Pediatric Dental Residencies

[dentodest]

mood

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[S_Diamond_DDS]

All are competitive at this point tbh. Apply to where you would like to go and apply broadly and that will give you the best shot.

 

[dentaltea43]

I would try and get in touch with program directors or residents of the programs you are interested in to know more about the program. Right now is a good time, it is early enough. Start thinking about your CV, personal statement and LORs, you want to try to have everything ready by the summer, application usually opens mid May. I feel the earlier you apply, the more interested/dedicated you look. If you have a pedo program at your dental school, definitely try to get in touch with some of the residents and ask them about their own experience in the program and even while they were applying. Some things to consider:

1. Program strengths: some focus more special needs treatment, trauma experience, some have a very extensive research component while some not so much.
2. Cost: dental school is already so expensive. Consider programs who require a tuition (mainly university based programs) vs stipend (hospital based programs). Are you okay with possibly adding more debt to get you through residency?
3. Location: is this program located in an area you are willing to move, if you have a spouse or children would they also be able to relocate with you.Think about cost of living/moving as well.
4. Call schedule: with a smaller program such as 2-4 residents vs 6-10 residents, the call schedule will be different, most likely you will have a heavier call schedule with a smaller program vs a bigger one
5. Experience: some programs are very fast paced from day one vs other programs that take it slower in the beginning, consider which type of environment helps you learn best.


Hope that helps!

 

[dentaltea43]

Also if you go on the AAPD website and ADEA Pass search engine, they usually have pretty nice breakdowns of each program, something that I found extremely helpful while I was applying.

ADEA PASS® Program Finder

programpages.passweb.org

AAPD | Residency Programs

www.aapd.org

 

[dentodest]

I would try and get in touch with program directors or residents of the programs you are interested in to know more about the program. Right now is a good time, it is early enough. Start thinking about your CV, personal statement and LORs, you want to try to have everything ready by the summer, application usually opens mid May. I feel the earlier you apply, the more interested/dedicated you look. If you have a pedo program at your dental school, definitely try to get in touch with some of the residents and ask them about their own experience in the program and even while they were applying. Some things to consider:

1. Program strengths: some focus more special needs treatment, trauma experience, some have a very extensive research component while some not so much.
2. Cost: dental school is already so expensive. Consider programs who require a tuition (mainly university based programs) vs stipend (hospital based programs). Are you okay with possibly adding more debt to get you through residency?
3. Location: is this program located in an area you are willing to move, if you have a spouse or children would they also be able to relocate with you.Think about cost of living/moving as well.
4. Call schedule: with a smaller program such as 2-4 residents vs 6-10 residents, the call schedule will be different, most likely you will have a heavier call schedule with a smaller program vs a bigger one
5. Experience: some programs are very fast paced from day one vs other programs that take it slower in the beginning, consider which type of environment helps you learn best.


Hope that helps!

Thank you soooo much!
Do you happen to have a list that breaks down all these program strengths and costs? I am trying to find a chart that breaks it all down but it's difficult.

 

[dentaltea43]

Thank you soooo much!
Do you happen to have a list that breaks down all these program strengths and costs? I am trying to find a chart that breaks it all down but it's difficult.

No problem!

I don't think you will find a breakdown with precisely what you are looking for. Realistically you will not get straight answers until you interview with the program director and talk to the residents to really figure out the strengths and weak spots of each program. If I were you, I would begin by deciding how many programs I want to apply to (typically between 10-20 programs has been the average number of programs most applicants choose). For example for me, I wanted to focus more on hospital based programs, so that immediately narrowed down my list. This is what you need to do, decide which factor is most important to you and go from there. I wouldn't pick the programs based on anyone else's list because their priorities may be different than yours.

The AAPD link that I posted above usually has a really nice summary for each program (strengths, program requirements, cost/stipend), all you have to do is just go through it and decide if that is a program that you would be interested in.

 

[S_Diamond_DDS]

^I agree with all of the above, except for the 10-20 schools. If your app is lack luster, you'll want to up that number.