Do you need dental work exp?

[deleted988749]

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Do you need to work in a dental office? Whether it is dental assistant, tech, or even receptionist? Is just shadowing enough for the dental experience to apply to dental school? I'm going into my freshmen year and have an EMT certification because I was going to do premed but switched to dental. So would working as an EMT look bad since it's something premeds would do?

 

[Pearl E. White]

EMT is good. You won't have any issues with that. To answer your primary question, you don't have to have work experience, but at least some type of dental volunteering is preferable.

 

[FanOfCostco]

College students gotta eat. Can't fault you for being a fan of not starving. Just say a emt is the only job that fits your schedule in college

 

[deleted985368]

EMT is fine. Paid dental experience is a minor plus to your application but not necessary.

You need ~40 hours minimum of shadowing general dentists and if possible shadow a few specialties. There's no magic number but 100+ hours is what you want to aim for.

Yes you need more than just shadowing.

 

[Pearl E. White]

You need ~40 hours minimum of shadowing general dentists and if possible shadow a few specialties. There's no magic number but 100+ hours is what you want to aim for.

I would say that some schools (I know some that I applied to) require 100 hours minimum shadowing. So, check that to be sure.

 

[deleted988749]

EMT is good. You won't have any issues with that. To answer your primary question, you don't have to have work experience, but at least some type of dental volunteering is preferable.

What can you do in dental volunteering? All my life the dental places I've been to are very small, I don't think they have space for me or I can even be useful there.

 

[deleted988749]

EMT is fine. Paid dental experience is a minor plus to your application but not necessary.

You need ~40 hours minimum of shadowing general dentists and if possible shadow a few specialties. There's no magic number but 100+ hours is what you want to aim for.

Yes you need more than just shadowing.

I don't get it. You just said paid dental experience is minor and not necessary then you said there has to be more than just shadowing. Can you elaborate on that?

 

[Cthuluhoop]

I don't get it. You just said paid dental experience is minor and not necessary then you said there has to be more than just shadowing. Can you elaborate on that?

You don't need paid dental experience to get into dental school. I had 0 and got into 5 schools. What I assume @predntl means is you can't just have a bunch of shadowing, you should get some dental volunteering too. The bulk of my volunteering was in a community healthcare project unrelated to dentistry, but I still had a handful of dental events that I volunteered at. The dental volunteering was a lot of fun to do, and gave me more insight into the profession and things to talk about during the interview as well as my personal statement.
Try to create a well rounded application, but don't just volunteer to check boxes on your application

 

[deleted988749]

You don't need paid dental experience to get into dental school. I had 0 and got into 5 schools. What I assume @predntl means is you can't just have a bunch of shadowing, you should get some dental volunteering too. The bulk of my volunteering was in a community healthcare project unrelated to dentistry, but I still had a handful of dental events that I volunteered at. The dental volunteering was a lot of fun to do, and gave me more insight into the profession and things to talk about during the interview as well as my personal statement.
Try to create a well rounded application, but don't just volunteer to check boxes on your application

Thanks for clarifying. Can you give me some pointers on finding dental volunteer opportunities?

 

[Pearl E. White]

What can you do in dental volunteering? All my life the dental places I've been to are very small, I don't think they have space for me or I can even be useful there.

Check for some big events near you like Mission of Mercy, ones through your nearest dental school, and/or local dental clinics that offer services to low income/underinsured families. A simple Google search should aid you in this quest.

 

[Cthuluhoop]

Thanks for clarifying. Can you give me some pointers on finding dental volunteer opportunities?

Are you still in school? If you have a dental club absolutely join that as they usually advertise events. If not, follow @Pearl E. White's advice. Where I went to college it was difficult to find volunteering outside of random events. Definitely look into clinics that target the underprivileged, they're usually always looking for more help. I took part in Mission of Mercy and it was amazing

 

[deleted988749]

Are you still in school? If you have a dental club absolutely join that as they usually advertise events. If not, follow @Pearl E. White's advice. Where I went to college it was difficult to find volunteering outside of random events. Definitely look into clinics that target the underprivileged, they're usually always looking for more help. I took part in Mission of Mercy and it was amazing

Check for some big events near you like Mission of Mercy, ones through your nearest dental school, and/or local dental clinics that offer services to low income/underinsured families. A simple Google search should aid you in this quest.

