Do jobs care about how many procedures you've done in dental school?

[Quinque]

Just curious if employers care about # procedures new graduates have done?
As a D3 I currently see around 3 patients every other week w/ covid and curriculum set up.

So far I have done: around 10 cleanings, 15 extractions, 5 fillings and nothing else

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[TanMan]

Not in corporate. They just care that you're willing to make money.

 

[Quinque]

Not in corporate. They just care that you're willing to make money.

This is reassuring thank you

 

[TanMan]

The dental school way is almost always the wrong way. Like a hygienist with too many years of experience, it's hard to untrain bad habits. Same deal with graduating dentists who are ingrained with the wrong way of doing things. Personality, quick to learn, willingness to learn and make money... these are more important values than doing so many procedures. After I met my minimum requirements (and maybe a little unavoidable extras), I just gave (or traded procedures for my team) so everyone can graduate. Too many procedure hogs that don't think about their fellow classmates, but are too short sighted to see that dental school procedures don't matter, as long as you graduate.

 

[PerioDont]

The dental school way is almost always the wrong way. Like a hygienist with too many years of experience, it's hard to untrain bad habits. Same deal with graduating dentists who are ingrained with the wrong way of doing things. Personality, quick to learn, willingness to learn and make money... these are more important values than doing so many procedures. After I met my minimum requirements (and maybe a little unavoidable extras), I just gave (or traded procedures for my team) so everyone can graduate. Too many procedure hogs that don't think about their fellow classmates, but are too short sighted to see that dental school procedures don't matter, as long as you graduate.

absolutely love this post.

agree 100%. Most of DS is just hoops to jump through. serve your time and move on.

I was just talking today with a D1 who believed every dentist mounts a full set of models with a facebow prior to doing every single unit crown 😂 (As is required at the school)

The only thing I would add that is so important is communication and learning how to deal with patients and staff.

 

[TanMan]

absolutely love this post.

agree 100%. Most of DS is just hoops to jump through. serve your time and move on.

I was just talking today with a D1 who believed every dentist mounts a full set of models with a facebow prior to doing every single unit crown 😂 (As is required at the school)

The only thing I would add that is so important is communication and learning how to deal with patients and staff.

Personality goes hand in hand with communication and dealing with people, but that's definitely a good point.

My great disdain for the school's administration made me realize very quickly that there's a reason why they are there. Otherwise, I would've probably taken their word at "how dentistry is done" and not think about how to make processes more efficiently (sooner). I hope that D1 learns quickly that after dental school, they'll probably never pick up a facebow again along with a surveyor. Same with amalgams, I haven't done an amalgam since dental school and I wouldn't even know where to start in placing amalgams. The other day, I had to refer a patient out because he insisted on an amalgam. I don't even own a triturator or have any capsules (or those plugger/placement devices and that metal dappen dish), lol. Although a lot of my west coast medicaid counterparts are forced to use amalgam, it may not be dead to that subset of the population. I can go on about all the things I don't do these days, but that just makes me feel old that I had to learn these archaic methods.

Crazy what they teach students these days. There's probably some defenders of old school dentistry here, but as I've always said, dental school is safe mode. It's safe, but you probably won't get far.

 

[2TH MVR]

Personality goes hand in hand with communication and dealing with people, but that's definitely a good point.

My great disdain for the school's administration made me realize very quickly that there's a reason why they are there. Otherwise, I would've probably taken their word at "how dentistry is done" and not think about how to make processes more efficiently (sooner). I hope that D1 learns quickly that after dental school, they'll probably never pick up a facebow again along with a surveyor. Same with amalgams, I haven't done an amalgam since dental school and I wouldn't even know where to start in placing amalgams. The other day, I had to refer a patient out because he insisted on an amalgam. I don't even own a triturator or have any capsules (or those plugger/placement devices and that metal dappen dish), lol. Although a lot of my west coast medicaid counterparts are forced to use amalgam, it may not be dead to that subset of the population. I can go on about all the things I don't do these days, but that just makes me feel old that I had to learn these archaic methods.

Crazy what they teach students these days. There's probably some defenders of old school dentistry here, but as I've always said, dental school is safe mode. It's safe, but you probably won't get far.

Agree with you mostly. Especially when it comes to general dentistry. What's the point of learning out of date, obsolete techniques. But it is different for the field of orthodontics. Residents need to learn the "old ways" in order to properly use the new stuff like aligners and self ligating brackets. Old way techniques forces that resident to understand the nuances of moving teeth. During my 1st yr of residency .... we were not allowed to use any pre-adjusted brackets, self ligating brackets or any aligners (not around back then) to treat our patients. We used Begg, Tip-Edge, and generic edge wise brackets to treat our patients. We learned to make looped archwires rather than use modern nickel titanium wires. These systems forced us to make all the necessary adjustments in the archwires to account for all the side effects of moving teeth. We developed the skills necessary to move teeth with anything.

Enter new grads. All trained with aligners, self-ligating brackets, etc. Most of these grads have no archwire bending experience. I've seen it firsthand with the new orthos hired at the DSO I work at. They are adverse to bending archwires.

Without prior knowledge on actual hands on treatment and thus relying on technology to do the work for us. We are slowly becoming a trade industry rather than a profession.