Hi, I begin dental school this upcoming school year and am wondering if there is anything I can do to best prep for dental school. Are there any particular subjects I should brush up on or study in advance? Thanks for your help.
Preparation for Incoming Dental Student
- Thread starter athlete19
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Start with an SDN search. This is a fairly complex question so think about it for a little bit. Then take the rest of the summer off. If you absolutely must hone up your knowledge in some way or just simply want to gain an edge on the rest of the class, then take the rest of the summer off. If some other reason exists to want to hone academically, then take the rest of the summer off. Get ready for a prolonged period of all day every day dental school.
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Go outside and get some exercise. You will very soon be spending every minute of the day and night locked up under fluorescent lights. Seriously-relax and enjoy your time off.
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I would HIGHLY suggest following the above poster's advice - Dental school can be a total grind-fest for the first year or two, so you need to get your head clear and fresh so you don't get burnt out, which is VERY easy to do when you start having 3 midterms a week. Every single other dental student I've asked have had the same advice, so it clearly can't be all that bad, haha.
Another reason why it's hard to suggest study materials is that you really don't know what direction professors will take basic science classes. You don't know what they're going to focus on, and what they're going to skip. My Dental school Biochem, while on paper focusing on similar topics to my undergrad Biochem, was TOTALLY different in what the professors actually wanted us to know. Lastly, any brief reviewing you do will likely be completely blown away by your first lecture or two, because you cover topics very quickly, and like I said before, the professor decides what and what not to focus on.
If you REALLY insist on doing something, look up the University of Michigan Dental School Dental Anatomy series on iTunes U and watch some of those, that might actually be useful - we watched those same videos in class. Dr Charlick is like the Dental Anatomy wizard, haha.
Another reason why it's hard to suggest study materials is that you really don't know what direction professors will take basic science classes. You don't know what they're going to focus on, and what they're going to skip. My Dental school Biochem, while on paper focusing on similar topics to my undergrad Biochem, was TOTALLY different in what the professors actually wanted us to know. Lastly, any brief reviewing you do will likely be completely blown away by your first lecture or two, because you cover topics very quickly, and like I said before, the professor decides what and what not to focus on.
If you REALLY insist on doing something, look up the University of Michigan Dental School Dental Anatomy series on iTunes U and watch some of those, that might actually be useful - we watched those same videos in class. Dr Charlick is like the Dental Anatomy wizard, haha.
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Ok here's some advice from a dentist and former dental school professor. Take some time off. Go hiking somewhere. Run through a grassy field with a beautiful girl. Drive through the desert at night with the windows down and the music way way up (I prefer an M5 and The Cure's "Disintergration). Dental school can be a grind. It is intense and at times unpleasant. It can make you think that you were never happy and never will be happy again. Having some very cool and pleasant memories will help you pull through the hard times. Being able to get through the tough times without it eating at your soul will help you much much more than studying anatomy or trying to learn the names of the teeth. There will plenty of time to do that once you are in school. Do the stuff that you won't be able to do in dental school now so you can draw from those memories later on when you will need them.
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All of these people are wrong. Take it easy but not because school will be tough... Just take it easy all the way through your first year and rely on your classmates to bitch and complain enough to earn you As in every class it's that simple. I guarantee you that will work
