CE courses during dental schools?

[Meggs]

Are students in US dental schools required to attend CE courses/lectures?

Thanks.

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[grimace]

At UNC we are but they are free and are easy to get credits.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I don't think dental students are required to obtain CE (except for at certain schools).

Certainly, going to CE while in dental school IS a good thing to do, especially when you realize that most CE courses will let you attend free or at a substantially lower rate (such as $20 instead of $250).

In fact, if you let the course director know you are a dental students, sometimes they'll let you help with the event (such as handing out nametags) and you'll get to listen to the speakers for free.

 

[Meggs]

Thanks guys.

 

[gryffindor]

As an ASDA member, you can attend many dental meetings for free or very reduced fees (like less than $50) and attend many of the courses at that meeting for free. These meetings include the ADA annual session (in San Francisco this year), the Greater New York Dental Meeting (New York City) - an AWESOME meeting), the Yankee Dental Congress (Boston) and many others.

CE courses are sorta required at our school. We have to attend the Greater Niagara Dental Meeting later this week and we are required to attend at least 1 course each day and complete the CE form at the end. This is a way for them to check attendance and make us learn something since the school paid for our admission fees to the meeting. The selection of lectures at this meeting, however, pales in comparison to the meetings I mentioned above.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I'll throw in my 2 cents (again) by saying that CE courses can be really cool, or a huge waste of time.

You really have to weigh the content in order to get the most out of the course. Often, the lecturer is merely marketing crap to the dentists. This is sometimes easily seen because a product manufacturer is actually the one paying the lecturer. Other times it's more difficult to decipher.

That isn't to say that product placement is all bad, there ARE certain products available that are of great value to our profession, but the actual content of the lecture should speak volumes about the "continuing education" that we're receiving.

 

[mmapcpro]

I've been to lots of dental meetings as an exhibitor. They are often held at expensive hotels. If the meetings are held over 3-4 days, is the student required to come up with $200/day for a room? I imagine 2 students would share the room, but this could get a little tight for a student on a financial aid budget.

 

[gryffindor]

mmacpro - The registration fee for students is greatly reduced to attend these meetings. The student would have to pay for all other expenses like transportation and travel.

But if the meeting is in the student's hometown, then those expenses are nonexistent. So the student should attend the meeting if they have time or, like our school, if the school mandates you attend (although our Buffalo- Niagara Dental Meeting is WEAK and relatively unintersting).

Or, you can convince your Dean to let you attend the meeting on the school's tab as a school representative. Three of us were able to attend the Greater New York Dental Meeting b/c we were competing in the table clinics, and our dean agreed to pay for our flights and let us stay in downtown Manhattan for one night. That meeting was AWESOME and I definitely want to attend it again, even if I have to pay my own way next time (b/c I'll be a real dentist by then!)

That said, I agree with Gavin. I don't have time to take in anything they teach in the CE courses or to put up with the ones that are 6 hour long product pitches. B/c even if the lecture was real clinically applicable, you probably aren't allowed to do any of the stuff they are teaching you in the lecture at the dental school clinics, and a person like me isn't likely to retain anything unless I'm required to use it.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Ask your school if they will cover your expenses.

Our entire class has the option of attending a 3 day conference that is coming up, and the school is willing to pay the board and travel expenses for all of us.