Medically-Integrated Dental Schools

[dentalapp3456]

Does anyone attend a dental school where you take classes with medical students during the first year and a half? What are the pros/cons and do you feel prepared once you enter clinic?

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[Rick Harrison]

I attend a school with a medical integrated curriculum. I'm not going to lie, I am not a big fan of it at all. My school has extremely high match rates into specialty programs which is the only reason I came here. If you are fairly certain you don't want to specialize, I would definitely recommend attending a school that focuses more on clinical experiences instead of a school that focuses on the medical-integrated curriculum. I feel like we are extremely behind compared to my peers at other schools. My class has maybe had like 8 dental anatomy lectures and we haven't even stepped foot into the pre-clinic, meanwhile my peers from undergrad who attend different dental schools have already started drilling on plastic teeth and have been waxing teeth. We will definitely be behind when it comes to hand skills but I'm hoping to justify that by being accepted into a specialty program after dental school. I also feel like 99% of the stuff I'm learning in the medical integrated classes will be completely useless in my career. It might be of some value to someone who pursues OMFS but other than that, extremely useless.

 

[DMD12345]

I attend a school with a medical integrated curriculum. I'm not going to lie, I am not a big fan of it at all. My school has extremely high match rates into specialty programs which is the only reason I came here. If you are fairly certain you don't want to specialize, I would definitely recommend attending a school that focuses more on clinical experiences instead of a school that focuses on the medical-integrated curriculum. I feel like we are extremely behind compared to my peers at other schools. My class has maybe had like 8 dental anatomy lectures and we haven't even stepped foot into the pre-clinic, meanwhile my peers from undergrad who attend different dental schools have already started drilling on plastic teeth and have been waxing teeth. We will definitely be behind when it comes to hand skills but I'm hoping to justify that by being accepted into a specialty program after dental school. I also feel like 99% of the stuff I'm learning in the medical integrated classes will be completely useless in my career. It might be of some value to someone who pursues OMFS but other than that, extremely useless.

Aren’t you wanting to do omfs?

 

[NVDENT]

I'm a D2 at a school with an integrated curriculum and having just finished the medical curriculum, I don't regret attending this school at all. The increasing aging population means general dentists are seeing more medically complex cases, and that's lost money if you don't feel comfortable treating those types of patients and refer them out. The fact that it's Pass/Fail also helps so much (no competition, no class rank, people share any and all resources), and I know if I decide to specialize, I have really good chances due to great match rates. I haven't started in clinic yet, but my friends in classes above me haven't told me anything negative (they've just said drilling plastic teeth is so different compared to real teeth).

 

[Rick Harrison]

Aren’t you wanting to do omfs?

Wanted to until I realized how hard studying for the CBSE would be lmao

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

Wanted to until I realized how hard studying for the CBSE would be lmao

You're a D1 right? Seems early to give up, I hadn't even started studying for the CBSE by then haha. My first attempt wasn't successful, but I still believe its doable if OMFS is what you truly want.

 

[D1Bound]

I'm a D2 at a school with an integrated curriculum and having just finished the medical curriculum, I don't regret attending this school at all. The increasing aging population means general dentists are seeing more medically complex cases, and that's lost money if you don't feel comfortable treating those types of patients and refer them out. The fact that it's Pass/Fail also helps so much (no competition, no class rank, people share any and all resources), and I know if I decide to specialize, I have really good chances due to great match rates. I haven't started in clinic yet, but my friends in classes above me haven't told me anything negative (they've just said drilling plastic teeth is so different compared to real teeth).

Graduating dentists are going to refer out medically complex cases. They won't be remembering Lesch-Nyhan or Henoch–Schönlein purpura when those student loans and mortgage come due. It will be crown, bridge and RCT that they know.

 

[Ivy.ch]

I'm a D2 at a school with an integrated curriculum and having just finished the medical curriculum, I don't regret attending this school at all. The increasing aging population means general dentists are seeing more medically complex cases, and that's lost money if you don't feel comfortable treating those types of patients and refer them out. The fact that it's Pass/Fail also helps so much (no competition, no class rank, people share any and all resources), and I know if I decide to specialize, I have really good chances due to great match rates. I haven't started in clinic yet, but my friends in classes above me haven't told me anything negative (they've just said drilling plastic teeth is so different compared to real teeth).

Dentists are going to refer medically complex patients or obtain consults. Just because you learned about diseases as a D1 makes you no more prepared to be managing these patients in practice. Taking on the risk of medically unstable patients is a liability, not a money maker. You’ll see what we mean when you start working.

 

[PerioDont]

Dentists are going to refer medically complex patients or obtain consults. Just because you learned about diseases as a D1 makes you no more prepared to be managing these patients in practice. Taking on the risk of medically unstable patients is a liability, not a money maker. You’ll see what we mean when you start working.

I was literally about to type this.

No amount of memorizing Robbins path will make you want to deal with medically complex patients

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

Just because you learned about diseases as a D1 makes you no more prepared to be managing these patients in practice.

This.

This is why residencies exist. Just because you’ve “learned” about some condition, if you’ve never had experience actually managing the condition or a similar condition, you’ll feel completely underprepared when you come across it. Physicians don’t go straight from med school to practicing. If you’re wanting to treat medically complex patients, plan to do a residency where you will actually treat this group of patients first hand. Memorizing some lecture material from D1 isn’t going to cut it.

Personally, I think the only advantage these integrated programs offer is to help OMFS gunners prep for the CBSE.

Big Hoss