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2012 wreb
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I was looking into doing the exact same thing. I'm in Ohio right now and am thinking of going to take the WREB in december in Paloma, Ca. Did they provide the assistant for you? How about the endo part? Did they provide you with teeth?
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My wife just took the WREB's and got her exam scores in about a week. She passed all sections. The clinical portion, they do not provide you with endo teeth. You have to provide an anterior and a posterior tooth, instrument and obturate the anterior canal and one canal on your posterior tooth. Most people do a max central and a max premolar if you can get those. I know of a few people who's endo teeth fractured during the exam and they still passed. My wife's class II went perfect, but her class III had a pulpal exposure. She managed it correctly (according to the way they describe it in the manual) and she passed. I'm writing this because i've seen no one ever seems to answer any questions here. Pay it forward with your own experience. If anyone has any other questions let me know, i'll ask my wife. I personally am a dentist who graduated 7 years ago and took the NERB's. WREB's are definitely a much more chill environment.
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Took WREBs last month and got my results yesterday. I was of course, very nervous before the exam but like others have said, it was a very laid back test. Everyone was very friendly. It is an open schedule for the two days with the exception of that they schedule your endo block for you. You also have an additional half day to finish things up if something unplanned happens- a patient doesn't show up, you can't get the restoration done in time after you finish the prep, etc. Everything went decent- but nothing went AWESOME, and I still passed. It took my school 3.5 weeks to get our results back but I don't know of anyone yet that didn't pass. Here's a breakdown of how my testing went:
PATP and prosth- Took those ahead of time of course. Didn't think they were horrible, but my suggestion would be: don't over treatment plan on the PATP. Study implant-supported/retained dentures as I was very lost on those questions.
Perio- my first portion of the clinical exam. It was the hardest SRP I ever did. I did have a small tissue laceration but it was about 1 mm and they only consider it trauma if it is more than 3 mm. You automatically fail this section I believe if two or more graders find more than 2 sites of calculus remaining. I believe this is a new rule. 3rd molars do not count if they have not reached the plane of occlusion.
Endo- I did a max central and a mand molar. I liked the molar because I was having problems keeping the pulpal floor clean of sealer when I was practicing with max premolars. I did not have this problem with the molar. However, even though I used a paper point during condensation, I did have a bit of sealer down my mesial canal that I couldn't get out (I obturated the distal). Mine looked PERFECT on my straight on shot but both were not as good looking from the shift shot. My central had a small piece of gutta percha out the end (less than 2 mm) that looked like sealer from the front shot because it actually curved around the end of the root even though I mounted the tooth properly. My molar had some small voids in the coronal half that were only evident in the shift shot. They didn't appear to care too much because I still passed.
Operative- My first was a class III DL #10. It was very easy. I spent too long messing with it though- should have just turned it in when I thought I was done with the prep in the first ten minutes. Wasting time ended up making me very nervous for time constraints during my second procedure. Eat a good breakfast! I got very nervous and almost passed out due to low blood sugar during the operative portion.
My second was a class II on a mandibular molar. Ended up needing several (3?) modification requests. These were passed no problem. I also needed to do an indirect pulp cap due to the depth of the axial wall in my box. Again, no pink slips, no problems. My original prep before my modifications requests was so PRETTY! But then it looked horrible once I did all the modification requests- obviously not my fault. Both of my patients had IDEAL lesions on the radiographs. Several other people I know had indirect or direct pulp caps on lesions that looked like ideal on radiographs. Be prepared for everything.
General tips:
Look over paperwork several times for any mistakes. They are pretty picky on this.
DON'T LEAVE CARIES (unless you are doing an indirect pulp cap, and in that case only leave caries where the pulp is likely to be encroached).
Pick shade of your composite ahead of time.
Find reliable patients. This will make your life a lot easier. I know a lot of people had major trouble with patient management during the exam and this made their life a lot more stressful.
READ your manual, read it again. Then read it one more time and make notes on anything you might forget.
Get a good assistant. The best investment EVER!
PATP and prosth- Took those ahead of time of course. Didn't think they were horrible, but my suggestion would be: don't over treatment plan on the PATP. Study implant-supported/retained dentures as I was very lost on those questions.
Perio- my first portion of the clinical exam. It was the hardest SRP I ever did. I did have a small tissue laceration but it was about 1 mm and they only consider it trauma if it is more than 3 mm. You automatically fail this section I believe if two or more graders find more than 2 sites of calculus remaining. I believe this is a new rule. 3rd molars do not count if they have not reached the plane of occlusion.
