High School dentist shadowing.

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alpacalover

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Hello, I'm planning on asking my dentist if I can shadow him and maybe gain more insight about dentistry.
Is there anything I should bring? my transcript? or anything? should I just ask straight up?
Thank you!

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Hello, I'm planning on asking my dentist if I can shadow him and maybe gain more insight about dentistry.
Is there anything I should bring? my transcript? or anything? should I just ask straight up?
Thank you!

It depends how well you know the dentist. A lot of the dentist's I've shadowed are okay if the person just asks. If you're going in for a cleaning and then ask, I wouldn't necessarily bring a resume right then. Keep a copy in your car maybe and tell them you're interested and you have a resume if they want to see. That was usually enough in my case :)
 
When I shadowed an oral surgeon, I had to bring in a letter of recommendation first (super brief, nothing intense). Obviously, this isn't the case at every office. But some do require documents.

Best to just call or walk in first. They'll usually let you know if you need anything.
 
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It depends how well you know the dentist. A lot of the dentist's I've shadowed are okay if the person just asks. If you're going in for a cleaning and then ask, I wouldn't necessarily bring a resume right then. Keep a copy in your car maybe and tell them you're interested and you have a resume if they want to see. That was usually enough in my case :)
sorry I'm not sure what you mean by "cleaning" oops ;):happy:
 
Straight up ask! (In person, or calling in works fine). Say you're interested in dentistry and you would like to shadow for a few hours. I recommend asking to shadow a morning or afternoon for four hours. This way you can see multiple procedures without getting too tired. Standing can be hard! Some dentists may ask for a resume/CV but most don't and will just let you come on in making shadowing pretty easy for pre-dentals. Bring a notebook to take notes on things you see or learned. You'll want them when it comes time to apply in the distant future. Remember to never write down anything personal about the patient though (like their name). Good luck!
When you shadowed, did you do this regularly with a same dentist or was it just a one time thing??
 
When I shadowed an oral surgeon, I had to bring in a letter of recommendation first (super brief, nothing intense). Obviously, this isn't the case at every office. But some do require documents.

Best to just call or walk in first. They'll usually let you know if you need anything.
For some reason, I'm nervous about this kind of stuff. I feel like he's going to ask me intense questions like "why do you want to be a dentist etc"( which I'm ready to answer of course) but still I don't even know what I'm worried about to be honest
 
For some reason, I'm nervous about this kind of stuff. I feel like he's going to ask me intense questions like "why do you want to be a dentist etc"( which I'm ready to answer of course) but still I don't even know what I'm worried about to be honest

Gotta do what you gotta do. :D
 
Depends on the dentist. I had one where I shadowed over 50 hours for through an internship. This was nice because then you get to follow treatment plans from beginning to end. For now, since you are in high school, just start with a couple sessions to get a feel for it. You will have LOTS of time to shadow in college. On your application, there is room to place ten different dentists for shadowing. You also don't need to fill all the spots but look at the schools pre-requisites for shadowing to see how many hours to shoot for (see UoP's website for pre-reqs). But shadow several general dentists because then you get the feel for how different offices run. Then add a few specialties, but dental schools like most of your shadowing to come from a general dentist. And to answer your other question, job shadowing is a must to be admitted into dental school. Also, do not stress! You have loads of time right now. It is good you are preparing. Job shadowing is fun if you let it be. Do not be scared to ask to shadow a doctor. Some doctors don't want shadows, so don't get discouraged if they reject you and just move on to the next one. The fact that you are planning so early says a lot, so enjoy the fun pre-dental ride. Also, job shadowing can get boring. Don't let that deter you. It helps to pass the time by asking questions. I'm sure actually learning/performing the procedures is much different from watching :).
Thank you so much! This really helped me a lot! I'm actually wondering if I should rather try internship at the dentists office ( even though I won't be able to touvh anything but you know I'm willing to do anything so..) than JUST watching you know..? Is this a bad idea?
 
Thank you so much! This really helped me a lot! I'm actually wondering if I should rather try internship at the dentists office ( even though I won't be able to touvh anything but you know I'm willing to do anything so..) than JUST watching you know..? Is this a bad idea?

Not a bad idea! I was sterilizing equipment and talking to patients and shadowing at an endodontists' office at age 15 or 16 I forget. I got paid too! ( at $3/hr so the dentist didn't feel like she was getting free child labor, but at that age I was rolling in dough). Depends on the dentist and how long you're they're for. If you're they're for say 3 months, they'll probably put you to some sort of work. If it's just a week or two they don't see a point in training you for you to leave the next day
 
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Not a bad idea! I was sterilizing equipment and talking to patients and shadowing at an endodontists' office at age 15 or 16 I forget. I got paid too! ( at $3/hr so the dentist didn't feel like she was getting free child labor, but at that age I was rolling in dough). Depends on the dentist and how long you're they're for. If you're they're for say 3 months, they'll probably put you to some sort of work. If it's just a week or two they don't see a point in training you for you to leave the next day
15 or 16! wow you thought about your future really early haha thank you for the input
 
Yeah, you can just start by asking your own general dentist. You don't need to provide a transcript or anything like that unless you are specifically asked to. However, if dental schools require shadowing hours, they care only about the hours you do while in college or beyond. So while there is nothing wrong with shadowing as a high school student, you need to make sure you meet their shadowing hours requirement when considering only the hours you have done while in college or beyond.
 
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For some reason, I'm nervous about this kind of stuff. I feel like he's going to ask me intense questions like "why do you want to be a dentist etc"( which I'm ready to answer of course) but still I don't even know what I'm worried about to be honest

When I went to an office to ask if I could shadow and he went rapid fire with a few questions on the spot. So have a general idea of what you can say or talk about if it does come up.
 
When I went to an office to ask if I could shadow and he went rapid fire with a few questions on the spot. So have a general idea of what you can say or talk about if it does come up.
Wow thank you! Do you remember any of those questions?
 
Pretty basic ones. Why dentistry? Some background questions like school, other activities. What do you think you will learn from shadowing here? Things like that.
 
For some reason, I'm nervous about this kind of stuff. I feel like he's going to ask me intense questions like "why do you want to be a dentist etc"( which I'm ready to answer of course) but still I don't even know what I'm worried about to be honest
If you cannot answer the "why", maybe you are barking up the wrong tree.
 
Pretty basic ones. Why dentistry? Some background questions like school, other activities. What do you think you will learn from shadowing here? Things like that.
so its pretty basic..thank you!
 
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