Ask me anything: D3 at UTHealth Houston & Harvard Business Certificate

[Typical Average Student]

I have some time off and since many are about to be accepted into dental school, I hope to guide y'all in the right direction.

My fiancee and I are 3rd year dental students at UT-Houston, we just finished up all our classes and about to enter finals session.
Since entering, I was heavily committed in doing oral surgery and have been an active officer in the oral surgery society for 3 years but have decided to go into general dentistry, business, and academia.

Since deciding to drop oral surgery, I've committed a lot of my time into learning and reading about business, most of my time has been in HBX which is Harvard's online business school, where you take courses in financial accounting, business analytics, and economics for example.

Ask me anything. Though try to avoid asking interview questions and such...

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[Nachatta]

What ultimately changed your mind about OMFS, and what aspect of academia are you interested in going to? Not trying to be myopic-- I know it's a thing but I feel like anything academia related I read here is always tied to OMFS

 

[Typical Average Student]

What ultimately changed your mind about OMFS, and what aspect of academia are you interested in going to? Not trying to be myopic-- I know it's a thing but I feel like anything academia related I read here is always tied to OMFS

First thing that deterred me was stress trying to maintain high grades... I was ranked high but it was very sad and overwhelmed with trying to get 100% all the time... even if I fell in rank, I knew I can do an internship/AEGD/GPR to help boost for admission later down the road but I really only had 1-2 choices if I did apply to OS since I have to stay in Houston due to personal reasons, so my chances were diminished already. My in-laws are both general dentists and they do a lot of great work in general dentistry so it seems fun for me... although I love pulling teeth, I love doing other procedures too, I found a lot of enjoyment in doing endo and restorative since working in clinic.

As for academia, I'm interested in going back to teach clinical dentistry, I'm currently doing the ADEA Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program where I essentially do research, teach a class, and do other projects on the side with a mentor. My first year doing it, I was mentored by an anatomy professor and this year my mentor is in OMF radiology. There are a lot of dental schools that offer this program so if you're interested in it, I would highly recommend looking into it.

 

[ssm38]

What advice would you give to 2nd year students who are about to transition from pre-clinic to clinic? Any tips for certain procedures, patient management or things you wish you knew prior to clinic?

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

What made you choose UTH over the other options in TX? Best and worst things about your school?

 

[Typical Average Student]

What advice would you give to 2nd year students who are about to transition from pre-clinic to clinic? Any tips for certain procedures, patient management or things you wish you knew prior to clinic?

1. First learn how to work the EHR system, nothing slows you down more in clinic than trying to figure out how to work something
2. We have to schedule our own patients so keep an organized planner/schedule/calendar.
3. The other thing is definitely know what to do next in terms of procedures. Know what you need to get from the dispensary, and where to get things. For example if you're doing a #7-ML, preclinically, you know you might need Z250 composite, optibond, and etch... but in clinic, you might need fender wedges, teflon tape, malar strips, sanding strips, and sof-flex disks. So in other words, just know what ELSE you will need, it's not always textbook but theres a lot of things in the dispensary that will help you.
4. TALK TO UPPER CLASSMEN!!!! THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND WILL HELP YOU!!!! DON'T BE SCARED TO TALK TO THEM.

I wish I knew how much patients cancel, we have clinic 4 days a week and it's difficult to call/schedule/manage them especially when they don't answer you immediately. Just learn how to talk to patients and try to gauge whether or not they'll be a good patient. Old retired patients that have cars are the best, they literally have nothing but time on their hands. In terms of requirements, know what your requirements are and have a goal of completing at least 1-2 requirements per week.

 

[Typical Average Student]

What made you choose UTH over the other options in TX? Best and worst things about your school?

I went to the University of Houston. My fiancee got into UTHealth at Houston, my family lives in Houston. I bleed Houston lol.

