Best schools for super GP (general practice)

[PrimeDDS]

Hey guys, I really want to become a General dentist that can do many complicate procedures. I was accepted in these schools and I was wondering which would help me best to become what people in sdn call "super GP"
U Maryland
Boston University
NYU
UPenn
I've heard that students can actually place implants and have a really good clinical experience at BU, especially with their digital dentistry and CEREC. Is that true? Is that the same for NYU?

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[Ivy.ch]

Go to the cheapest of those schools, then use the saved money to learn your 'super' stuff afterwards - I don't think the school you're imagining exists - it's something you have to pursue afterwards. Dental schools give you the basics (and some don't even give you all that).

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

Literally everyone with life experience as a dentist or current student at an expensive (or otherwise) school: "GO TO THE CHEAPEST SCHOOL POSSIBLE"

Literally every predent who got into multiple schools: "I KNOW BUT WHAT ABOUT...."


TL;DR go to the cheapest school bro.

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[luisfigo]

Hand skills are not taught, they come from practice. You determine whether or not you'll be a good GP by how much effort you put in.

 

[hellopeople]

Hey guys, I really want to become a General dentist that can do many complicate procedures. I was accepted in these schools and I was wondering which would help me best to become what people in sdn call "super GP"
U Maryland
Boston University
NYU
UPenn
I've heard that students can actually place implants and have a really good clinical experience at BU, especially with their digital dentistry and CEREC. Is that true? Is that the same for NYU?

If you want to do complex procedures in the current environment I would suggest specializing. I feel like being a super GP is just a comforting idea students have that makes them feel they will be above average. Once you start practicing it becomes more clear how much more of an upward battle learning the skills will be, and more importantly how much less viable it will be given the reality of the size and composition of your patient pool. You won't have GPs feeding you patients after all.

Beyond that, like everyone else here said, go to the least expensive school (to include consideration of living expenses / regional cost of living). "Good clinical experience" is mostly just a buzz phrase for schools in my opinion. I'm not very far out and had a pretty minimally useful clinical experience in school, but I'd put my skills up against a fresh grad from the best clinical school without hesitation. Not that I'm some hot shot, just that new grads really suck at first.
One year out, it'll be a wash, and entirely up to what each student has done since graduation.

 

[free99]

CHEAPEST OPTION


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[mrdeez]

If you want to do complex procedures in the current environment I would suggest specializing. I feel like being a super GP is just a comforting idea students have that makes them feel they will be above average. Once you start practicing it becomes more clear how much more of an upward battle learning the skills will be, and more importantly how much less viable it will be given the reality of the size and composition of your patient pool. You won't have GPs feeding you patients after all.

Beyond that, like everyone else here said, go to the least expensive school (to include consideration of living expenses / regional cost of living). "Good clinical experience" is mostly just a buzz phrase for schools in my opinion. I'm not very far out and had a pretty minimally useful clinical experience in school, but I'd put my skills up against a fresh grad from the best clinical school without hesitation. Not that I'm some hot shot, just that new grads really suck at first.
One year out, it'll be a wash, and entirely up to what each student has done since graduation.

Did you do a GPR/AEGD or private practice after graduation?

 

[periopocket]

Cheapest school MR. Super GP aka Maryland...Used saved money for Molar Endo and Dental Implant CE and to buy a practice.

 

[hellopeople]

No, I didn't do a GPR or AEGD.
Though my breadth of practice would be higher if I had. I wouldn't necessarily suggest someone skip it as I did.
A quality general practice residency is different from dental school though.

Did you do a GPR/AEGD or private practice after graduation?

 

[mrdeez]

No, I didn't do a GPR or AEGD.
Though my breadth of practice would be higher if I had. I wouldn't necessarily suggest someone skip it as I did.
A quality general practice residency is different from dental school though.

Do you think jumping right into CE while practicing is just as good or better than a GPR? I’ve got a bunch of questions about this I should probably just pm you

 

[HatInTheCat]

No, I didn't do a GPR or AEGD.
Though my breadth of practice would be higher if I had. I wouldn't necessarily suggest someone skip it as I did.
A quality general practice residency is different from dental school though.

I’d like to know the same, too. As there’s a good number of folks who choose to do residencies, I’m sure there’s also a good number that chooses to go out and “work”.


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[hellopeople]

Didn't remember to respond to the other post. It's hard for me to say whether it's a good idea honestly. Looking back, I probably would have though. I think you have to be more selective though. Some seem great, others have been described as a 5th year of dental school. If I were you I would find out ahead of time what non-didactic, clinical skills you can reliably acquire and ask around to see how applicable those skills are for your typical GP with the patient population you plan to target. If those skills require specific equipment, make sure gaining access to that equipment will be realistic. It would be a lot of networking to figure it out, but I think it would be worthwhile.