Endo- I did a max central and a mand molar. I liked the molar because I was having problems keeping the pulpal floor clean of sealer when I was practicing with max premolars. I did not have this problem with the molar. However, even though I used a paper point during condensation, I did have a bit of sealer down my mesial canal that I couldn't get out (I obturated the distal). Mine looked PERFECT on my straight on shot but both were not as good looking from the shift shot. My central had a small piece of gutta percha out the end (less than 2 mm) that looked like sealer from the front shot because it actually curved around the end of the root even though I mounted the tooth properly. My molar had some small voids in the coronal half that were only evident in the shift shot. They didn't appear to care too much because I still passed.
Operative- My first was a class III DL #10. It was very easy. I spent too long messing with it though- should have just turned it in when I thought I was done with the prep in the first ten minutes. Wasting time ended up making me very nervous for time constraints during my second procedure. Eat a good breakfast! I got very nervous and almost passed out due to low blood sugar during the operative portion.
My second was a class II on a mandibular molar. Ended up needing several (3?) modification requests. These were passed no problem. I also needed to do an indirect pulp cap due to the depth of the axial wall in my box. Again, no pink slips, no problems. My original prep before my modifications requests was so PRETTY! But then it looked horrible once I did all the modification requests- obviously not my fault. Both of my patients had IDEAL lesions on the radiographs. Several other people I know had indirect or direct pulp caps on lesions that looked like ideal on radiographs. Be prepared for everything.
General tips:
Look over paperwork several times for any mistakes. They are pretty picky on this.
DON'T LEAVE CARIES (unless you are doing an indirect pulp cap, and in that case only leave caries where the pulp is likely to be encroached).
Pick shade of your composite ahead of time.
Find reliable patients. This will make your life a lot easier. I know a lot of people had major trouble with patient management during the exam and this made their life a lot more stressful.
READ your manual, read it again. Then read it one more time and make notes on anything you might forget.
Get a good assistant. The best investment EVER!
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I took my WREBs last month, and it took three weeks for scores to come. I found out I passed and slept a lot better at night. My thoughts on each section:
PATP - If there was one section I thought I had failed, it would have been this one. Between fuzzy radiographs, forgetting to follow directions from the candidate guide, and multiple paths the treatment plan could have taken, this section could have been a disaster. It seems that there is a lot of practicality and leniency in the grading of this section. I heard someone from last year's class failed because they had over-analyzed the case. My advice is to take it for face value and don't assume anything.
Prosth - I read WREB Busters to prepare for this and the perio written section. It gave me a confidence boost but not much else, but that might be because my school is heavy on prosth, which might also be why I felt this was the easiest section of the WREB. Do realize that prosth includes operative and fixed, not just removables. The questions were all MC and most of them seemed pretty obvious, and if they weren't obvious, I was able to narrow down to two answer choices.
Perio (written) - This part was also straightforward. The good thing about this exam is that they let you view the candidate guide from the perio section while you're taking the test. This means that you don't have to memorize the symbols or definitions from the guide. The written and clinical parts of this exam are somehow averaged in the end to determine the passing score.
Perio (clinical) - The first patient I brought up to clinic had a very high BP (160+/90), so I opted to use my backup. I re-probed her pockets and calculus before submitting for approval. Her calculus was present on the FMX and she had more than two pockets of 5+ mm, so I knew she would be accepted. I used the cavitron, hand-scaled with two different sets of new Graceys, checked with explorer, re-scaled areas in question, and used the cavitron again. That one quadrant that I scaled during WREB had more calculus than any four quadrants I scaled in school. When I was done, I realized that part of the tissue distal to one of her molars was widened and somewhat flapping around. It was by no means lacerated or detached, but it was definitely widened. Before I submitted her to get graded, I used hydrogen peroxide soaked gauze and held the tissues together for a few minutes. This helped control the bleeding. When she came back from being graded, she did not receive a care slip so I assumed I was okay as far as tissue damage went.
Operative (clinical) - My cases were very ideal. I did class III and class II composites. I wanted to ask for extension on my class III but the floor examiner took a look at my paper and told me that the gingival extension parameter was up to 1.0 mm. I tried to tell him that it was only 0.5 mm according to the guide, but he looked at me like I didn't read the candidate guide. Alas, instead of asking him for the extension, I went ahead and overextended by 0.25 mm for a gingival clearance of 0.75 mm rather than getting rejected with a gray card (which takes time, and a little bit of overextension will result in a 3 or 4, which was fine with me). My advice is to know that grading scale by heart.
