Research can mean a great deal, depending on the school. Some places absolutely eat this crap up. A couple schools attempted to persuade me into Ph.D programs due to prior research. To tell you the truth if you are willing to do one of these routes its basically an instant acceptance into alot of schools. You'll be surprised, make sure you get a letter of rec from the person your mentor, bring a copy of a published article along to your interviews. Most people who are part of dental school administration are full time research faculty. It's just the name of the game when it comes to school politics. So you instantly have a common interest for interviews. This is where schools make millions so they would love to have you researching or assisting a researcher. My school even offers a summer research program which gives first year students $5,000 for 6 weeks of research in the summer. So it could in fact not only get you in, but earn you some nice coin while in dschool.