Book Learning vs. Clinical Work

[derekdomino]

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Could I please get feedback on which dental schools have the least book learning and the most clinical work, especially early on. I.e., which schools get you into the clinic (simulation or otherwise) within the first year? Which schools bog you down with classroom work?

Thanks!

 

[somethinpositiv]

Could I please get feedback on which dental schools have the least book learning and the most clinical work, especially early on. I.e., which schools get you into the clinic (simulation or otherwise) within the first year? Which schools bog you down with classroom work?

Thanks!

Sounds like you hate books and reading. Haha books, what an archaic concept.. Boston University eliminates textbooks, and has DVDs instead. Sounds like that's the school for you! Might be a place where you don't not need to read real good.

 

[mamelons]

I think most schools focus on mostly didactic work during the first year with the exception of a few schools. Schools are required to teach the didactics -- anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, histology, microbiology, and pathology because they are covered on the boards.

At San Antonio we take biochemistry, gross anatomy, and histology in the first semester with some other courses - biomaterials, radiology, ethics, community dentistry, things like that. Then in the spring semester the major courses are microbiology, physiology, pharmacology, periodontics, cariology, etc. I know they are working on making the curriculum a little different, i.e. moving courses to different semesters, combining some courses, etc. Dental Anatomy and Occlusion is a year long course.

Currently, in second year I have general pathology, fixed pros, complete pros, RPD -- starts in November, periodontics 2, evidence-based dentistry, operative, just finished nutrition, finish radiology this week, finish nitrous this week as well, we also have growth and development, local anesthesia and medical emergencies, etc. Our preclinic courses carry over into the spring, and we have oral pathology, endodontics, oral surgery, etc. Second year is largely preclinic. We do have rotations where we get to do injections and other things. But we really don't get into the clinic until July after 2nd year.

 

[DSpagnoli]

Could I please get feedback on which dental schools have the least book learning and the most clinical work, especially early on. I.e., which schools get you into the clinic (simulation or otherwise) within the first year? Which schools bog you down with classroom work?

Thanks!

It's going to be impossible to avoid bookwork in dental school...but there are some schools that integrate more clinical/preclinic experience into the first two years.

At Temple, our first year consists of both didactic and preclinic/clinic work. To give you an idea, it has only been 3 weeks and we have already waxed up crowns using casting wax- we just had a practical on full wax up of #6. Most of us have moved onto the max. 1st molar waxing, and next up are projects where we will be tested on other restorative procedures. The first day we were in the pre-clinic using casting wax, instead of hard wax for full contour carving (what most schools make you start with). The 2nd day of orientation we all had to bust open our own $8,000 dental instrument kit. We already have high-speed/slow speed handpieces - so suffice to say that Temple works at a very fast pre-clinic and clinical pace. Other schools like Case, Creighton, ect do the same thing.

We are already interacting with patients in preventive clinic (after 3 weeks 1st year). If you want to come out being an experienced clinician, a better match will be a school that has high clinical requirements. Schools that see a lot of patients per year are the ones that usually can provide you with the largest variety of procedures. I have friends in other dental schools where they don't start doing class I -II restorations until their 3rd year...those are typically the schools that focus on only bookwork the first 2 years. Typically, those schools are great if you are looking to specialize or go into research/academics (usually they don't have the patient volume per year that 'clinical schools' do).