Dental School years 3/4

[hs2013]

I am not the biggest fan of school and bookwork and such but I do want to be a dentist. And while I know years 1/2 of dental school are crazy tough and filled with non-stop exams and loads of material, are years 3/4 pretty relaxed? I mean from what I hear there really isn't much class work and exams and such and it is all about improving your skill practicing on actual patients... right?

While I see that years 3/4 can still be stressful meeting requirements and performing actual dentistry... I wouldn't mind that compared to years 1/2 being all about having information thrown at you constantly and having to regurgitate it back on a piece of paper.

The reason I ask is because when I look at the education I have left, 1 or 2 more years of undergrad plus 2 years of dental school bookwork meaning 3 or 4 years of typical lecture style education doesn't seem so bad when years 3/4 of dental school are just about practicing dentistry...

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[DentalLonghorn2014]

You should probably ask this in the "Dental" forum. I mean, what do a bunch of pre-dents know right? lol

But to answer one of your questions, years 1 and 2 are all about the basic sciences with some preclinical exposure (it depends on the school).

 

[kidsaremypassion]

I am not the biggest fan of school and bookwork and such but I do want to be a dentist. And while I know years 1/2 of dental school are crazy tough and filled with non-stop exams and loads of material, are years 3/4 pretty relaxed? I mean from what I hear there really isn't much class work and exams and such and it is all about improving your skill practicing on actual patients... right?

While I see that years 3/4 can still be stressful meeting requirements and performing actual dentistry... I wouldn't mind that compared to years 1/2 being all about having information thrown at you constantly and having to regurgitate it back on a piece of paper.

The reason I ask is because when I look at the education I have left, 1 or 2 more years of undergrad plus 2 years of dental school bookwork meaning 3 or 4 years of typical lecture style education doesn't seem so bad when years 3/4 of dental school are just about practicing dentistry...

If there is anything I can say, its that 3rd and 4th year is when you really hit the ground running in clinic. While I don't know what school you attend, and how clinic is set up, definetely try your best to learn as much and do as much as you can in clinic. Also, depending on your future aspirations, specializing/GPR/AEGD, 3rd year is also the time to start browsing around and finding out more about these programs. The exams dramatically decreased from 3rd to 4 th year , but the stress is just..different..

 

[ktran17]

The common misconception about year 1 and 2 of dental school is that it's all basic sciences. This is not true at all, maybe for your first year, even then you'll still be exposed to a lot of clinically relevant classes. The first year at my school has the "true" basic science classes like histology, dental anatomy, biochem, neuroscience, physio, etc in addition your dental classes like operative and prosthodontics. However, second year's didactic classes are actually a lot more clinically relevant. Pharmacology, pathology, oral pathology, clinical radiology, anesthesia etc. in addition to more dental classes.

As you can see, you just have to get through the first year. From then on, almost everything is clinically relevant which makes thing a lot easier to study!

Some schools might not have a similar schedule though.

 

[hs2013]

The common misconception about year 1 and 2 of dental school is that it's all basic sciences. This is not true at all, maybe for your first year, even then you'll still be exposed to a lot of clinically relevant classes. The first year at my school has the "true" basic science classes like histology, dental anatomy, biochem, neuroscience, physio, etc in addition your dental classes like operative and prosthodontics. However, second year's didactic classes are actually a lot more clinically relevant. Pharmacology, pathology, oral pathology, clinical radiology, anesthesia etc. in addition to more dental classes.

As you can see, you just have to get through the first year. From then on, almost everything is clinically relevant which makes thing a lot easier to study!

Some schools might not have a similar schedule though.

That's nice to hear because I think the one thing that makes undergrad such a drag so is I have no interest in the sciences I am learning about and they have no relevancy to dentistry really. Like I could care less about learning things at molecular level or some colligative property formula I will never use, etc....

