Shadowing a dentist

[Marcy_ka]

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For those of you who shadowed your dentist for a while, could you tell me what you learned by doing that.
I am just interested in the experiences that other people had while observing their dentist 🙂
Thanks

 

[msf41]

Have you ever had a job? Most people find that what they expect going into a job, and what that job is like day after day after day, are often very different. I had leanings toward dentistry, but I was worried a little because whenever I brought it up to my friends/family they were like "ewww...how could you be the drill man..?" It sorta bugged me until I actually spent some time in the dentist office. The drill is a tool, and it doesn't bother me now. Learning more about the daily routine made me more confident that I was making a good decision for the right reasons. If you don't love the work, what is it that you really love about dentistry? Money, hours, money? Shadowing will help you find what you can enjoy about the career.

 

[DrTacoElf]

For those of you who shadowed your dentist for a while, could you tell me what you learned by doing that.
I am just interested in the experiences that other people had while observing their dentist 🙂
Thanks

Basic procedures, how to deal with staff, what to do to run a successful practice (marketing, etc.), that dentistry was for me, patient scheduling/timing, office orientation, etc.

 

[busupshot83]

For those of you who shadowed your dentist for a while, could you tell me what you learned by doing that.
I am just interested in the experiences that other people had while observing their dentist 🙂
Thanks

Most importantly, shadowing can help you decide if dentistry is something you would like to spend the rest of your life doing. Good luck !

 

[Dentist 2 be]

I think that an applicant wihtout any shadowing or with less than 50 hours really shouldn't be accepted/interview to dental school no matter what his or her gpa and dat scores happen to be. I think that dentistry is extremely different from medicine. It's not just book smarts. It's technique and manual dexterity. That's why if you don't show the adcoms that you know what you are getting yourself into, then you shouldn't be considered.

 

[DrTacoElf]

I think that an applicant wihtout any shadowing or with less than 50 hours really shouldn't be accepted/interview to dental school no matter what his or her gpa and dat scores happen to be. I think that dentistry is extremely different from medicine. It's not just book smarts. It's technique and manual dexterity. That's why if you don't show the adcoms that you know what you are getting yourself into, then you shouldn't be considered.

I disagree with the 50 hours part. I think it highly depends on what the applicant gets out of the process and that is what the admissions committee judges. Its like studying sure everyone can study X ammount of hours but strangely enough the grades will not be equivalent. Shadowing is a similar sitiuation IMO. Also the last time I checked medical surgeons had pretty decent manual dexterity 😉.

 

[aphistis]

I think that an applicant wihtout any shadowing or with less than 50 hours really shouldn't be accepted/interview to dental school no matter what his or her gpa and dat scores happen to be. I think that dentistry is extremely different from medicine. It's not just book smarts. It's technique and manual dexterity. That's why if you don't show the adcoms that you know what you are getting yourself into, then you shouldn't be considered.

You'd better call IUSD's admissions people and recommend I be expelled. I didn't have anywhere *near* 50 hours. Despite my academic and physical credentials, I clearly deserve no place in the profession since I didn't have time to spend an entire work week and change sitting on my thumbs watching my mentor dentist do resin/amalgam/fixed/whatever for the tenth time.

 

[Zurik5]

You'd better call IUSD's admissions people and recommend I be expelled. I didn't have anywhere *near* 50 hours. Despite my academic and physical credentials, I clearly deserve no place in the profession since I didn't have time to spend an entire work week and change sitting on my thumbs watching my mentor dentist do resin/amalgam/fixed/whatever for the tenth time.

👍
Nice post, Bill. Loved the cynicism!

 

[Dentist 2 be]

You'd better call IUSD's admissions people and recommend I be expelled. I didn't have anywhere *near* 50 hours. Despite my academic and physical credentials, I clearly deserve no place in the profession since I didn't have time to spend an entire work week and change sitting on my thumbs watching my mentor dentist do resin/amalgam/fixed/whatever for the tenth time.

The point of my post is that it was solely my opinion. No need to be so nasty and not to mention koki! I know 3 seperate cases of dental students who were accepted and 3rd year and the other one 2nd year decided that it's not for them. So i'm speaking from experience and from what I know. Those three people had never volunteered in a dental office and never really knew what dentistry entailed.

 

[J2AZ]

Aphistas really never has anything pleasant to say does he? My question Bill is if you are in dental school why are you hanging out in the pre-dental forum. Do you just like to bust people's chops? If so, save it for clinic. God help your patients!

 

[DrTacoElf]

Aphistas really never has anything pleasant to say does he? My question Bill is if you are in dental school why are you hanging out in the pre-dental forum. Do you just like to bust people?s chops? If so, save it for clinic. God help your patients!

Bill has always been really helpful to me and many others; I'm glad he hangs out here to keep some things straight. Afterall he has been through the whole process and all too often you see people using speculation to answer questions, not facts.


FOR INSTANCE

think that an applicant wihtout any shadowing or with less than 50 hours really shouldn't be accepted/interview to dental school no matter what his or her gpa and dat scores happen to be. I think that dentistry is extremely different from medicine. It's not just book smarts. It's technique and manual dexterity. That's why if you don't show the adcoms that you know what you are getting yourself into, then you shouldn't be considered.
__________________
Class of 2009 at ...

Not even in dental school yet setting standards for admission???

