courses in undergrad that will benefit me?

[Smooth Operater]

Hello guys! Since everyone here is saying Dental adcoms accept any undergrad degree as long I finish the pre-req's before I apply, I am planning to pursue an Intergrated Science degree offered by my university in Canada. The degree is very unique because I am able to pick any higher level science courses I want and intergrate them into a major. For instance, I am planning to intergrate Biochem, physiology, and anatonmy. So, I will be taking courses related to these areas.

For the current dental students, what courses should I take in order to better prepare or perhapes getting ahead in basic sciences for dental schools?

I know many of you would recommend microbiology. But my university offered wide range of microbio courses ranged from microbial ecology to immunology. What kinda of microbiology courses are more revelent to what I will be studying in dental school?




Hope some of current dental students can give me advice!ThankS!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[45540]

Microbial Ecology and Pathology if your school offers it. As far as anatomy goes, most aren't that useful unless it's human anatomy, comparative wasn't much use to me.

The classes that have helped my first year were: Biochemistry, Histology, Neuroanatomy, Physiology, Molecular Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Second Year supposedly: Microbiology, Toxicology, Pathology, and Embryology are supposed to help.

At least at UT from what I've heard from upper classmen I went to undergrad with.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

Hello guys! Since everyone here is saying Dental adcoms accept any undergrad degree as long I finish the pre-req's before I apply, I am planning to pursue an Intergrated Science degree offered by my university in Canada. The degree is very unique because I am able to pick any higher level science courses I want and intergrate them into a major. For instance, I am planning to intergrate Biochem, physiology, and anatonmy. So, I will be taking courses related to these areas.

For the current dental students, what courses should I take in order to better prepare or perhapes getting ahead in basic sciences for dental schools?

I know many of you would recommend microbiology. But my university offered wide range of microbio courses ranged from microbial ecology to immunology. What kinda of microbiology courses are more revelent to what I will be studying in dental school?




Hope some of current dental students can give me advice!ThankS!!

You seem to post in the Caribbean med forums, as well as the optometry forums a lot....are you sure you wanna do dentistry, cause going from your previous posts, it seems that you only are going into the profession for the cash, and you'll probably just end up miserable...

 

[Smooth Operater]

Hello Dr. Badvibe. I don't recall posting anything on the Carribean forum. I tried to search for my own name and found 0 posting on the Carribean fourm. But yes, I posted on optometry forum alot. In fact, it was my research on optometry that led me to SDN. I have a dream to own a private health practice one day, and thought optometry would be a great career to pursue first place. I understand that optometry,medicine, and dentistry will provide me the opportunity to have my own private practice. But thoughout these couple years of soul seeking and talking to people, I feel dentistry best suits my personality. I just recently found out how much I enjoy working with hands in labs after taking various chemistry lab courses.

Money is one of reasons that I choose dentistry. I can't deny it, but certainly not the top reason. I expect to get some some financial return after my dental education. What do I want to do with the $? I really want to go on mission trips like a dentist I know who go on 6 mission trips each year to help those who can't afford getting their teeth fixed? And why does he have the money and time to go on that many mission trips? Because he own a successful private practice here in Vancouver.

It's kinda sad to see that Canadian dental adcom weight heavily on GPA, and not many people talk about going on dental missions. Many people in my pre-dent clubs are really smart, but they pursue dentistry b/c it provides promising life style and financial security. When the dentist who goes on 6 missions each year came and talked about his mission experience to our pre-dent members, many of them showed no interests in it.

With my current grade, I will most likely end up in US dental schools. So, I know the debt that I will accumulate. If I just want to be rich, there are better means for me to pursue the $. I may be naive right now, but I don't see there are any other better career that I choose. I am planning to pursue a intergrate science degree b/c it will allocate more of my time on doing coummunity service even though Canadian adcom don't really care about volunteering experiences. But I don't just want to be a dentist with good business sense. I don't want my patients to visit my practice just b/c I have the newest technology/equipments and big advertisement. I want them to come b/c of my character and my dental skill. Again, I may be naive, but that's my philosophy.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

good answer

 

[Smooth Operater]

Any more current Dental students are willing to give suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[Smooth Operater]

Would you guys say Biochemistry is a large part of your dental science curriculum besides Microbiology?

How about Genetics? Is it a big part of the curriculum?

Do you guys actually learn about human nutrition ?


Thanks for answering my concerns.

 

[45540]

Biochemistry is a pretty big class the first year, and it's covered on the boards; Genetics is pretty much incorporated within biochem. Human nutrition is spread throughout other courses.

 

[Smooth Operater]

Hey guys! I have decided to integrate biochem/anatomy/food nutrition. I will be taking the courses listed below as my core courses to make up my major. Which courses below are not related to any courses you are taking in dental schools? And what other courses would you recommend?




ANAT 390 Introduction to Microscopic Human Anatomy:
Organ system development, structure and function at the microscopic level.

ANAT 391 Introduction to Gross Human Anatomy
Structure and function of body regions at the macroscopic level.

BIOC 302 General Biochemistry
Metabolic reactions of lipids, steroids, amino acids and nucleotides; the biochemistry of replication, transcription and translation.

BIOC 402 Proteins: Structure and Function
Structural components of proteins, classification by primary, secondary and tertiary structure, protein chemistry and purification, peptide and protein synthesis by chemical means and three-dimensional structure determination using X-ray diffraction and NMR.

BIOC 403 201 Enzymology
Kinetic analysis, catalytic mechanisms, transition state stabilization and regulation of activity, strategies for active site characterization and case studies of well-documented enzyme systems.

FNH 355 World Problems in Nutrition
Conceptualization and scientific analyses of global problems in food and nutrition; complexities of food habits and malnutrition in various cultures around the world.

FNH 350 Fundamentals of Nutrition
Fundamentals of energy and macronutrient metabolism.

FNH 470 Nutrition and Disease
The role of nutrition and the application of therapeutic diets in the prevention, etiology, and treatment of gastrointestinal complications/disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.