 

[customx]

Take a look at these schedules for MWU-AZ: it doesn't look too strenuous, but what do I know? haha. D3 and D4 you are in clinic almost all day, every day, hopefully getting as much experience as possible

https://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Curriculums/Dental 14 class of 2018.pdf
https://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Fall/DM I FA 14(3).pdf D1 weekly schedule
https://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Fall/DM II FA 14(0).pdf D2 weekly schedule
https://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Fall/DM III FA 14.pdf D3 weekly schedule
https://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Fall/DM IV FA 14.pdf D4 weekly schedule

 

[akog]

Having spoken to a few current UAB students, they all seem to claim that years 1 and 3 are the hardest for them.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-difficult-is-dental-school.984597/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-difficult-is-ds-part-ii-schedules-year-1-4.985933/

 

[superluminal]

Youtube has a few videos of D3 and D4 students talking about their day to day school activities.

 

[toothexplore]

Would I rather be in clinic performing real dentistry, getting real experience rather than studying and taking exams?
yes...
If I've had an awful week with no sleep though, I'd rather be dozing off in lecture than busting my ass treating patients.

 

[Greyangel6]

If you're so afraid of studying, how can you get through the didactic years? I tend to think of it as a tool. Even if a class is irrelevant to dentistry, I might hate it with a passion and not even doing well in it, I think it still helps to develop/tweak my learning skills in different ways so I will be more prepared for dental school, post-doc, life, etc.

 

[jmh018]

At Iowa you start in the clinic with rotations in preventive and operative all year as a D2. You do three cleanings on patients in May of your D1 year. Third year is split into two sections. One is rotations through some specialties and the other half is called super block. Super block is the most intense time in school. It is 6 months long. The most time consuming part is pros because we have to do the majority of our own lab work. During the pros rotation we have been told that there are plenty of nights that you stay in the lab until around 11:00pm. I am a D2 so I don't know everything about it yet. 4th year though you have a set of patients and you provide all of their treatment. That year is supposed to be more relaxed.

 

[THS]

Here are the classes we take in each year, and you can decide. I'm sure it is similar in other schools. While D3s have less didactic classes, they spend like 70% of their time in the clinic, and have to do all of their own lab work, no referring out until 4th year. But if this helps, D4s are the only ones I see smiling, so it must be better.

D1:
Biochemistry, Gross Anatomy, Dental Morphology, Evidence-Based Dentistry, Professional Development, Radiology, Infectious Disease Control, Cariology, Oral Diagnosis, Preventative Dentistry, Operative, General Histology, Assisting, Microbiology & Immunology, Physiology, Occlusion, Oral Histology, General Pathology, Axium Training, Grand Rounds

D2:
Pain Control, Oral Pathology, Pharmacology, Dental Materials, Professional Development, Dentures, Treatment Planning, Internal Medicine, Diagnostic Radiology, Perio, Pre-clinic, Operative, Clinic, Oral Surgery, Implants, Removable Partial Dentures, Preclinical Endo, Occlusal Equilibration, Pediatric Dentistry, Fixed Prosth, Ortho, Assisting, Literature Review, Grand Rounds.

D3:
Ortho, Radiology, Implants, Oral Medicine, Preclinical Esthetics, Removable Prosth, Removable Partial Dentures, CAD/CAM, Operative, Fixed Prosth, Pediatric, Infection Control, TMD, Advanced Oral Surgery & Rotation, Intermediate Periodontics, Pain Control, Clinic, Professional Development, Differential Diagnosis, Oral Oncology, Axium Training, Electives, Grand Rounds.

D4:
95% Clinic, Advanced Endo, Pain Control, Professional Development, Advanced Treatment Planning,

 

[DentalDoge]

That's nice to hear because I think the one thing that makes undergrad such a drag so is I have no interest in the sciences I am learning about and they have no relevancy to dentistry really. Like I could care less about learning things at molecular level or some colligative property formula I will never use, etc....

The intro science plays quite a big role in our understanding of basic sciences. You can't fully understand the relative topics until you've mastered the intro courses aka the pre reqs. Science is a game of building blocks. You dont get through dental school by neglecting the important, theoretical bits. How do you expect to practice evidence based dentistry when you don't understand the evidence?

But then there's always cram and forget, if that's your thing.

 

[LaughingGas]

It probably depends whether you want to sound dumb when you talk to your associates/colleagues/patients or not.