Again though, I never took that path and any advice I try to give is sort of suspect.

 

[2TH MVR]

Hey guys, I really want to become a General dentist that can do many complicate procedures. I was accepted in these schools and I was wondering which would help me best to become what people in sdn call "super GP"
U Maryland
Boston University
NYU
UPenn
I've heard that students can actually place implants and have a really good clinical experience at BU, especially with their digital dentistry and CEREC. Is that true? Is that the same for NYU?

I would be surprised if all DS didn't have CEREC tech and digital dentistry. Kind of mainstream now .... isn't it? Implants? Also pretty mainstream, but highly technical with requirements for multiple specialized knowledge and experience for the IDEAL implant. I'm describing an implant to replace an anterior tooth. Abutment root divergence. Abutment position. Adequate tissue height. Adequate bone at site. Implantitis. With all the implants I've seen placed by specialists and Super GPs ....I would want the BEST TEAM of trained dentists placing an implant for an upper anterior tooth. Each RESPONSIBLE for their part.

I will also caution you that doing "complicated procedures" that border on what specialists are trained to do .... you will be judged at the specialist level if anything goes wrong. There are no graduated levels of standard of care.

Another thing is the sentiment for a specialist to bail you out if something goes wrong maybe less so depending on your relationship with that person. I've been placed into this situation many times and it is like walking a tightrope with the referring dentist and the patient. You're trying to help the dentist and the patient. Patient will always question WHY they were not sent to a specialist IN THE 1ST PLACE. What's the specialist supposed to say? "Uh .... your dentist is a SUPER GP who likes to dabble in complicated procedures ..........." In these situations ... I have to watch what I say since there is always the possibility of future litigation. So .... as you see .... quite a **** show.

Like someone posted earlier. Just learn to be an exceptional dentist with good people skills. Once you obtain that and a little time in the dental field .... then you could take CE for those complicated procedures that you like to do.

You will soon learn that in the real world .... we live in a litigious society. You have to practice SMART, capable dentistry.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

Another thing is the sentiment for a specialist to bail you out if something goes wrong maybe less so depending on your relationship with that person. I've been placed into this situation many times and it is like walking a tightrope with the referring dentist and the patient. You're trying to help the dentist and the patient. Patient will always question WHY they were not sent to a specialist IN THE 1ST PLACE. What's the specialist supposed to say? "Uh .... your dentist is a SUPER GP who likes to dabble in complicated procedures ..........." In these situations ... I have to watch what I say since there is always the possibility of future litigation. So .... as you see .... quite a **** show.

Worked for an endodontist for a while. There are some referring GPs she refused to take cases from because they ONLY sent patients where they needed to be bailed out from.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

I’m going to be a dissenting voice here. I’d go to the most expensive school. I mean, could they really charge that astronomical tuition if they weren’t the best? Looking at that $500,000+ loan balance at near a 7% interest rate must be pretty satisfying. Must make you feel like a big deal.

Big Hoss

 

[gunner4ever]

Correct answer is Midwestern AZ

 

[cloth_alert00]

no dental school makes you a "super GP" lol. Becoming a superstar dentist takes several years of CE, and thousands of hours of clinical experience. You must have realistic expectations. 4 years does not make you a star in the field, but gives you the tools to seek out more knowledge if you desire.

 

[Daurang]

Go to CHEAPEST SCHOOL!!!

 

[princeafrica]

USC

 

[BlackThought]

Dental schools primary want to graduate you and make sure you are not a danger to society.

Making you a "super GP" that does their own impacted 3rds, molar endo, ortho is not something they even remotely care about.

Attain competency first. Then deal with the "super" part.

 

[2TH MVR]

Is there such a thing as a super MD?

Dental schools primary want to graduate you and make sure you are not a danger to society.

Making you a "super GP" that does their own impacted 3rds, molar endo, ortho is not something they even remotely care about.

Attain competency first. Then deal with the "super" part.

Agree with you, but there are schools like Midwestern Arizona that seem to push the agenda on being a super GP right or wrong.

 

[shulk]

There is no dental school that can make you a super GP. There are no dental students that are super GPs, placing 1 or 2 implants or extracting 1 or 2 3rds at certain schools doesn't make you a super GP. What difference does it make that you might restore 25 crowns at school A, versus 10 at school B, when you will be restoring thousands of them after you graduate? The point is that even the most clinically meager school is good enough, all you need is to get licensed to practice dentistry and you're good. So just go to the cheapest school you can get into, as many others have said.

