year many of the slots are filled by students from here. The directors just have a lot more time to get to know you.

Although I imagine you probably will get more cases in each discipline at a school without specialties, I find it hard to believe that pre-doc students will be endo treating severely dilacerated or calcified teeth, pulling full-bony distoverted 3rds, placing implants in the esthetic zone or treating 2 year olds under general anesthesia in the OR. Some things just take more experience than we can get in pre-doc.

I'd be interested to hear the perspective of more dental students out there from schools without specialties on what difficult specialty-level cases they have been able to treat themselves (i.e not shadowing, assisting or co-providing). I spoke to several students in my class-year across the country in schools without specialties and I'm not getting the impression their scope of practice has been much different than mine.

Either way, this is a solid question for a pre-dent to consider, rather than whether or not a school has intramural sports teams or if there are good restaurants around campus. I often help with interviews and I don't see many pre-dents placing enough weight on this point. It just doesn't seem as important until you start treating patients in your 3rd and 4th years. I would put this point somewhere just below location and cost as it is a critical difference between schools which can heavily impact the type of education you receive.
 
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