On my class II, it took me about 15 minutes to prep, but I spent a good hour looking at two brownish stains on the pulpal floor. One was the size of an explorer tip and was not carious, so I left it. The other was also orangey-brown and resembled a crack in the dentin (which was weird as there were no occlusal caries or abnormalities in the enamel). They were both hard, so I left both and prayed for the best. End result was no pink slip! The premolar that I used for my class II had a light contact to start with, and after the restoration, it still had a pretty light contact when I checked before submitting. Patient came back from grading with no pink slip and when I checked with floss again, the contact was pretty decent. I guess with time the tooth moved back? I used the all-metal G-rings, but I hear the V3 system is pretty good. I actually had the V3 system but did not have the chance to try it out, so I just stuck with what I knew.
Endo - I had a central incisor with a perfectly straight canal and a maxillary second molar with a straight palatal canal. Both had large pulp chambers. My access and obturation for the incisor were pretty ideal (up to length with a puff of sealer). I had some gutta percha above the CEJ, but I don't think that was on the grading criteria. On the molar endo, my access was quite large and extended too far mesially, though I did end up finding all three canals. If I had to take it a second time, I think I would have chosen to do a premolar (which was against school recommendations, go figure). It is harder to perforate a molar, but at the same time, it is easier to find the canals of a premolar. Pick a tooth you're comfortable with doing.
Preparing for WREB was stressful, but the exam days went pretty smoothly. I was done by two o'clock on the second day, so as long as your patients come when they're supposed to, time is definitely not an issue. My advice is to be prepared, have back-ups of everything, and know the candidate guide!
PATP - If there was one section I thought I had failed, it would have been this one. Between fuzzy radiographs, forgetting to follow directions from the candidate guide, and multiple paths the treatment plan could have taken, this section could have been a disaster. It seems that there is a lot of practicality and leniency in the grading of this section. I heard someone from last year's class failed because they had over-analyzed the case. My advice is to take it for face value and don't assume anything.
Prosth - I read WREB Busters to prepare for this and the perio written section. It gave me a confidence boost but not much else, but that might be because my school is heavy on prosth, which might also be why I felt this was the easiest section of the WREB. Do realize that prosth includes operative and fixed, not just removables. The questions were all MC and most of them seemed pretty obvious, and if they weren't obvious, I was able to narrow down to two answer choices.
Perio (written) - This part was also straightforward. The good thing about this exam is that they let you view the candidate guide from the perio section while you're taking the test. This means that you don't have to memorize the symbols or definitions from the guide. The written and clinical parts of this exam are somehow averaged in the end to determine the passing score.
Perio (clinical) - The first patient I brought up to clinic had a very high BP (160+/90), so I opted to use my backup. I re-probed her pockets and calculus before submitting for approval. Her calculus was present on the FMX and she had more than two pockets of 5+ mm, so I knew she would be accepted. I used the cavitron, hand-scaled with two different sets of new Graceys, checked with explorer, re-scaled areas in question, and used the cavitron again. That one quadrant that I scaled during WREB had more calculus than any four quadrants I scaled in school. When I was done, I realized that part of the tissue distal to one of her molars was widened and somewhat flapping around. It was by no means lacerated or detached, but it was definitely widened. Before I submitted her to get graded, I used hydrogen peroxide soaked gauze and held the tissues together for a few minutes. This helped control the bleeding. When she came back from being graded, she did not receive a care slip so I assumed I was okay as far as tissue damage went.
Operative (clinical) - My cases were very ideal. I did class III and class II composites. I wanted to ask for extension on my class III but the floor examiner took a look at my paper and told me that the gingival extension parameter was up to 1.0 mm. I tried to tell him that it was only 0.5 mm according to the guide, but he looked at me like I didn't read the candidate guide. Alas, instead of asking him for the extension, I went ahead and overextended by 0.25 mm for a gingival clearance of 0.75 mm rather than getting rejected with a gray card (which takes time, and a little bit of overextension will result in a 3 or 4, which was fine with me). My advice is to know that grading scale by heart.
On my class II, it took me about 15 minutes to prep, but I spent a good hour looking at two brownish stains on the pulpal floor. One was the size of an explorer tip and was not carious, so I left it. The other was also orangey-brown and resembled a crack in the dentin (which was weird as there were no occlusal caries or abnormalities in the enamel). They were both hard, so I left both and prayed for the best. End result was no pink slip! The premolar that I used for my class II had a light contact to start with, and after the restoration, it still had a pretty light contact when I checked before submitting. Patient came back from grading with no pink slip and when I checked with floss again, the contact was pretty decent. I guess with time the tooth moved back? I used the all-metal G-rings, but I hear the V3 system is pretty good. I actually had the V3 system but did not have the chance to try it out, so I just stuck with what I knew.