Thank you guys so much for the help. I found a lot of underserved healthcare clinics. The problem is that many of them aren't specifically for dental care, and I'm concerned that if I ask to volunteer there I will end up getting placed in the soup kitchen or working with seniors and kids. I actually really like some of the non-dental volunteering and would likely partake in those, but I also want my dental experience. How should I approach them to be placed in a position I want?

 

[Pearl E. White]

Thank you guys so much for the help. I found a lot of underserved healthcare clinics. The problem is that many of them aren't specifically for dental care, and I'm concerned that if I ask to volunteer there I will end up getting placed in the soup kitchen or working with seniors and kids. I actually really like some of the non-dental volunteering and would likely partake in those, but I also want my dental experience. How should I approach them to be placed in a position I want?

Any volunteering (of any sort) is great. Most of my volunteer work came from an animal shelter. Find something enjoyable and do that. And if you can do those big dental events that’s just the cherry on top.

 

[pubhealthdent]

Do you need to work in a dental office? Whether it is dental assistant, tech, or even receptionist? Is just shadowing enough for the dental experience to apply to dental school? I'm going into my freshmen year and have an EMT certification because I was going to do premed but switched to dental. So would working as an EMT look bad since it's something premeds would do?

I didn't have any work experience in a dental office (only as a produce clerk in a grocery store) but I did have about 200 hours of job shadowing. Something that was brought up in every one of my interviews was how impressed they were by how spread out my shadowing hours were (I shaped every single dentist and specialist in my town - 13 total). Many remarked that shadowing multiple different GPs and specialists is better than the same number of hours spent with 1 or 2 dentists

 

[NewEngland123]

Thank you guys so much for the help. I found a lot of underserved healthcare clinics. The problem is that many of them aren't specifically for dental care, and I'm concerned that if I ask to volunteer there I will end up getting placed in the soup kitchen or working with seniors and kids. I actually really like some of the non-dental volunteering and would likely partake in those, but I also want my dental experience. How should I approach them to be placed in a position I want?

I volunteered at a community health center that also had a dental clinic. I told them straight up I wanted to get exposure to dentistry and that I hoped to be placed in the dental clinic. Just be upfront about what you want (but also respectful). They’ll most likely ask you why you want to volunteer there anyway, so just be honest. They were very kind and accommodating and they made sure I was in the dental clinic. Those places are typically so understaffed that they’ll take help wherever they can get it.

 

[deleted988749]

I didn't have any work experience in a dental office (only as a produce clerk in a grocery store) but I did have about 200 hours of job shadowing. Something that was brought up in every one of my interviews was how impressed they were by how spread out my shadowing hours were (I shaped every single dentist and specialist in my town - 13 total). Many remarked that shadowing multiple different GPs and specialists is better than the same number of hours spent with 1 or 2 dentists

Wouldn't you have a problem getting a rec letter from a dentist?

 

[pubhealthdent]

Wouldn't you have a problem getting a rec letter from a dentist?

I job shadowed 13 of them. Every single one offered to write a letter for me. The ones I ended up using for Recs were the ones I spent the most time with. Spending 20 hours with a provider is more than enough time for them to understand if you have what it takes to become a dentist

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

Any volunteering (of any sort) is great. Most of my volunteer work came from an animal shelter. Find something enjoyable and do that. And if you can do those big dental events that’s just the cherry on top.

Second this. Our admissions board always says "quality over quantity". Someone who does it to check a box does a lot of random useless stuff, but they'd rather see less volunteer diversity, and more commitment to one or two things (more involvement, more hours, leadership roles within activities, etc).