I would say the best thing about our school is the city and the people here. We're in the Texas Medical Center so we see a lot of crazy cases and medically complex things (but that doesn't always mean we get to do them). Our rotations are awesome as well, we see a lot of trauma, peds, mobile dental vans, etc. Also, our tuition is awesome. I'll be graduating with under 180k debt.

The worst thing is probably the amount of exposure in clinic... my fiancee's cousin goes to Midwestern-IL and is also a 3rd year. Lets just say he has done more root canals than we'll probably ever get. He has already taken boards past 2, he also learned how to place implants and.... get this... he has done "All-On-Four" implants... like WTH? My in-laws parents who have been in practice for more than 25 years learned how to do All-On-Fours and feel it's too gruesome and complex to do, so they don't do them. I always get so jealous how much more he has been exposed to in clinic. I don't think this is the same with Midwestern-AZ though, I have a D3 friend at MW-AZ and they're roughly at the same clinical level as us. So if you were picking between schools... definitely know what type of clinical exposure you're going to get. You can definitely pay for CE courses when you get out and learn them later... but I would really like the exposure in school. Only downside for him is that his tuition is crazy high, probably more double ours.

 

[Crown2018]

I went to the University of Houston. My fiancee got into UTHealth at Houston, my family lives in Houston. I bleed Houston lol.

I would say the best thing about our school is the city and the people here. We're in the Texas Medical Center so we see a lot of crazy cases and medically complex things (but that doesn't always mean we get to do them). Our rotations are awesome as well, we see a lot of trauma, peds, mobile dental vans, etc. Also, our tuition is awesome. I'll be graduating with under 180k debt.

The worst thing is probably the amount of exposure in clinic... my fiancee's cousin goes to Midwestern-IL and is also a 3rd year. Lets just say he has done more root canals than we'll probably ever get. He has already taken boards past 2, he also learned how to place implants and.... get this... he has done "All-On-Four" implants... like WTH? My in-laws parents who have been in practice for more than 25 years learned how to do All-On-Fours and feel it's too gruesome and complex to do, so they don't do them. I always get so jealous how much more he has been exposed to in clinic. I don't think this is the same with Midwestern-AZ though, I have a D3 friend at MW-AZ and they're roughly at the same clinical level as us. So if you were picking between schools... definitely know what type of clinical exposure you're going to get. You can definitely pay for CE courses when you get out and learn them later... but I would really like the exposure in school. Only downside for him is that his tuition is crazy high, probably more double ours.

3rd year at MWU-IL has done the all on four? I'm really concerned whenever I hear stuff like this because what does 3rd year dental student know... Come on... Even if the instructors guided him through, I think it's very unethical to let these inexperienced 3rd year students to do advanced procedures like the all on four lmao. Seriously.. What do they know?

I don't think it's "cool" or we should even be "jealous" of these stories because it's simply unethical.

 

[Doctorishere12345]

I have some time off and since many are about to be accepted into dental school, I hope to guide y'all in the right direction.

My fiancee and I are 3rd year dental students at UT-Houston, we just finished up all our classes and about to enter finals session.
Since entering, I was heavily committed in doing oral surgery and have been an active officer in the oral surgery society for 3 years but have decided to go into general dentistry, business, and academia.

Since deciding to drop oral surgery, I've committed a lot of my time into learning and reading about business, most of my time has been in HBX which is Harvard's online business school, where you take courses in financial accounting, business analytics, and economics for example.

Ask me anything. Though try to avoid asking interview questions and such...

Curious about Harvard Business Certificate. What are advantages of getting it and why you getting it? Do you need to have MBA prior to apply for it?

 

[suede]

First thing that deterred me was stress trying to maintain high grades... I was ranked high but it was very sad and overwhelmed with trying to get 100% all the time... even if I fell in rank, I knew I can do an internship/AEGD/GPR to help boost for admission later down the road but I really only had 1-2 choices if I did apply to OS since I have to stay in Houston due to personal reasons, so my chances were diminished already. My in-laws are both general dentists and they do a lot of great work in general dentistry so it seems fun for me... although I love pulling teeth, I love doing other procedures too, I found a lot of enjoyment in doing endo and restorative since working in clinic.

