Do you need to specialize?

[eun2408]

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I have a stupid quetion. But what exactly can you do if you just graduate from dental school and practice?

Can you make dentures / can you pull out the wisdom tooth? or all you can do is drilling and filling?

 

[RaiderNation]

My understanding is that you can do anything. Alot of General Practitioners don't feel comfortable (or don't have the time) doing huge root canals or pulling wisdom teeth, so they refer them to specialists like endodontists, OMS, etc., who spent andother couple years after dental school focusing solely on those types of dental procedures.

 

[UBTom]

With a DDS degree and license to practice, you can do ANY dental procedure you feel comfortable with... As long as you can do it to the same level of standard as the specialists.

It behooves the general dentist to be proficient at doing root canals and extractions, because if you refer out ALL endo and exo cases, you won't be able to make much of a living! The rule of thumb is to refer out only the real tough cases you don't feel comfortable treating, like calcified root canals or severely impacted third molars.

 

[Barry20]

You will be licensed to do any aspect of dentistry - endo, ortho, crowns, dentures and all that. Dentists who only choose to exclude certain procedures from their practice do so because a.) they don't feel well trained in the area or b.) they hate to do it. Choice A depends on your exposure to that particular procedure during dental school, that's why a good clinical school is always nice.

 

[Thaxil]

Are they any schools that train their DDS students to do implants?

 

[swiminh2o]

Originally posted by Thaxil
Are they any schools that train their DDS students to do implants?

It is my understanding that the University of Washington does teach implants. I don't know about other schools? Anyone else know...?

 

[NewNameForGoogleBot]

Carolina requires you to oversee one implant case but my understanding is that you don't actually perform the implant procedure.

 

[zimaad]

At VCU the grad-perio department does numerous implants and the D3/D4 students have a chance to assist and help out with the procedure. They do a lot of neet stuff to prepare for implants..like bone grafting. I've had the chance to observe a number of those procedures and it's pretty cool. Do dental students have to go through anaesthetic training, etc? For implants and surgeries of this sort the patients are sedated, so that may be why dental students don't typically perform those cases.

 

[GuttaPercha]

Well.. at NYU, you are allowed to do single implant cases. I don't think you get to place one in, but you get to workup the whole case, restore the tooth after the implant is place, and also assist. It all depends on who you work the case with though.

 

[Supernumerary]

At MCG everyone will be taught to restore implants and some will be taught to place them. At least, that's what they're telling us freshmen. Kind of an incentive to do well and get requirements done. 🙂

 

[PERFECT3434]

i know i am ahead of myself, but i was thinking about becoming the president and then ruling the world.

where should i look for more info?