AEGD vs CE courses?

[1070752]

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I'm currently a third year student, and I'm exploring the options of either doing a 1 year AEGD that focuses on placing implants, full mouth cases, multiple crowns, endo, etc... vs. taking CE courses to learn these procedures and start working right away. In my view, the positives of doing an AEGD that focuses on that is getting the experience without paying for CE courses, and still getting around 50k for that year. The negative is obviously not making the salary you'd make as an associate for that year.

If anyone has some insight into this, I would greatly appreciate it. Any advice would be helpful too.

Thanks!

 

[TanMan]

I'm in the camp of start working right away. The only one that's tricky on your list is full mouth cases, but I'm not a fan of them since the hourly rate drops for full mouth cases v. multiple unit without alteration of VDO or getting them to CR. I think you should assess your style of learning. Do you need someone to hold your hand during a procedure or can you youtube a procedure 15 mins before and execute without hesitation/take a weekend course and start practicing what you learned on Monday morning? If you want the handholding or someone to bail you out, AEGD it is. If you're confident that you can do it and learn from your mistakes in private practice/corporate, go straight to work.

Going straight to work has worked for me and I'm confident that most people can achieve the same success going the same route. In retrospect, I would most likely regret doing an AEGD due to a loss of a year, but who knows! A year is 1-2% of your life during its prime (if your prime lasts 20-30 years, it's approximately 3-5% of your prime life). Hopefully some people who did an AEGD can chime in to give the other side of the story. Good luck on your endeavors.

 

[FanOfCostco]

Do you even know a AEGD that offers everything you’re looking for? The only one I know that comes close is VA and those are very competitive.