As for academia, I'm interested in going back to teach clinical dentistry, I'm currently doing the ADEA Academic Dental Careers Fellowship Program where I essentially do research, teach a class, and do other projects on the side with a mentor. My first year doing it, I was mentored by an anatomy professor and this year my mentor is in OMF radiology. There are a lot of dental schools that offer this program so if you're interested in it, I would highly recommend looking into it.

Would you say that the ranking system makes it that stressful for students interested in any specialty at UTSD? or was your experience mainly due to your interest in OS?

 

[Typical Average Student]

Curious about Harvard Business Certificate. What are advantages of getting it and why you getting it? Do you need to have MBA prior to apply for it?

Most people that are currently taking the course are doing it to help their admissions into an MBA program -- Harvard has 2 ways to get in, one is with the certificate course. Others are taking it for personal enrichment. I'm on the latter half, I'm personally taking it to learn more about finance, business, and accounting in order to effectively run a private practice especially since my bachelors did not cover any of that and our dental school does not even scratch the surface of what is taught in the course. So far I have about 2 more months and I'm confident that I know how to evaluate data and business tactics much better than most students in dental school without a business background. I would recommend taking the course if you have the money, it's a nominal investment -- but it does take a lot of time out of studying for classes - I would recommend taking it in your 3rd or 4th yr when your didactic course load decreases. If not, you are looking for more specific dental related business tips I would advocate to invest the money you would have in the course and attend as many business related dental CE courses that you are interested in - you can probably attend at least 5-15 CE courses with the same amount of money it costs the certificate. Let me know if you have any questions about the specifics I can link you to some videos.

Would you say that the ranking system makes it that stressful for students interested in any specialty at UTSD? or was your experience mainly due to your interest in OS?

100%. The ranking system, especially if you care about your rank for specializing reasons, can make or break you. There are so many students in my class who knew they were going to specialize coming in but decided to drop it because of their rank (me being on of those people), although there are others who's ranks are not as high but still have a lot of ambition to at least "try" to get in -- even though it might take them a few years, internships, or even a AEGD/GPR. There are always other specialites that don't always depend heavily on rank -- ex. Endo - some programs prefer applicants with many years of experience in private practice. So although it may seem like you only have a shot of getting into a specialty during dental school, there in fact, are a lot of people who are non traditional applicants who decided to take a few years out to pay off loans and practice.

It's sort of like running a race when going to a ranking system school - if you focus too much about being in 1st or 2nd place the entire race, you'll get burnt out and be more stressed. But I feel like if you went to a P/F school, you would essentially be running your own race - less stress and you'll probably be happier lol.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

100%. The ranking system, especially if you care about your rank for specializing reasons, can make or break you. There are so many students in my class who knew they were going to specialize coming in but decided to drop it because of their rank (me being on of those people)But I feel like if you went to a P/F school, you would essentially be running your own race - less stress and you'll probably be happier lol.

For this reason specifically do you regret going to Houston? I know you had family in the area but if specializing was your main goal would you have gone elsewhere?

What advantages do you think the HBX will give you in practice over other dentists? Are you going to work as an associate for your relatives before starting your own practice?

 

[Typical Average Student]

For this reason specifically do you regret going to Houston? I know you had family in the area but if specializing was your main goal would you have gone elsewhere?

What advantages do you think the HBX will give you in practice over other dentists? Are you going to work as an associate for your relatives before starting your own practice?

