Shadowing: How to go about it?

[artsyme]

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Hey, I'm new here. I graduated last spring majoring in psychology. I have a year to get experience shadowing a dentist, but I was wondering what the best way would be to go about doing this. At school, I shadowed a dentist (but barely) because my friend knew him, but now that I'm home I don't know how to go about this. Should I just call random dentists up in the yellow pages and ask? And I'd rather not ask my dentist because he's a good 30 mins from where I live. Advice pleaseeee!

 

[SugarNaCl]

I was in the same situation as you...many are if not all. Few options I found. I called through the phonebook as you suggested asking for people with Saturday hours. I found big groups to be much less likely to take on observers. I dont know if you need to shadow on sat, but I asked one dentist who didnt have sat hours if he knew anyone that did and he named a bunch. The other approach is to call a clinic in whatever school that is nearby that has a dental program (if there is one.) Often these people seem flattered that you are interested in their profession and are generally teaching or closely affiliated with that school. May even help you to know some good names. Good luck!

 

[TechKUSA]

Hey,
id look into a dental clinic in a hopsital, which is where i did my volunteering. it was great cuz there were 8 chairs so i got to see a lot of different procedures, and they occassinaly let you assist. theyre also a bunch of attendings who love teaching so you learn some good stuff too.

 

[litldime]

I was in the same situation as you. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to ask my dentist b/c he was far from me. I went online and searched for area dentists. I looked at different dentist's websites and emailed them. I received an email 2 days later from an area dentist. The only problem was his clinic was approx. 40 mins away from me. I still went to see him and now I've been interning there- 100 hours. It turns out he used to sit on some adcom board/ dean's board something like that for UT San Antonio and he graduated #1 in his class. Go figure! Just be persistant, if you have to look through the phone book...go ahead. If you have to go to your dentist who is 30 mins...go ahead... just make sure you do what you have to do- you'll be glad in the end.
ld

 

[Toothfairy86]

What i did over the summer was, looked up the locations of 6-7 dental offices and i just drove by and stopped at each of them. I went in and talked to the secretary, she would tell me right there if the dentist already had an observer that would come, and if i couldnt shadow there, she gave me names of others who i could try. At two places they told me yes on the spot. If i were you i would personally stop by it may be quicker than waiting for a phone reply. try it out!