Dental lab experience

[fenderdude]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I've been working at a dental lab for the past 6 months and I was just curious to how many predents actually get that experience. Mainly I'm trying to get an idea of how unique it is, and how much I should focus on it in my essays.

 

[doc toothache]

I've been working at a dental lab for the past 6 months and I was just curious to how many predents actually get that experience. Mainly I'm trying to get an idea of how unique it is, and how much I should focus on it in my essays.

Mention it in passing.

 

[Pat Kelly]

it's not that unique.. what's the difference between a dental lab and a biochemistry lab anyways? Unless you meant labs where you make impressions and others instead of a research lab.

 

[eminent1217]

I've been working at a dental lab for the past 6 months and I was just curious to how many predents actually get that experience. Mainly I'm trying to get an idea of how unique it is, and how much I should focus on it in my essays.

I am curious about this too. I am working at Dental Lab for more than 120hours now, since this lab requires lots of hand skills, it would be helpful.

 

[haisha ni narou]

my philosophy is to use everything you can. So use it!

 

[fenderdude]

it's not that unique.. what's the difference between a dental lab and a biochemistry lab anyways? Unless you meant labs where you make impressions and others instead of a research lab.

Yeah it is a lab that makes the crowns for dentists with the impression they send in. Specifically I work with the all-ceramic Lava crowns. It requires a knowledge of anatomy and a lot of manual dexterity.

 

[dent2009]

I've been working at a dental lab for the past 6 months and I was just curious to how many predents actually get that experience. Mainly I'm trying to get an idea of how unique it is, and how much I should focus on it in my essays.

I think it's relatively unique to have that experience and you'd be one, if not several steps ahead of the students. But if you don't back that up with good grades/DATs, there's really no point. If you don't have the brains to make it through dental school, i'm sure adcoms could care less if you know the dental anatomy inside out and have amazing manual dexterity.

 

[i like dat]

it's not that unique.. what's the difference between a dental lab and a biochemistry lab anyways? Unless you meant labs where you make impressions and others instead of a research lab.

wow... don't be that guy.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

wow... don't be that guy.

Dental lab experience = money!

seriously, its more useful than shadowing..doing build-ups and pontics and all that stuff will give you an edge on all the other dental students in your class. you do so much lab work in dental school from what ive heard, so the more exposure the better. I think the experience is unique..i haven't heard of anyone with thorough lab experience before, so that's awesome. We dont have an in-house lab in my office, so i just do minor lab work like welding seagull cleats, TPA attachments, bonded lingual retainers etc..so i would have mad respect for the stuff you do..moreso than someone that just follows a dentist around and watches them do things. keep it up.

ps..if dentistry doesnt work out, im definitely going into Lab work..i just learned today that my office alone sent one of our lab guys $10,000 worth of work (after taxes) for the month of july..and the overhead costs are pretty low.

 

[i like dat]

Dental lab experience = money!

seriously, its more useful than shadowing..doing build-ups and pontics and all that stuff will give you an edge on all the other dental students in your class. you do so much lab work in dental school from what ive heard, so the more exposure the better. I think the experience is unique..i haven't heard of anyone with thorough lab experience before, so that's awesome. We dont have an in-house lab in my office, so i just do minor lab work like welding seagull cleats, TPA attachments, bonded lingual retainers etc..so i would have mad respect for the stuff you do..moreso than someone that just follows a dentist around and watches them do things. keep it up.

ps..if dentistry doesnt work out, im definitely going into Lab work..i just learned today that my office alone sent one of our lab guys $10,000 worth of work (after taxes) for the month of july..and the overhead costs are pretty low.

I know I work in a lab. I was referring to Pat kelly not even knowing what an impression is. At the lab i work for we bill out between 3 and 5 grand a day and there are only 7 employees including the owner.

 

[Pat Kelly]

I know I work in a lab. I was referring to Pat kelly not even knowing what an impression is. At the lab i work for we bill out between 3 and 5 grand a day and there are only 7 employees including the owner.

I guess I shouldn't have typoed 'into' to "and", but since you know so much about dentistry I should just accept your verbal smackdown.

 

[pntbutter]

I think this is a huge plus for both your app and your journey through school. Developing a new skill, especially one that requires much detail requires a lot of practice (long hours in lab, remakes, etc) so exposing yourself to it beforehand will help you out a lot. Also it will show admissions that you have the manual dexterity needed in dentistry.

 

[DentistRob]

It's definitely worth mentioning. I wouldn't make that your main focus, but definitely mention it. In my interviews last year, my student interviewers especially talked about how useful it would be in dental school, because they were having to do their own lab work. I worked in a lab 1.5 years. Definite plus.