Best clinical schools?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
squints02

squints02

Full Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Messages
82
Reaction score
0
I have been researching dental school options and I was wondering if anyone had any insights as to which dental schools focused more on the clinical aspect of dentistry.
Any info would help
thanks
Members don't see this ad.
 
squints02 said:
I have been researching dental school options and I was wondering if anyone had any insights as to which dental schools focused more on the clinical aspect of dentistry.
Any info would help
thanks
Click to expand...

I can only speak through my own experience. At Kentucky, I feel we have a clinically strong program and am very glad that I chose to come here. One of the main benefits at UK is the early start in clinic (we start treating patients fall semester of second year). Even though in the beginning it is mainly prophys and simple restorative, at least you are getting some reps in the clinic and getting a feel for the whole patient interaction bit. As it can be imagined, prostho is big business here so you will get all the complete/implant denture work that you want (if that is your thing:D ). You may not get too many root canals, but that is only because many of our patients are going for implants (this could be viewed as a pro or con depending on your goals because you'll get to restore a ton of implants). There are other strengths; these are just a few highlights. Hope this helps. PM me if you would like info ad nauseum.:barf:
 
i know on the east coast its Boston University and NYU
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thank you for your replies! They are much appreciated. From what I have heard NYU, BU, Tufts, and UoP are all more clinical schools. Does anyone know of any others.
Again thank you for the replies!
 
Case in the midwest. :cool:
 
LLU in the west .... i think llu is one of the best in the nation clinically
 
I challenge any dental student to tell us that his or her dental school does not claim to have a great clinical program. Why would anyone want to go a school that does not excel in clinical dentistry? Even the good research institutions will tell you they provide great clinical training.
 
Not to mention every school seems to have either "Above the national average for clinical hours" or "above the national average for clinical requirements"
 
at pretty much every interview I went to some student talked about how at their school they get to do things that hardly any other schools do, or how they went on an externship to another school and the students/faculty there were in awe of their amazing clinical skills....

the bottom line is that all schools are gonna get you where you want to go, its up to you to work your tail off and become a great clinician

take luck
 
Temple students do 140,000+ procedures a year.
 
NYU, Case, and Temple are the top three apparently based on the statistics they have provided.

And to answer some of you: yes there are schools that do not claim to be clinically strong such as UCLA or even worse UConn which probably has two patient visits a year divided by a class of 40.
 
Denticized said:
NYU, Case, and Temple are the top three apparently based on the statistics they have provided.

And to answer some of you: yes there are schools that do not claim to be clinically strong such as UCLA or even worse UConn which probably has two patient visits a year divided by a class of 40.
Click to expand...

I am aware that both schools (UCLA and UConn) have very good reputations for dental training. I would be very surprised if what you say is true. Are there any dental students from either school who would be willing to confirm the statements made by Denticized?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
johntara04 said:
Temple students do 140,000+ procedures a year.
Click to expand...

Not per year mr. uninformed johntara04. The correct number is 140,000 procedures a semester per student. Dugh!:thumbup:
 
2006Grad said:
Not per year mr. uninformed johntara04. The correct number is 140,000 procedures a semester per student. Dugh!:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Assuming that each semester is 150 days (which is probably an overstatement), then there are 216,000 minutes total in that time period. Thus to do 140,000 procedures in one semester, a student needs to be doing one procedure in less than every 2 minutes over a 24 hour period/ 7 days a week. Either you guys are super human, or I think you numbers are a LITTLE off.
 
tooth decay said:
Assuming that each semester is 150 days (which is probably an overstatement), then there are 216,000 minutes total in that time period. Thus to do 140,000 procedures in one semester, a student needs to be doing one procedure in less than every 2 minutes over a 24 hour period/ 7 days a week. Either you guys are super human, or I think you numbers are a LITTLE off.
Click to expand...

Turn your sarcasm detector on ya' vulcan.
 
armorshell said:
Turn your sarcasm detector on ya' vulcan.
Click to expand...

I do not consider my analysis sarcasm, just a reality check in a forum where fact and fiction are sometimes indistinguishable.
 
armorshell said:
You were analyzing a joke, the guy was just kidding...
Click to expand...

No he wasn't. We are literally strapped to a dental chair with handcuffs until we get our qouta for the day. Don't tell anyone, but the first and second years don't ever take biochem, they put us in the basement the first day and tell us to start seeing perio patients!!:scared:

Lets see if anyone bites...:laugh:
 
UF is quite good pre-clinical and I think OK (definitely not great) for clinics. I have to spend a lot of my time calling patients and trying to work out an efficient schedule. I would much rather pay more money and have the school hire people to do that crap for me, as I would rather concern myself with practicing dentistry instead of remembering that Mr. Smith can only come in on tuesday and thursday. We also have discipline oriented clinics, which means that you can ONLY do perio/OS/oper/pros for each appointment, meaning it takes FOREVER to get a patient's treatment plan done. Our strongest clinical experience is oral surgery (lots of exts and preprosthetic surg opportunities here) and the weakest is probably endo.
 
