If you know you want to go into private practice..

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NismoDDS

NismoDDS

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.. should you even bother studying 24/7 to get A's in your classes.. or would it be ok for you to just get B's and pass the boards. Im wondering because its not like your patients are going to ask you for your dental school gpa. And also by getting great grades and making top 10% of your class while only wanting to do general dentistry aren't you essentially taking away someone else's opportunity to get into a spectialty program (I hear most of these programs only look for top 10% of class regardless of if you go to harvard or any other school).
 
I am of the 'don't burn any bridges' mentality.

I am IN school and really have no clue what I want to do.

Who knows how you will feel a few years down the road once you actually get to do some specialty cases.

If you still do private practice, great - but if you suddenly have a change of heart, and essentially shot yourself in the foot by slacking off the first few years, well...crap?
 
Might be a weird concept, but if you actually tried you might learn more. It's also good to keep options open in case your hands get blown off, then you can still do ortho. 😉
 
One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was:

"Don't plan your future in pen."

You don't want to close any doors available to you. You have no clue what will happen tomorrow, and wouldn't want to make a choice that you will regret for the rest of your life. Right now, you can be anything you want to be; DMD, MD, OS, Ortho, Endo, etc. Even if you end up as only as a GP, you will be a step above the rest, and could provide a better service to your patients which equals more money. Always do your best, and there are no regrets, ever.
 
I say do your best. As for me, knowing that I have to get to work straight away after d-school (wifes biological clock and all), am doing the best I can do without losing my mind. Don't get me wrong, I work my ass off and get good grades, but the diff btw a B+ and an A equates to a lot more than the diff btw a B and a B+. I would rather spend some time with my wife and keep my marriage healthy than get the A's.

Everyones circumstances are different.
 
Like most of us, you probably busted your butt off in some way/shape/or form to get here. I'd say if you want to do general, you should do your best and at the end of the day, be happy with how you did, even if you pull C's. In the end, no one will care except you (if you decide to) and like they say, C = DMD. I want to do general as well so I'm basically enjoying these years here in dental school the best I can. If you ever decide you may like to specialize down the road, you will have experience in practice and you can always retake your board scores to score higher. My plan to do general dentistry is that I couldn't stand being confined to one area of dentistry my entire career, its not that I can't get straight A's, because I know if I locked myself away for 4 years that would be cake. So basically I'm saying, relax and just get through the hell that is dental school..
 
Think of a patient thinking, "should I put my trust on this professional who went half ass his potential."
 
dentheartthrob said:
Think of a patient thinking, "should I put my trust on this professional who went half ass his potential."
Click to expand...


How do you know what your dentist or physician did in dental or med school? Patients dont care about GPA, they care about quick, painless, and pretty dentistry thats going to last a reasonable amount of time. Some of the top ranked students in my class would be the last clinicians Id let touch me with a handpiece.
 
OceanDMD said:
How do you know what your dentist or physician did in dental or med school? Patients dont care about GPA, they care about quick, painless, and pretty dentistry thats going to last a reasonable amount of time. Some of the top ranked students in my class would be the last clinicians Id let touch me with a handpiece.
Click to expand...

To put this into perspective, Ocean, how many times per year on average does a patient ask you where you went ot dental school???

My answer is less than 10.

What's of more concern to patients, and I'm not saying that this is the best thing, but it's the reality most of the time is: 1) can you treat them comfortably 2) does it look 1/2 way decent and 3)were you nice to them while working

For most patients those 3 things mean way, way more than where you went ot school, or even a good deal of the time, what your fees are.
 
crazy_sherm said:
Might be a weird concept, but if you actually tried you might learn more. It's also good to keep options open in case your hands get blown off, then you can still do ortho. 😉
Click to expand...

lol
Today, I have officially chosen to pursue ortho as a specialty in order to hedge against the risk of my hands exploding.

haha
 
armorshell said:
To be fair, they could also be crushed in the baler. Brownie points (and greenie points) to whoever gets the reference. 😀
Click to expand...

"How many people a year do you think get their arms cut off in a baler?"

"Ten people, Michael. Ten people. Would you like to be one of them?"
 
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