 

[charlestweed]

There is no dental school that can make you a super GP. There are no dental students that are super GPs, placing 1 or 2 implants or extracting 1 or 2 3rds at certain schools doesn't make you a super GP. What difference does it make that you might restore 25 crowns at school A, versus 10 at school B, when you will be restoring thousands of them after you graduate? The point is that even the most clinically meager school is good enough, all you need is to get licensed to practice dentistry and you're good. So just go to the cheapest school you can get into, as many others have said.

Exactly. Any dental school should prepare you well enough to pass the licensing board exam. And all you need is that piece of paper (a dental license) to get a job. So beside the lowest cost of attendance, the best dental school for me would be the the one that requires fewest procedures for graduation. UCLA only required the students to do 12 crowns vs 30+ crowns at the cross-town rival USC. It's a lot less stressful to find 12 patients and to go around begging for the 12 approval signatures from the instructors than when you have to do 30 crowns. Many students either had to pay for the procedures (so they could graduate on time) or had to stay 5th year to complete the requirements.

 

[Afterhoursdentist]

Hey guys, I really want to become a General dentist that can do many complicate procedures. I was accepted in these schools and I was wondering which would help me best to become what people in sdn call "super GP"
U Maryland
Boston University
NYU
UPenn
I've heard that students can actually place implants and have a really good clinical experience at BU, especially with their digital dentistry and CEREC. Is that true? Is that the same for NYU?

Temple

 

[lemoncurry]

The best you can hope to achieve when you graduate dental school is to be a competent GP. The only way to do that is to practice. See as many patients as you can. Go on as many mission trips/offsite clinics as you can. Work in the urgent care clinic as often as you can.

You're still going to be slow and unprepared for the real world when you get out. It just takes time. There's no shortcut other than lots of work.

 

[arlmay]

I would argue with your list of school choices as producing "super" general dentists. I have a mental laugh when I talk to my prestigious colleagues from xyz ivy league school who is in the hole for 2-3x more than what my "lowly" state school cost me.

 

[setdoc7]

It takes 10,000 hours of practice on live patients. Ask the Beatles, or at least Paul and Ringo.

 

[321931]

I would argue with your list of school choices as producing "super" general dentists. I have a mental laugh when I talk to my prestigious colleagues from xyz ivy league school who is in the hole for 2-3x more than what my "lowly" state school cost me.

I've never had one patient ask me where I graduated from...and they didn't even care as long as I took their insurance PPO plan.

99.9% of my patients are simple prophy/1-2 fills/1 crown type of patients day in and day out.

Go to the most affordable school period.

 

[bigstix808]

It takes 10,000 hours of practice on live patients. Ask the Beatles, or at least Paul and Ringo.

not really entirely true, as malcom gladwell would have you believe. its more on the focused practice that will make you better (read Peak: secrets from the new science of expertise) and it'll make more sense. PLENTY of docs out there doing terrible work for decades that have great personalities, but because they've had 20 yrs of experience doesn't make them better.

to the OP. go to the cheapest school. period. shadow the specialties every chance you get. think like they think. try to operate like THEY operate. or go do a prosth residency and you'll learn all kinds of crazy stuff and you'll be very well versed in working with specialties and the services they can offer. you're gonna suck right out of school. we all did no matter what we thought.

 

[321931]

not really entirely true, as malcom gladwell would have you believe. its more on the focused practice that will make you better (read Peak: secrets from the new science of expertise) and it'll make more sense. PLENTY of docs out there doing terrible work for decades that have great personalities, but because they've had 20 yrs of experience doesn't make them better.

to the OP. go to the cheapest school. period. shadow the specialties every chance you get. think like they think. try to operate like THEY operate. or go do a prosth residency and you'll learn all kinds of crazy stuff and you'll be very well versed in working with specialties and the services they can offer. you're gonna suck right out of school. we all did no matter what we thought.

Worked with new grads from east coast to west coast. All of them sucked. Some demonstrated "brain knowledge" but real world dentistry and PPO dentistry is 100% different from school dentistry.

Regarding clinical ability to actually perform, do good work, and be quick enough...everyone sucked. 1 hour for a class 2. 2-3 hours for a crown. 2-3 appointments for root canals. Couldn't get patients numb. Freaked out. Stop halfway refer out extractions. Perfs.

Go to cheapest school and get your reps in out in the real world.

 

[setdoc7]

The Beatles had talent. Clearly the docs you are describing did not. I am always hoping for the glass half full. As for doing a Prosth residency, I am unclear how you are touting going to the cheapest school (not always an option for all of the students applying) and then take on a big debt doing a 3 year Prosth post grad which are generally dental school based and charge more and higher tuition. Very very few paid Prosth residencies out there.