 

[sidewalkman]

As a lowly non-trad pre-dent, I can think of a number of things that I have seen and done while shadowing. When I get in, I will look back at my shadowing days and think, Yeah, that was the first time I was exposed to that. Some examples:

Learning how to suction properly.
Learning how the chair should be prepped before meeting a patient.
Knowing how tools should be laid out before meeting a patient.
Examples of the right way to run a practice.
Examples of the WRONG way to run a practice.
Seeing how tools are properly cleaned.
Communicating dental concerns to a patient who only knew English.
Communicating dental concerns to a patient who only knew Spanish.
Interviewing dentists on how to balance work and family life.
Watching how an X-ray is given.
Reading an X-ray.
Learning how to chart missing/broken teeth.
Interpreting patient history.
Ways to calm a nervous adult.
Ways to calm a nervous child.
Refusing care to a patient addicted to a drug.

These are things I pulled off the top of my head. I'm sure there are many others. Anyways, the whole point is that after dealing with all this crap while shadowing, I STILL wanted to do this job. Could you read all this out of a book? I guess. But it will be spoken about much more passionately if you actually do it yourself.

I should also comment that I was exposed to all these things in the first 16 hours of shadowing! So number of hours is irrelevant.

 

[aphistis]

Aphistas really never has anything pleasant to say does he? My question Bill is if you are in dental school why are you hanging out in the pre-dental forum. Do you just like to bust people?s chops? If so, save it for clinic. God help your patients!

You've been an SDN user for all of three days; you haven't *been* here long enough to have seen me bust anyone's chops. This was a simple reality check.

The only people I crack down on are the pretentious, sanctimonious applicants who're convinced they know more about dentistry & dental education than people who are going, or have gone, through it. As for the first question, the pre-dents I've spoken to have been glad to have students, residents, and practicing dentists here to help cull out the speculative crap that flows through this board from a relatively small fraction of posters who can't distinguish fact from rumor. God knows there's no shortage of it.

I love helping out people who are able to maintain a modicum of humility and common sense about dentistry, medicine, the application process, and themselves. The folks I described at the beginning of this post can rot.

One final sidebar: I'm consistently intrigued by the number of different ways people find to butcher my username. Interestingly enough, it only seems to happen with people who don't like me... 😀

 

[aphistis]

Learning how to suction properly.
Learning how the chair should be prepped before meeting a patient.
Knowing how tools should be laid out before meeting a patient.
Examples of the right way to run a practice.
Examples of the WRONG way to run a practice.
Seeing how tools are properly cleaned.
Communicating dental concerns to a patient who only knew English.
Communicating dental concerns to a patient who only knew Spanish.
Interviewing dentists on how to balance work and family life.
Watching how an X-ray is given.
Reading an X-ray.
Learning how to chart missing/broken teeth.
Interpreting patient history.
Ways to calm a nervous adult.
Ways to calm a nervous child.
Refusing care to a patient addicted to a drug.
...
I should also comment that I was exposed to all these things in the first 16 hours of shadowing! So number of hours is irrelevant.

Thanks for providing some qualitative reinforcement. 👍

 

[Dentist 2 be]

Aphistas really never has anything pleasant to say does he? My question Bill is if you are in dental school why are you hanging out in the pre-dental forum. Do you just like to bust people?s chops? If so, save it for clinic. God help your patients!

I'm sorry but in a way I agree with you. Most of the time when I do see posts by Aphistis they are mocking someone, ridiculing someone, or just being a wisea&&.

Aphistis: you should try being a little more polite, not everyone could be a genious like you and get into IUSD.

 

[2thDk]

I have been an SDN member for 2+ years and the majority of Bills' posts have been consistently helpful.

I think that an applicant wihtout any shadowing or with less than 50 hours really shouldn't be accepted/interview to dental school no matter what his or her gpa and dat scores happen to be.

The above quote was awfully harsh and I understand why Bill and many others would have taken insult with it. If you're willing to put a comment like that out there, you have to expect someone to take issue.

 

[aphistis]

Aphistis: you should try being a little more polite, not everyone could be a genious like you and get into IUSD.

I suppose you're right. Your dental school doubtless has a much stronger reputation than IUSD.

Which school are you attending, again?

...ah, right. You might hold off on criticizing others' schools until you actually get in somewhere.

 

[Dentist 2 be]

Dont worry i will 😀 In the meantime, get a life, Im not wasting my time arguing back and forth. This is a forum for other people not for our arguments and disputes. So i'll stop right here.

 

[DrTacoElf]

Dont worry i will 😀 In the meantime, get a life, Im not wasting my time arguing back and forth. This is a forum for other people not for our arguments and disputes. So i'll stop right here.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=152758

well i have about a 3.4 and a 17 aa and 15 pat but an insane amount of experience (5 years worth)

I see you harbor on your strong points.... 😛; may I ask how you have 5+ years worth?

 

[Dentist 2 be]

wow did you actually search my posts to find that?

ive been working as a dental assistant for 5 years and volunteering in other places during my summers such as clinics and hospitals

 

[Zurik5]

Dont worry i will 😀 In the meantime, get a life, Im not wasting my time arguing back and forth. This is a forum for other people not for our arguments and disputes. So i'll stop right here.

Blah 👎
Lets put this to rest, heh?

 

[Dentist 2 be]

that's what im trying to do unfortunately there are a few pathetic souls in this forum

 

[2thDk]

unfortunately there are a few pathetic souls in this forum

Wow, being passive agressive is probably not the way to go.

 

[aphistis]

Wow, being passive agressive is probably not the way to go.

Let it go, guys, she's not worth the breath. 😉