- Joined
- Sep 1, 2003
- Messages
- 2,476
- Reaction score
- 3
I know that no one believes what I say on this forum, but when you guys are choosing a school, you must look past all the stupid rhetoric of "this is the school for speicalization" blah blah blah, because if you take the time and look at the stats yourself, you'll see this is just not true. Choose a school with a great clinical education, because dentistry is a CLINICAL profession (unless you go into research, which is a different story).
This was a priority for me when I chose a school, but there are plenty of schools other than Temple that give a lot of clinical experiences, that also NEVER close the door for specialization if you ever choose to go this route.....try to find out what the clinical exposure each school gives you....and since no one will beleive me when I say this, I took the liberty to give you some quotes from some dentists at DentalTown (www.dentaltown.com), found on the thread called "Which schools to apply too?"
"go to a school in a metropolitan area if possible (better patient pools, but also negatives including higher crime), the payoff is more experience in school and more confidence upon graduation."
- Jon Ludwig DMD
"Look for a school with a big emphasis on clinics and patient care stay away from mostly academic or research oriented schools....Find out what the requirements are in clinic for graduation. Although it might seem you want low requirements, too low requirements may indicate a misfocus in my opinion away from the clinical education experience."
- Paul Honeycutt DDS
"I agree with all the comments of the value of going to a school that emphasized clinical education. Many of the schools, including, alas, my alma mater, USC are searching for dentists to be replacements for the large shortage of dental educators and researchers. I personally think that any Problem Based Learning models are dangerous that you throw the dice on how much clinical experience. clinical time, clinical time, clinical time!....I am shocked what new dentists HAVEN'T done. I did 30 crowns and 3 full sets of dentures and countless fillings in school. I did 3 perio surgeries, extracted quite a few teeth. I hear stories from those in the know that many students can get out with only doing 3-5 crowns....there really is a vast difference in training in schools. They are pretty much told what to do with basic sciences in order to train you to pass the national boards, but clinically they are night and day."
- Frank Nelson DDS
"I went to UMDNJ(U of med and dent of NJ)... got to do 3x the dentistry of a normal dental student. I was done with my requirements by around feb. Because we were done so early we got to do lots of advanced stuff. Saw an avg of 6-8 patients a day. Felt that it gave me a real jump when going into my residency and then into private practice."
- Rich Rosenblatt DMD
"here's my 2 cents. I can only speak for one school, but if YOU have a brain AND can relate to human beings not just textbooks and plastic teeth, TEMPLE is the place for you. Their academics are above average, but probably not cutting edge. It's real strength is that it will make you, if you have the above qualities, an excellent WORKING dentist. They literally have thousands of patients banging down the doors to be treated. Clinical faculty is awesome, especially the part time, "real world" dentists who teach you the real way to practice. Their clinical requirements to graduate are very large, so you'll be treating tons of patients just to graduate. If your a hustler you can do alot more and really learn a ton. I graduated feeling very comfortable in my clinical abilities and transitioned into private practice smoothly"
- Dont know the name
"Superdiver has the right idea on all counts. Don't rack up any more student loans than is absolutely necessary and the education begins AFTER school. Find a school with as much clinical exposure you can....Education truly begins AFTER school. It took me a few years to figure that one out. The diploma just means you spent a lot of extra time and money and read more books and took more tests on a specific area of medicine we call dentistry. A diploma is not the be-all nor is it the end-all. It is just the beginning of a great career"
- Derek Stokes DDS
"A friend of mine went to BU endo school and felt that because of their many postgraduate programs competing for patients, the undergraduate clinical experience suffered."
- Stuart Osaki DDS
This was a priority for me when I chose a school, but there are plenty of schools other than Temple that give a lot of clinical experiences, that also NEVER close the door for specialization if you ever choose to go this route.....try to find out what the clinical exposure each school gives you....and since no one will beleive me when I say this, I took the liberty to give you some quotes from some dentists at DentalTown (www.dentaltown.com), found on the thread called "Which schools to apply too?"
"go to a school in a metropolitan area if possible (better patient pools, but also negatives including higher crime), the payoff is more experience in school and more confidence upon graduation."
- Jon Ludwig DMD
"Look for a school with a big emphasis on clinics and patient care stay away from mostly academic or research oriented schools....Find out what the requirements are in clinic for graduation. Although it might seem you want low requirements, too low requirements may indicate a misfocus in my opinion away from the clinical education experience."
- Paul Honeycutt DDS
"I agree with all the comments of the value of going to a school that emphasized clinical education. Many of the schools, including, alas, my alma mater, USC are searching for dentists to be replacements for the large shortage of dental educators and researchers. I personally think that any Problem Based Learning models are dangerous that you throw the dice on how much clinical experience. clinical time, clinical time, clinical time!....I am shocked what new dentists HAVEN'T done. I did 30 crowns and 3 full sets of dentures and countless fillings in school. I did 3 perio surgeries, extracted quite a few teeth. I hear stories from those in the know that many students can get out with only doing 3-5 crowns....there really is a vast difference in training in schools. They are pretty much told what to do with basic sciences in order to train you to pass the national boards, but clinically they are night and day."
- Frank Nelson DDS
"I went to UMDNJ(U of med and dent of NJ)... got to do 3x the dentistry of a normal dental student. I was done with my requirements by around feb. Because we were done so early we got to do lots of advanced stuff. Saw an avg of 6-8 patients a day. Felt that it gave me a real jump when going into my residency and then into private practice."
- Rich Rosenblatt DMD
"here's my 2 cents. I can only speak for one school, but if YOU have a brain AND can relate to human beings not just textbooks and plastic teeth, TEMPLE is the place for you. Their academics are above average, but probably not cutting edge. It's real strength is that it will make you, if you have the above qualities, an excellent WORKING dentist. They literally have thousands of patients banging down the doors to be treated. Clinical faculty is awesome, especially the part time, "real world" dentists who teach you the real way to practice. Their clinical requirements to graduate are very large, so you'll be treating tons of patients just to graduate. If your a hustler you can do alot more and really learn a ton. I graduated feeling very comfortable in my clinical abilities and transitioned into private practice smoothly"
- Dont know the name
"Superdiver has the right idea on all counts. Don't rack up any more student loans than is absolutely necessary and the education begins AFTER school. Find a school with as much clinical exposure you can....Education truly begins AFTER school. It took me a few years to figure that one out. The diploma just means you spent a lot of extra time and money and read more books and took more tests on a specific area of medicine we call dentistry. A diploma is not the be-all nor is it the end-all. It is just the beginning of a great career"
- Derek Stokes DDS
"A friend of mine went to BU endo school and felt that because of their many postgraduate programs competing for patients, the undergraduate clinical experience suffered."
- Stuart Osaki DDS