I don't regret going here... well, not for that reason specifically, I think UTSD is more geared toward students who are raising families simply because I loved being on a college campus so much and transitioning from a large campus like the University of Houston and now being squeezed into 1 building for 4 years is very miserable. Which is why unless you like going to school and going straight home, it is probably more students with families. But on topic, if specializing was my main goal and I knew I didn't want to do general dentistry, then yes, going to any school that ranks is very stressful and probably puts you at a much harder situation to climb out of the hole you dug yourself. This is especially knowing that the top people in my class are VERY smart and make 98-100% on every test. My sister in law is in the class below us and is ranked #2 and she makes nothing but 96-100% on all her tests so you can only imagine how difficult it is to maintain that mentality for 4 years. Overall, if your main priority is specializing, I would recommend a P/F school to make it easier for yourself, especially if you know you aren't a very strong test taker.

The advantages of HBX - I strongly believe I will be able to recognize discrepancies whenever my business is not doing well. I strongly believe I have the foundation to be able to evaluate how well a private practice is doing based on not only numbers but also marketing/economics and what I can do to alleviate any downturns. I'm more confident with talking to other business folk and establishing professional relationships for business. Many dentists do not have the business background to be able to run a practice efficiently or at least know where to find the resources to do so. And yes, I will be working for them for a year or two before I would feel confident with my clinical skills to be able to run a practice.

 

[bracketbuster68]

Just out of curiosity, which HBX certificate are you pursuing? There are a lot on their website

 

[Typical Average Student]

Just out of curiosity, which HBX certificate are you pursuing? There are a lot on their website

Extended 17 week CORe. I definitely will be looking into other certificates after finishing this one as well.

 

[Advance]

You have clinic 4day/wk? What do you guys do on the other day? How many classes do you have per day during D3?

 

[Typical Average Student]

You have clinic 4day/wk? What do you guys do on the other day? How many classes do you have per day during D3?

Hey buddy!
This semester we have half day on Monday and Thursday and full day on Tues/Wed/Fri.
We have class every morning at 8am and start clinic at 9am. On half days we have class.
This is an example of our schedule:

 

[@Toothman]

I have some time off and since many are about to be accepted into dental school, I hope to guide y'all in the right direction.

My fiancee and I are 3rd year dental students at UT-Houston, we just finished up all our classes and about to enter finals session.
Since entering, I was heavily committed in doing oral surgery and have been an active officer in the oral surgery society for 3 years but have decided to go into general dentistry, business, and academia.

Since deciding to drop oral surgery, I've committed a lot of my time into learning and reading about business, most of my time has been in HBX which is Harvard's online business school, where you take courses in financial accounting, business analytics, and economics for example.

Ask me anything. Though try to avoid asking interview questions and such...

I know this

I have some time off and since many are about to be accepted into dental school, I hope to guide y'all in the right direction.

My fiancee and I are 3rd year dental students at UT-Houston, we just finished up all our classes and about to enter finals session.
Since entering, I was heavily committed in doing oral surgery and have been an active officer in the oral surgery society for 3 years but have decided to go into general dentistry, business, and academia.

Since deciding to drop oral surgery, I've committed a lot of my time into learning and reading about business, most of my time has been in HBX which is Harvard's online business school, where you take courses in financial accounting, business analytics, and economics for example.

Ask me anything. Though try to avoid asking interview questions and such...

I know this thread is a little bit old but I just wanted to ask you about the possibility of taking a break while in dental school. I am an undergraduate and I'm going to graduate Magna Cum Laude this semester in Human Biology with years of dental and research experience. I know that I can do a tough work load, but I have some physical health problems (an autonomic nervous system disorder). For me, my nervous system can get really worked up under excessive and prolonged stress. I was pulling a 4.0 and working under a prestigous virology lab for two years and ended up having to take a break during my undergrad. I fear that this could happen to me again during dental school (where I do really good for two years but then my health acts up). Do dental schools have resources to address these kind of things? Is there a chance I could take a break from school for a year? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Life of Pablo]

100%. The ranking system, especially if you care about your rank for specializing reasons, can make or break you. There are so many students in my class who knew they were going to specialize coming in but decided to drop it because of their rank (me being on of those people), although there are others who's ranks are not as high but still have a lot of ambition to at least "try" to get in -- even though it might take them a few years, internships, or even a AEGD/GPR. There are always other specialites that don't always depend heavily on rank -- ex. Endo - some programs prefer applicants with many years of experience in private practice. So although it may seem like you only have a shot of getting into a specialty during dental school, there in fact, are a lot of people who are non traditional applicants who decided to take a few years out to pay off loans and practice.

