Dental school toxic?

Started by D1Bound
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D1Bound

D1Bound

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Is it just me or is dental school extremely toxic? Administration, certain faculty, patients that don’t care to show up to appointments, that don’t value your services, etc. So many people think they’re godlike dentists when they probably were very average or terrible with the public outside of school. I will miss some friends. I will never miss dental school. It’s not what I thought it would be.
 
D1Bound said:
Is it just me or is dental school extremely toxic? Administration, certain faculty, patients that don’t care to show up to appointments, that don’t value your services, etc. So many people think they’re godlike dentists when they probably were very average or terrible with the public outside of school. I will miss some friends. I will never miss dental school. It’s not what I thought it would be.
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It really is. I felt like the administration and some faculty hated students. Worse, as a dental student you are treating the most difficult patient population that tend to have social and economic issues. I think what makes it uniquely bad is that most of the financial and logistic issues around patient care are handled by the students.
 
D1Bound said:
Is it just me or is dental school extremely toxic?
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1st and 2nd year didn't feel like that. Maybe competitive in classes and preclinical with some peeps.
3rd and 4th year depending on which group you were assigned to. I was in a less than ideal one and the last two were not as enjoyable. Miss the bonding with classmates but not the lifestyle.
D1Bound said:
So many people think they’re godlike dentists when they probably were very average or terrible with the public outside of school.
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I think that was the biggest misconception in dental school. We had those successful dentists that found their fortune in decades earlier but out of touch with modern graduates needs (debt, competition, start up costs, etc). One thing they never taught us which I think is a dis-service is the business of dentistry. All clinical focus but not teaching us how much "sales, marketing, production, management" there is in private practice.
 
I think every school is different. Some schools are better than others and might have a better patient population or better faculty members.

One thing I noticed while touring schools is that every school has a different culture; some are more laid-back and friendly, whereas others are very intense.

Edit: Also reading posts on these forms too. Some programs are extremely supportive & understanding, and other programs, sound like they want the students to fail or make their lives as difficult as possible lol
 
D1Bound said:
Is it just me or is dental school extremely toxic? Administration, certain faculty, patients that don’t care to show up to appointments, that don’t value your services, etc. So many people think they’re godlike dentists when they probably were very average or terrible with the public outside of school. I will miss some friends. I will never miss dental school. It’s not what I thought it would be.
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it is very toxic.
gpr is even more toxic to the level you think your school was a sanctuary
 
"Perio" is a tremendous and tragic waste as a dental student. I did more cleanings third year of dental school than I have done or will do in the entire remainder of my career. This time could have and should have been spent teaching me more useful and valuable things. I get hygiene checks will be a part of almost any general practice but come the F on.
 
I don’t know how your dental school is, but I can not complain about my school. We have a lot of patients, I don’t have to go out of my way looking for patients, all my professors treat us with great respect and whenever you need help with something or a question they’re always available to sit chair side with me and show how they do things and correct what I can make it better. They answer our questions pretty quickly. Maybe I am just lucky, but I must admit that we do have a lot of requisites, a lot of exams, presentations, community service hours, recalls, but the staff makes everything smooth. I don’t know if this helps but I am just putting out a different perspective from somebody who goes to a different dental school. Take care.
 
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