I attended State University of New York @ Stony Brook, they only take 30 or so students a year which results in great ratios of students to fac. and lots of clinc time
 
apaul said:
at pretty much every interview I went to some student talked about how at their school they get to do things that hardly any other schools do, or how they went on an externship to another school and the students/faculty there were in awe of their amazing clinical skills....

the bottom line is that all schools are gonna get you where you want to go, its up to you to work your tail off and become a great clinician

take luck
Click to expand...

I totally agree. It seems like only pre-dents worry about this issue about how good clinically a school is. Some of my friends are going to med school and pharm school and such and not one of them are worried whether or not they are going to be clinically prepared to be a doctor or pharmicist, regardless if they got into the #1 school or the #150 school on ranking lists. (what a run-on).They are just happy they got in somewhere and looking forward to start their careers. Every school is accredited and will prepare you to handle dentistry after school. No, you won't be able to handle tough, complex cases at first but that comes with experience. Just work hard and sacrifice alot and you will be fine
 
I agree that it is impossible to figure out who has a better clinical program from your interviews, but I think it is a good idea for predents to try to figure out which school will give you a better clinical training (I would focus more on chair time and higher student requirements with the ability for most students to finish on time over "better clinical training"). Obviously if you only get accepted by one school, take it, all schools will train you to be a dentist, but if you have choices and could figure out which one could train you better, why not? Basking in the glory of your acceptance is fun, but only for a few days.
 
You get what you put in clinically. Ive learned to pull partial bony/ full bony impacted thirds and Im in third year of dental school. No one else of the student body here at my school can say that. Any school can have a good clinical program if you put your time into what you're interested in. I would actually prefer to go to schools you have fewer requirements so I could concentrate more on things I like (dentoalveolar surgery, extractions) versus things I dislike (restorative/dentures, etc)
 
I agree that it would be nice to focus on procedures that we like to do, but I think we all know that if a school had lower requirements so students could do this then a lot of students would just stop at the bare minimum. I think a school's clincal requirements say a lot about what a students should be able to get done while they are there. Lower requirements to me would mean not that you had more free time to do what you want, but that the schools thinks this is the max you can get done there with the clinic time available to you = less clinical experience. If the requirements are higher I would assume this meant that they expect their students to be able to get more done with the clinc time available = more clinical experience.
 
tooth decay said:
I am aware that both schools (UCLA and UConn) have very good reputations for dental training. I would be very surprised if what you say is true. Are there any dental students from either school who would be willing to confirm the statements made by Denticized?
Click to expand...

Well I am a UCLA undergrad but I have visited the D-school on numerous occasions and a best friend of mine attends there. He says that though things are getting better, there is still a shortage of "quality" patients. For Uconn, I was interviewed there on a Monday and there was not a SINGLE patient there. Even when I asked students about patient pool they kind of smirked but to be fair they all said that it didn't make a difference since the UConn class of 35 pretty much all matriculate into specialties.
 
psiyung said:
I would actually prefer to go to schools you have fewer requirements so I could concentrate more on things I like (dentoalveolar surgery, extractions) versus things I dislike (restorative/dentures, etc)
Click to expand...


Thanks goodness that I'm going to that school. Almost done with my graduation requirements by today. I will spend more time concentrating on things I like this summer and next year. :) :) I still have to keep my schedule full in order to get good clinic grades
 
HuyetKiem said:
Thanks goodness that I'm going to that school. Almost done with my graduation requirements by today. I will spend more time concentrating on things I like this summer and next year. :) :) I still have to keep my schedule full in order to get good clinic grades
Click to expand...

We have a whole ****ing appointment on border molding here. "Border Molding":(
 
Well I thought the schools in the South were more clinically oriented than the ones in the north. I guess the best way to compare is clinical requirements and the procedures available at that school.
 
GoGatorsDMD said:
UF is quite good pre-clinical and I think OK (definitely not great) for clinics. I have to spend a lot of my time calling patients and trying to work out an efficient schedule. I would much rather pay more money and have the school hire people to do that crap for me, as I would rather concern myself with practicing dentistry instead of remembering that Mr. Smith can only come in on tuesday and thursday.
Click to expand...

This could be a great business opportunity. you and a couple other dental students hire someone to do this, and eventually convince your class, and the one below you that it is the best thing ever, and they should use it, and before you know it, the business is paying for itsself, and you wont have to pay anything. Someone who is determined enough could tackle this.
 
