Shadowing (help)

[McSexyDDS]

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please do not kill me if there is an answer to this some where already, i've been reading post for sometime now, no answer yet. Ok how do you (or do you need to) document your shadowing hours? do you make yourself an "excel" type spreadsheet and have date/time/where/what type of practice and the doctor's signature.
or is shadowing a personal record that you keep for yourself.

thanks

 

[koochooloo]

please do not kill me if there is an answer to this some where already, i've been reading post for sometime now, no answer yet. Ok how do you (or do you need to) document your shadowing hours? do you make yourself an "excel" type spreadsheet and have date/time/where/what type of practice and the doctor's signature.
or is shadowing a personal record that you keep for yourself.

thanks

i made an excel spreadsheet but yea it was just for a personal record, you don't need the doctor's signature at all (well not for the schools i applied to...maybe other schools require it i dont know)..the spreadsheet just made it easier to fill out my shadowing experience on AADSAS when it came time to apply

 

[Zanderale6]

If you get to know the dentist you shadow, you could always have them write a letter of recommendation for you (and mention the number of hours you shadowed in the letter).

 

[koochooloo]

yea def get the dentist to write a rec..i think you should also put your total hours for each place you volunteer on your app in parenthesis at least

 

[McSexyDDS]

Thanks for the good ideas, i appreciate it.

did you guys just shadow at a general dentist, or did you go to any of the specialties?

and do you just stick to one dentist or do you do several?

 

[polf]

I would do several places, I can't imagine staying at one place for like 50+ hrs, there's not much to learn after a while. Multiple places and you get to see how different ppl run their practices. From what I hear 3~4 places for a total of 100 some hrs is more than enough.

 

[yearof08]

Do I just call any local dentist and ask them if i can shadow? How should I ask?..

 

[4thMolar]

Do I just call any local dentist and ask them if i can shadow? How should I ask?..

I just called the front office directly and told them my situation (pre-dental student, need shadowing hours, etc) and if there was any way I could schedule a time to meet with the dentist or if he could give me a call back so that I could talk to him about shadowing. I left my number at all the places I called and within the next day or two I would get a call back from the dentist ask him if I could shadow him for some time.