Opinion on the act of shadowing

[Stacker]

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The past year I shadowed two general dentist and I had the hardest time watching the them operate on their patients. At first, I was very curious about the different machines and concepts of surgery tasks and I asked a lot of questions. After a week however shadowing just became watching the dentists clean and operate on patients and I felt like it was getting repetitive and unfortunately boring.

How did you guys feel about shadowing a general dentist?

I'm very serious about choosing a career that I will enjoy; is the only way to truly know if I like dental surgery if I actually do these types of operations in dental school because then that would be too late if it turns out I dislike it? What is the best way to find out if I like performing these tasks? Does jewelery making/model-making suffice to best accurately mimic tasks in dental surgery?

 

[7 Iron]

The past year I shadowed two general dentist and I had the hardest time watching the them operate on their patients. At first, I was very curious about the different machines and concepts of surgery tasks and I asked a lot of questions. After a week however shadowing just became watching the dentists clean and operate on patients and I felt like it was getting repetitive and unfortunately boring.

How did you guys feel about shadowing a general dentist?

I'm very serious about choosing a career that I will enjoy; is the only way to truly know if I like dental surgery if I actually do these types of operations in dental school because then that would be too late if it turns out I dislike it? What is the best way to find out if I like performing these tasks? Does jewelery making/model-making suffice to best accurately mimic tasks in dental surgery?

I felt that way in observation too. After a few days, it's really just standing there and watching the dentist do the work, and it gets boring. However you need to pretend you are the dentist, and think about whether you'd be happy DOING the work. It's a lot different to be doing the work. And since most of us have never done any dental work ourselves, it's kind of a leap of faith when we apply. We're taking a gamble that we would enjoy practicing dentistry.

 

[Mr. Thirsty]

I wouldn't put so much emphasis on how boring shadowing is. It should get somewhat boring when you aren't the one doing the dental work. Maybe try and get a job as a dental assistant and see if actually participating in the work interests you.

I got somewhat bored shadowing the gen. dentist but at the same time as a shadower you aren't getting the rewarding experience of sending people out into the world with a better smile / more confidence.

Also dentistry has a flexible schedule after loan repayment. You can get involved in anything you desire when your finances even out! 😎

Hope that helped!

 

[dentalWorks]

The past year I shadowed two general dentist and I had the hardest time watching the them operate on their patients. At first, I was very curious about the different machines and concepts of surgery tasks and I asked a lot of questions. After a week however shadowing just became watching the dentists clean and operate on patients and I felt like it was getting repetitive and unfortunately boring.

How did you guys feel about shadowing a general dentist?

I'm very serious about choosing a career that I will enjoy; is the only way to truly know if I like dental surgery if I actually do these types of operations in dental school because then that would be too late if it turns out I dislike it? What is the best way to find out if I like performing these tasks? Does jewelery making/model-making suffice to best accurately mimic tasks in dental surgery?

You will NEVER know for sure how much you'll like/dislike dentistry until you start practicing it.... so there is no way for you to really know before hand. Generally, people are attracted to dentistry because they don't mind working with their hands, and at the same time, they enjoy interacting with people. If you don't like either aspect, you might hate this field.

Shadowing gives you an idea what dentistry is like and yes, shadowing after a while gets boring (standing and watching similar procedures time and time again). But shadowing is not dentistry.

 

[Lane138]

Shadowing is like watching someone else play video games for hours. It's a lot more fun when you get to actually play.