GoGatorsDMD, I feel your pain. I am a student at the University of Tennessee and our clinical system is set up similar to yours. Students are responsible for scheduling patients( a real PITA). Also, we are only allowed to see a pt. in a particular clinic each period, thus dragging out their treatment plan for months. While the University of TN is known for its excellent clinical program, we have been having problems with our pt. pool as of late. The requirements at UT are twice that of some of the other U.S. dental schools. Combine these two things, and one begins to understand why the majority of students have not been able to graduate on time. Last year, out of 80 students, 39 were required to come back after graduation to complete requirements. Some were there for up to two months post-graduation and it looks like we will have a repeat this year. While I feel I have received a very good education, I wished I had attended another program. Just something to think about for those of you planning on applying to UT.
 
jmjfb23 said:
I agree that it would be nice to focus on procedures that we like to do, but I think we all know that if a school had lower requirements so students could do this then a lot of students would just stop at the bare minimum. I think a school's clincal requirements say a lot about what a students should be able to get done while they are there. Lower requirements to me would mean not that you had more free time to do what you want, but that the schools thinks this is the max you can get done there with the clinic time available to you = less clinical experience. If the requirements are higher I would assume this meant that they expect their students to be able to get more done with the clinc time available = more clinical experience.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree. How many times do you need to prep a crown to become efficient (efficient enough to seat a decent restoration)? How many preps do you need to do to place a decent composite restoration? These procedures are not rocket science, and yet we spend so much time in clinic and lab wasting our time, that we really miss out on a lot of things that we should rather be learning. Implants, impacted third molars, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, alveolectomies, and last but not least, gum gardening :D
 
how many? are you really trying to say that after 5-10 crowns you have attained all the efficiency and experience you need to tackle any fixed restorative case that comes your way? is a handful of operative more than enough to be able to roll through boards and on into practice to take all comers?

i would have to agree that without requirements that demand some effort out of the student, a vast majority of students would complete the minimum and take vacation. why would you not? if you arent licensed, you cant practice, you have no real income, you cant even take CE for credit (in TN), you cant prescribe drugs, seems to be a time for golf, fishing and trips to Tunica.
 
psiyung said:
I completely disagree. How many times do you need to prep a crown to become efficient (efficient enough to seat a decent restoration)? How many preps do you need to do to place a decent composite restoration? These procedures are not rocket science, and yet we spend so much time in clinic and lab wasting our time, that we really miss out on a lot of things that we should rather be learning. Implants, impacted third molars, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, alveolectomies, and last but not least, gum gardening :D
Click to expand...

Well, yes some things can be overdone and I'm not saying we need more exposure to certain clinical experiences. What I am saying is that when it comes to comparing schools and the clinical experience you will get at that school the best way I can see to compare these schools is to look at the requirements they have. Yes, I know that there are always some students who finish these early and can move on and do what they want, but this number of requirements is what the school feels the average student can finish in their time at the school, what you make of your time at the school is up to you. If a school can fit in everything you need to do to become a great dentist and in addition teach you "how to place implants, treat impacted 3rd molars, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, alveolectomies and gum gardening", then more power to them, but for the most part (if not for the case of every dental school) they will not teach you all of these things and you need to do a GPR or AEGD to learn most of them. My original statement was not that a school should have more requirements (even though I think most dental schools offer minimal training to become great dentists and no dental school gives you "too much training"), but that looking at school requirements is a great way to compare schools.
 
tooth decay said:
I challenge any dental student to tell us that his or her dental school does not claim to have a great clinical program. Why would anyone want to go a school that does not excel in clinical dentistry? Even the good research institutions will tell you they provide great clinical training.
Click to expand...

well said. I think Denticized is spending too much time in the pre-dental forum - I completely disagree with Dent'd comments.
 
psiyung said:
I completely disagree. How many times do you need to prep a crown to become efficient (efficient enough to seat a decent restoration)? How many preps do you need to do to place a decent composite restoration? These procedures are not rocket science, and yet we spend so much time in clinic and lab wasting our time, that we really miss out on a lot of things that we should rather be learning. Implants, impacted third molars, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, alveolectomies, and last but not least, gum gardening :D
Click to expand...

how many?? a lot more than i thought prior to starting dental school. i hear what you're saying about more time to focus on your interests, but be cautious of dumbing down these procedures. especially if they are not by the book cases. i remember my first 10 crowns at least were completely unique cases and the preparation, tx rationale and exected outcome was different. including a over-erupted molar, a captek, two centrals during/after crown lengthening, increasing the bite by doing opposing gold crowns, cerec, etc etc.
 
agreed. thats is exactly what i am talking about. its not just a matter of the procedure (which can vary wildly), its also a matter of learning your materials and how they work and dont work. impression material and technique, double or single cord, whole arch or triple tray, what kind of crown; which composite, bonded in with what, how to finish and polish it, etc....its rarely as simple as drill and fill...
 