Endo - I had a central incisor with a perfectly straight canal and a maxillary second molar with a straight palatal canal. Both had large pulp chambers. My access and obturation for the incisor were pretty ideal (up to length with a puff of sealer). I had some gutta percha above the CEJ, but I don't think that was on the grading criteria. On the molar endo, my access was quite large and extended too far mesially, though I did end up finding all three canals. If I had to take it a second time, I think I would have chosen to do a premolar (which was against school recommendations, go figure). It is harder to perforate a molar, but at the same time, it is easier to find the canals of a premolar. Pick a tooth you're comfortable with doing.
Preparing for WREB was stressful, but the exam days went pretty smoothly. I was done by two o'clock on the second day, so as long as your patients come when they're supposed to, time is definitely not an issue. My advice is to be prepared, have back-ups of everything, and know the candidate guide!
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We had multiple (read > 5) pulp exposures the first day and trust me they weren't chasing caries, a lot of them were freaking out over 'affected dentin' because the brand new explorers will still in anything including fresh clean dentin. And some the second day. All passed.
They accepted some absurdly minimal lesions.
Yes there were failures in op, leaving obvious caries, etc.
Overall the exam was VERY fair.
Good luck and try not to stress too much.
They accepted some absurdly minimal lesions.
Yes there were failures in op, leaving obvious caries, etc.
Overall the exam was VERY fair.
Good luck and try not to stress too much.
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Yeah our school too with pulp exposures. Not sure why that happens. And i seriously thought i was the only one feeling stickieness with those sharp explorers on clean dentin
I took the WREB exam at USC and I did very well, I had two dental assistants that were exceptionally good Sally Schroeder: (562) 619-4411 and Juliette: (510) 715-9067. The exam is very stressful and having assistants that know what they are doing makes a lot of difference. They knew the exam inside and out, had everything in terms of instruments ready for me as a backup even though I had brought my own instruments. I did nothing but the actual procedures that I was supposed to and paperwork, and everything else was taken care of! They have a lot of experience with the WREB exam. Juliette is from northern California and Sally is in the Los Angeles area. They also travel around! I highly recommend them.
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Hi,
I am also taking WREb in Dec2012 6-9th at Pomona, CA. So r u going for that weterndental course? When is ur CSW and Patp test? If u want we can discuss question for these test. Mine is in Nov.
Thanks.
Western Dental consultants was an ace in the hole for my WREB 2012 at USC. I have not been in dental school for years and they got me up to date quick on the clinical requirements. And their patients were second to none. Exactly what I needed to pass -- medium sized class II and class III lesions. I had some difficulty with required modifications, but there was no doubt that the lesions would pass on the first submission. Plus the Western Dental Consultants are familiar with the USC system.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
Hi, I took the wreb on Dec 6 and 9 at Pomona ,CA, I failed the Perio and Prostho written portions, Do you have any material to study ( released questions ,etc)
Please, I really would appreciate your help,
thank you 🙂
Please, I really would appreciate your help,
thank you 🙂
I am in the same shoes as you are. I failed the Perio and Prostho. I am re taking again this year. I have some materials, but they are not very current. The materials were not helpful either. Just use the materials to review only. If you want, I could share.
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nope, took mine in 2013.
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Which university did you study Dentistry and how much did you pay to your dental assistant?
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Hi,
From which dental school did you graduate ? How much did you pay to your dental
assistant?
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I just passed the wreb april 2013. I just found out that I passed 4 days later. Amazing.
I used Dr Gilbert in Los Angeles for preparation , patients and teeth. I used Beverly at 916.712.2672 for assisting.
She was so knowlegable, took care of paperwork, opinions on your work and knows what they are looking for. She even has equipment if needed. She was truely my partner and I felt more comfortable having her with me.
I used Dr Gilbert in Los Angeles for preparation , patients and teeth. I used Beverly at 916.712.2672 for assisting.
She was so knowlegable, took care of paperwork, opinions on your work and knows what they are looking for. She even has equipment if needed. She was truely my partner and I felt more comfortable having her with me.
Congratulations on your success!
Would you mind sharing your experience with the exam? Any advice for time management, preparation, tips? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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Hello,
I am in great need of study materials for the CSW Prostho Section, please contact me if you have anything for sale. My email is [email protected]
Thanks!
