Does it matter who you shadow?..(m)

[2bdntist2]

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Would it matter if I shadowed an ortho or does it absolutely have to be a general DDS?

 

[Chuck1441]

I've shadowed general, ortho, endo, and omfs. And ortho and endo were kinda lame. Can't tell what the hell is going on there. Maybe if the ortho doc explains what he's doing and why, it would be interesting, but my ortho doc just bent some wires and put them back in. Not interesting. No idea why he was doing anything.

 

[NUKE]

You wont know when you graduate dental school either.

 

[golfmontpoker]

Dont think it really matters... Just show the adcoms that you are interested in all facets of dentistry. I plan on shadowing 100 hours or so at a general dentist (which i wanna become) and also shadowing 10-20 hours at a ortho and some other specialties

 

[lgreen_aci]

I think you need to make sure and spend some time with a general dentist. Reason being, you basically have to become a general dentist before you can do ortho or any specialty. What I mean by that, is you need to know you can handle the job of a general dentist, because your 4 years of dental school is going to be focused on preparing you for general dental work. Specialty programs train you for specialty work.

I started shadowing in ortho and then shadowed with a few generals. I don't think you can really understand what general dentistry is about just by shadowing ortho. There are some differences in how the offices run, the type of staff involved, etc.

 

[INFNITE]

definitely general dentists before specialists. you really won't know if you want to specialize/what field you want to specializing in until after you get in dental school. Most of the stuff you learn in dental school is targeted toward general dentistry, so that's the most important if you're picking a dentist to shadow. If you have time and want to diversify, feel free to shadow different types of specialists to get a feel of what direction you are aiming for in dental school. That's really not that important though, but it may help to show your genuine interest in becoming a dentist