Interested in specializing

[phenomenal]

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[DMD12345]

I'm a pre-dent but here's my two cents: extern omfs, tell local specialists your situation and ask if you can shadow, watch youtube videos, pick the brains of your faculty, do some research on the internet

 

[SirBrotherJam]

You want to specialize, but don’t know in what? Have you had any chance in clinic at all? Do you want to be a genden practicing what you like and referring what you don’t? Is it worth grinding through more training to hone a particular skill set? Hang around faculty of varying specialities/externships/lit clubs... Why not keep your grades up and see what you actually enjoy while in school. Keep in mind it is ok to hold off even after graduation.

 

[S_Diamond_DDS]

Focus on grades/class rank if you’re interested in specializing!

 

[DMD12345]

Thanks for the ideas! I'm struggling right now because a lot of externships are limited in space now due to COVID and are only allowing upperclassmen to participate unfortunately. Many of the specialists I called in my area are not allowing any extra personnel in their offices due to COVID concerns as well. I've watched some youtube videos but many of them don't give insight into the negative aspects of each specialty. I want to just get more of an idea of what day to day life would be like in each specialty as well.

Every time someone says they can't find people to shadow it seems they always use the key word "called." I've personally never seen someone on sdn post they couldn't find someone to let them shadow after "walking into" offices. If the Covid concern for extra personnel truly is an issue with every office around you, I'd suggest asking the doctors to lunch to talk about the specialty. It's a normal thing to do and some dentists may not want to be bothered with it but a lot of them are all for it and enjoy helping new guys. You could also ask faculty if you can shadow them (I've heard a solid amount of faculty work pp 1-2 days a week) or if they have friends in the area you can shadow.

 

[Ivy.ch]

Hey everyone

I'm interested in specializing and am in the top 8% of my class as a D2, but am not sure what specialty I want to go into. I would be happy doing general too but just want to explore all my options. COVID has made it hard to rotate through the specialty clinics at my school, so I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips regarding how I can go about exploring different specialties to narrow down my options. Any insight is helpful! Thanks in advance

It's still hella early for you. Clinics will open up more in the next couple months, and then you can hang around at the beginning of D3. Focus on nailing down your grades for now.

 

[DMD12345]

It's still hella early for you. Clinics will open up more in the next couple months, and then you can hang around at the beginning of D3. Focus on nailing down your grades for now.

Tbf, you started studying for the cbse spring break of D1 haha. Again, I'm just a pre-dent, but yeah op what I've gleaned is that if you're interested in os I'd find out soon so you have ample time to study for the beast exam but if you're interested in the other specialties it's pretty early and you're in no rush but I do encourage the ambition, I'm the same way. Keep up the good work

 

[Ivy.ch]

Tbf, you started studying for the cbse spring break of D1 haha. Again, I'm just a pre-dent, but yeah op what I've gleaned is that if you're interested in os I'd find out soon so you have ample time to study for the beast exam but if you're interested in the other specialties it's pretty early and you're in no rush but I do encourage the ambition, I'm the same way. Keep up the good work

Haha, very fair point, but I knew. It's not worth starting to study for the CBSE if you aren't set on surgery. Some guys start studying in D3 and still match.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

I'm interested in specializing

Why?

Big Hoss

 

[DMD12345]

this is such a great idea!!! seriously thanks for this, i didn't think of asking them to lunch and picking their brain about the specialty. I'm definitely going to give this a try.

Don’t forget about the “in-person” part about asking them lol they’re much more likely to say yes to someone they’ve met and are talking to in person than some random stranger voice over the phone. Good luck, you got this

 

[desertrat12]

Haha, very fair point, but I knew. It's not worth starting to study for the CBSE if you aren't set on surgery. Some guys start studying in D3 and still match.

No better companion to D3 than the CBSE...at least that’s what I told myself every morning lol. Luckily worked out.

 

[DMD12345]

No better companion to D3 than the CBSE...at least that’s what I told myself every morning lol. Luckily worked out.

I always told myself to focus on grades, ECs, etc. in undergrad and I can have a girlfriend in dental school. The last few months I’ve come to realize her name is gonna be cbse. Rip

 

[PerioDont]

Do you have any specialty programs at your school?

spend some time there as an assistant. if you just clean up ops you will become a welcome student and pick up a bunch of good knowledge. even if you don't specialize it's worth seeing.

I came into school 100% set on GP, but tried to do my best and ended up being a pretty good student.

I spent as much time as possible shadowing, assisting, and rotating in all our residencies as you will almost never get that experience and see what specialists can do for you outside of this setting. I ended up matching at my home school as well and I think that was largely in part due to the amount of time I spent there from D1-3 years.

I thought long and hard about endo and OMFS. I really didn't want to take emergencies though, and enjoyed surgery so I decided on perio. being a GP is still a great gig, don't discount it quite yet! most of the top students in my class are staying GPs.

 

[2TH MVR]

You''ll have to shadow different GPs/Specialists in different settings to get the best perspective. Dentists in the academic setting have a much different view of their profession than the "in the trenches" practicing gps/specialists. A private practice gp/spec is going to have a different attitude vs. the employee dentists at Corps. Rural dentists will be different than the dentists practicing in a saturated city.

Most posts here on sdn are positive about their profession. Posters like to be positive when things are positive in their real lives.

 

[DocMon16]

I am with BigHoss as I tend to agree and see eye to eye on a lot of what he says. There are 10 total dental specialties now, I had classmates that said they were dead set on specializing first year and now they are GP's and are doing quite well and seem to be very happy. I am not knocking you for thinking about specializing. First thing is first, get into DS. Keep your mind open to anything, there are some great specialties and remember, you don't have to specialize for any particular reason, study hard and keep your rank up to keep your options open. Good luck!

 

[DocMon16]

i'm already in dental school and am not set on specializing! have a pretty high class rank and am just inquiring out of curiosity/looking to find opportunities to learn more about the different fields thank you though!

You are welcome, feel free to reach out to people on here with any questions including myself. I felt like as a pre-dent and going through DS people were very helpful and friendly here. Good luck, study hard, keep up the high class rank! Let me know if you have any questions about OMFS, always here to help!

 

[PerioDont]

You are welcome, feel free to reach out to people on here with any questions including myself. I felt like as a pre-dent and going through DS people were very helpful and friendly here. Good luck, study hard, keep up the high class rank! Let me know if you have any questions about OMFS, always here to help!

Ditto for any questions on Perio!