It's sort of like running a race when going to a ranking system school - if you focus too much about being in 1st or 2nd place the entire race, you'll get burnt out and be more stressed. But I feel like if you went to a P/F school, you would essentially be running your own race - less stress and you'll probably be happier lol.

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK @Big Time Hoosier @princeafrica

"Being in the top of your class is ez."
"Just takes a little work"
"Anyone can do it"

Everyone thinks they're going to be at the top of their class when school starts until they realize how much stress and hard work it takes. Did I mention the stress?

 

[956139]

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK @Big Time Hoosier @princeafrica

"Being in the top of your class is ez."
"Just takes a little work"
"Anyone can do it"

Everyone thinks they're going to be at the top of their class when school starts until they realize how much stress and hard work it takes. Did I mention the stress?

Facts. Some of these people don't even have 4.0s in undergrad and think they can easily get top 10 in dental school .

 

[Life of Pablo]

Facts. Some of these people don't even have 4.0s in undergrad and think they can easily get top 10 in dental school .

That's partially because people on these forums like to make it appear that specializing is something anyone can do with just a little bit of hard work. Every step up in the education system is another filter - from high school to college to dental school and then to residency. How many people in undergrad said they were pre-med or pre-dent and then ended up dropping that after like the first semester? If I had a dollar for every "pre-med" I knew my freshmen year of college that ended up dropping, I'd probably have like $250 dollars. The same thing applies to dental school and matching to a residency.

 

[bracketbuster68]

That's partially because people on these forums like to make it appear that specializing is something anyone can do with just a little bit of hard work. Every step up in the education system is another filter - from high school to college to dental school and then to residency. How many people in undergrad said they were pre-med or pre-dent and then ended up dropping that after like the first semester? If I had a dollar for every "pre-med" I knew my freshmen year of college that ended up dropping, I'd probably have like $250 dollars. The same thing applies to dental school and matching to a residency.

You’re making the false assumption that these people wanted it. Sure they say they want to be a doctor or top 10, but come exam time they are not willing to sacrifice going out or catching the football game

 

[Life of Pablo]

You’re making the false assumption that these people wanted it. Sure they say they want to be a doctor or top 10, but come exam time they are not willing to sacrifice going out or catching the football game

In undergrad that may be true, but I don’t think it’s the case in dental school. In dental school, it’s the stress that gets to people, not the inability to give up partying or going out. If you want to maintain a high ranking, you’re going to have a great deal of stress. Depending on the person, the stress can really get to you, and you realize it’s not worth it anymore.

 

[bracketbuster68]

In undergrad that may be true, but I don’t think it’s the case in dental school. In dental school, it’s the stress that gets to people, not the inability to give up partying or going out. If you want to maintain a high ranking, you’re going to have a great deal of stress. Depending on the person, the stress can really get to you, and you realize it’s not worth it anymore.

Not true. I’m up there in class rank and not stressed because as you get older, and hopefully wiser, you realize you can’t stress what you can’t control. There’s a lot that you cannot control in dental school, but there is a lot you can. Like how much you study, how smart you study, who do you talk to, the list goes on. In my 2 years of dental school, I’ve learned that the best way to do well is to talk to people. Learn how to get better with the handpiece. Ask upperclassmen how teachers test. Most people are too prideful or not aware to do this and then they get boned!

