CRDTS anyone?

[Dentoman]

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Hi I'm looking for any helpful info on the CRDTS exam .
Is there some kind of special courses you can take to prepare better for this exam?

 

[Dentoman]

Come on people there must be someone here with some CRDTS experience!

 

[DrRob]

I took CRDTs in May 2002 and passed. No prep course, just mock boards at dental school. Restorative (amalgam, composite, endo and crown preps) graders were fair, even leniant. Perio was a nightmare for those who took it the second day.

All in all it wasn't that bad an experience, plenty of time to finish everything, I think I even finished an hour and a half early.

 

[Dentoman]

Thanx Dr Rob for replying. If you can clarify some points for me I will be very grateful
Now i keep hearing u gotta get patients with very minimum lesions coz if it turns out in the exam that the caries is somewhat deep you may fail and i dont understand why! so what if caries is deep? you just excavate it and restore it whats the big deal? isnt that real life?!
And what exactly was the problem in the perio section??
It seems that perio should be straight forward some measurments and scaling & root planing.
And one more thing: apart from friends and family how do you go about finding suitable patients for the exam if your not currently in a dental school?...thats my biggest dilemma!

 

[DrRob]

Lesions must be to the DEJ, if your prep extends beyond Ideal you must get permission to do so and if you have a pulpal exposure you must anticipate it and let the floor instructor know that you may have a pulpal exposure. Preps that extend beyond ideal, must be based to ideal.

Someone in my class passed with a pulpal exposure, but another failed because the examiners said that the exposure was "well managed, but unnecessary."

Both my lesions were ideal, only to the DEJ and my class 3 I don't even think was to the dej, but the examiner let it slide.

Getting px is difficult, if you know someone in dental school get them to help, or if you know any practicing dentist they may be able to help you.

I think the problem with perio is that the examiners don't even know how to detect calculus effectively and that the subjectiveness of how you tilt the probe. All I know is that when I took the exam everyone who had perio the first day did well, but those on the second day nearly all failed the section - but still passed the exam.

 

[Meggs]

Dr Rob, why some people have perio one day and some have the next day?
does the student gets to choose the order or the examiners do?

It's just that I'm not familiar with these exams, so...
Thanks ahead🙂

 

[DrRob]

The Exam is broken into 3 days and I think students/Dr.'s are assigned in 6 groups. Day 1 Prosthodontic examination and 3 groups go first and then the 2nd 3 groups go.

Day 2 - half of the groups do the mannequin portion - 2 crown preps and the endo

The other half of the groups do the patient portion - operative and perio (you are assigned what time you can do the perio at but you can do any of the operative procedures in your time slot.

Day 3 - Basically, its just the opposite of day 2. Except at 5 pm everyone heads to the bar!

 

[Dentoman]

I appreciate the info Dr Rob.
Now considering having a dental assistant with you in the CRDTS exam, is it mandatory? and if it's not, can you actually take the exam without the help of a dental assistant? and how advisable would that be?

 

[DrRob]

I would have an assistant - you can use a first or second year dental student; it will be cheaper that way. You want someone who will clean up for you so you can have a quick bite to eat in between patients. Make sure the assistant is familiar with Osha regulations and meet with them ahead of time to give them your expectations.

I paid my assistant 250 dollars - a little pricey, but I had a px who could only speak spanish, so I needed a spanish assistant. Most students will do it for 100 dollars or less.