Arizona has a great clinical education. They spend 6-7 months their senior year working in community health centers or hospital locations, where they'll typically see 8-15 patients a day. At many of these sites students do 40-50 restorations, 15-20 units of crown and bridge, 2-3 dentures, and 100-120 extractions in a month. I feel that those experiences bolstered my confidence and clinical skills far more than anything I did in our dental school clinic.
 
S Files said:
how many?? a lot more than i thought prior to starting dental school. i hear what you're saying about more time to focus on your interests, but be cautious of dumbing down these procedures. especially if they are not by the book cases. i remember my first 10 crowns at least were completely unique cases and the preparation, tx rationale and exected outcome was different. including a over-erupted molar, a captek, two centrals during/after crown lengthening, increasing the bite by doing opposing gold crowns, cerec, etc etc.
Click to expand...

Those cases are pretty common at any dental school. We got most of the worst cases out there because of our low fees. :) :)
 
psiyung said:
We have a whole ****ing appointment on border molding here. "Border Molding":(
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear that. I've known dozen of dentists graduated from your school. Every time I mentioned about your school during our conversation, I would always hear the hatred tone in their voice. :( :(
 
ItsGavinC said:
Arizona has a great clinical education. They spend 6-7 months their senior year working in community health centers or hospital locations, where they'll typically see 8-15 patients a day. At many of these sites students do 40-50 restorations, 15-20 units of crown and bridge, 2-3 dentures, and 100-120 extractions in a month. I feel that those experiences bolstered my confidence and clinical skills far more than anything I did in our dental school clinic.
Click to expand...


wow. With the exception of dentures, back when I went to dent school, my clinical requirements for the entire 3rd and 4th yrs were about 1/4 of what you listed above.
 
psiyung said:
Implants, impacted third molars, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, alveolectomies, and last but not least, gum gardening :D
Click to expand...

Oral conscious sedation and IV sedation are out of the scope of dental school. There is no way proper training for those treatment modalities could take place in a dental school setting.
 
I may just be a pre-dent and dont have any real knowledge of what clincal requirements are at schools...but I remember talking to the Dean of one of schools I applied to. I asked him about clinical requirements...he said that he can't give those to me b/c he doest know...that the school not really have "set" requirements b/c the field is always changing..certain procedures become more prominent at certain times. He told me that he would be very skeptical about a school that said you have to X amount of this and Y amount of that so many years in advance...not to say these schools are good, but that it's a little odd to have set requirements. I mean when we (class of '11) get into clinics...the requirements will more than likely be different than they are now at ur future school. Basically...from what I've gathered...no matter where you go to school your skills are minimal when you are done...how far you want to go is on you. You may be licensed to practice..but it doesnt really matter all that much b/c the vast majority of your education is going to come from post dschool experiences. So just dont really worry about what school is best "clinically" or where you get to do the most b/c its probably going to change anyway. I mean, a lot of schools have outside programs where you go to under represented areas and work with people ( think someone above mentioned this about ASDOH). So you do get exposure beyond the clinics of your school. Dont stress yet...just enjoy the ride! :D
 
most important questions:
-are students fighting over chair time, or do they have a dedicated chair for them in the clinic(s). or do they share with 1,2,3,4 people?? apparently at some schools they have to wait in line-ups to secure a chair.
-is there any pressure on them to recruit patients? are student paying for any of the procedures because they have no patients?

i was shocked to hear on sdn that students on here have paid for a denture for their patient, etc etc. unbelievable. it's the schools responsibility to provide a chair and a patient.
 
are you kidding me, UCLA? you are soooo off!!! UCLA is located in Westwood, a very nice area of LA where there is such a small patient pool. I had a few friends graduate from there not ever having done a RCT on a patient, only on extracted teeth.. Although, I do have sooo much bad stuff to say about SC I must admit that our clinical experiences are not comprable to UCLA's even though we wish it were run better. We are required to do about 26-30 crowns, including at least one 3-unit bridge, 125 operative's, etc..
 
capisce? said:
Oral conscious sedation and IV sedation are out of the scope of dental school. There is no way proper training for those treatment modalities could take place in a dental school setting.
Click to expand...




At USC, you could be one of ten students a year that gets special training with Dr. Malamed in IV sedation. pretty cool, but takes a lot of your time and requires being at school superearly sometimes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

M
UF clinical experience
Replies
4
Views
697
D1Bound
D1Bound
UTHSCSA_OMS
NOW HIRING: Oral Surgery Clinical Instructor / Intern
Replies
0
Views
593
UTHSCSA_OMS
UTHSCSA_OMS
O
best resources for CBSE
Replies
7
Views
2K
roadtodmd1
R
B
Has anyone ever not graduated due to clinical requirements
Replies
3
Views
1K
OncePreDent
OncePreDent
J
Dental schools that earn the most vs the least off of their clinical students
Replies
9
Views
2K
P7898
P
Top