 

[princeafrica]

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK @Big Time Hoosier @princeafrica

"Being in the top of your class is ez."
"Just takes a little work"
"Anyone can do it"

Everyone thinks they're going to be at the top of their class when school starts until they realize how much stress and hard work it takes. Did I mention the stress?

Facts. Some of these people don't even have 4.0s in undergrad and think they can easily get top 10 in dental school .

It’s an honor to be in the same sentence as Big Hoss

I had a 2.5 in HS, 3.6 in undergrad, annnndddd I’ll get 4.0 in dental school just for you Oliver. I won’t even specialize


I never said it was easy, I’m saying it’s possible.

“The problem is not the problem its your attitude about the problem” - Captain Jack Sparrow

 

[artist2022]

Let's get the AMA back on track instead of arguing about what one must do to specialize and/or the difficulty of specializing, TIA

 

[Typical Average Student]

I know this


I know this thread is a little bit old but I just wanted to ask you about the possibility of taking a break while in dental school. I am an undergraduate and I'm going to graduate Magna Cum Laude this semester in Human Biology with years of dental and research experience. I know that I can do a tough work load, but I have some physical health problems (an autonomic nervous system disorder). For me, my nervous system can get really worked up under excessive and prolonged stress. I was pulling a 4.0 and working under a prestigous virology lab for two years and ended up having to take a break during my undergrad. I fear that this could happen to me again during dental school (where I do really good for two years but then my health acts up). Do dental schools have resources to address these kind of things? Is there a chance I could take a break from school for a year? Thanks a bunch!

Dental school is not a walk in the park, I would highly recommend taking a break especially already doing well in undergrad you can come back and just kill the DAT and be ready to apply whenever you're ready. This is common for a lot of my classmates, theres a good amount of non traditional students, who knows, you might even find happiness in another field.

 

[macsak]

Dental school is not a walk in the park, I would highly recommend taking a break especially already doing well in undergrad you can come back and just kill the DAT and be ready to apply whenever you're ready. This is common for a lot of my classmates, theres a good amount of non traditional students, who knows, you might even find happiness in another field.

toothman is not asking about taking time off before taking the DAT or before starting d school...

 

[Typical Average Student]

toothman is not asking about taking time off before taking the DAT or before starting d school...

Ah, didn't read that carefully. Thanks.

I know this thread is a little bit old but I just wanted to ask you about the possibility of taking a break while in dental school. I am an undergraduate and I'm going to graduate Magna Cum Laude this semester in Human Biology with years of dental and research experience. I know that I can do a tough work load, but I have some physical health problems (an autonomic nervous system disorder). For me, my nervous system can get really worked up under excessive and prolonged stress. I was pulling a 4.0 and working under a prestigous virology lab for two years and ended up having to take a break during my undergrad. I fear that this could happen to me again during dental school (where I do really good for two years but then my health acts up). Do dental schools have resources to address these kind of things? Is there a chance I could take a break from school for a year? Thanks a bunch!

Taking a breaking WHILE in dental school is a gray area... there are 3-4 people who I know that have taken breaks for a year but mostly due to pregnancy and/or medical emergencies but this was almost unanimously all during the 1st or 2nd year that they took their break. I've spoken with them and they said taking a break was the best decision of their life being that it relieved them of a lot of stress of having a baby and such. On the other hand taking a break while in your 3rd or 4th year is a little different -- this is a time where you're mostly doing clinical work. In my opinion, if you are stressed about 3rd or 4th year doing clinic work, you might not be able to handle the stress of practicing dentistry -- though it's understandable if you're stressed with the transition from didatic to clinic but if you're fully immersed in clinic already, taking a break would be counterproductive in my opinion and you might want to reconsider your options or talk to your dean for academic affairs admin/advisor about your situation. If you feel intimidated by them, maybe you can talk to some friends who are feeling the same way, that way you might not feel as left out and stressed knowing that you're not alone in this situation.