shadowing problem!!

[sbesbesbe]

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Hey there SDN,
I think I might have a problem with shadowing,
so I just started shadowing an orthodontist, 4 times so far
She's really nice and approachable and all but I barely get to talk to her...
there are 3-4 dental assistants and I spend most of the time with them and not the actual dentist.
She just comes by to check for about a minute and that's it.
I want to shadow her until the end of the summer and get to know her and I want her to get to know me too but if it continues like this, I don't think she will care that much about me, therefore NOT a good LOR.
And I don't feel like I'm unwanted but at the same time, I feel like they don't really care...
(I guess it's same for most who shadow?)
this is my first time shadowing so from your experience I have a couple of questions....

1) Should I continue to shadow her?
2) She is an orthodontist so would it be better for me to shadow a general dentist?
3) It gets sooo boring! I just look at the dental assistant do some stuff and sterilize some stuff and my legs hurt from standing for 3-5 hrs...is this what you do when you shadow?

any suggestions to improve my shadowing experience would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[Duriel]

Sounds very similar to my shadowing experiences. Try an Oral Surgeon, that was the funnest shadowing I got to do.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=792000

 

[DocHolliday1982]

Sounds very similar to my shadowing experiences. Try an Oral Surgeon, that was the funnest shadowing I got to do.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Totally agree!!!!!

 

[sbesbesbe]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Totally agree!!!!!

from one of the dental assistants, I've heard some horror stories about oral surgeons and what they need to see LOL

any serious suggestions?!

 

[DoeAdeer]

Sounds very similar to my shadowing experiences. Try an Oral Surgeon, that was the funnest shadowing I got to do.

Bolded, italicized, and underlined for emphasis...

 

[ukrdon2006]

Hey there SDN,
I think I might have a problem with shadowing,
so I just started shadowing an orthodontist, 4 times so far
She's really nice and approachable and all but I barely get to talk to her...
there are 3-4 dental assistants and I spend most of the time with them and not the actual dentist.
She just comes by to check for about a minute and that's it.
I want to shadow her until the end of the summer and get to know her and I want her to get to know me too but if it continues like this, I don't think she will care that much about me, therefore NOT a good LOR.
And I don't feel like I'm unwanted but at the same time, I feel like they don't really care...
(I guess it's same for most who shadow?)
this is my first time shadowing so from your experience I have a couple of questions....

1) Should I continue to shadow her?
2) She is an orthodontist so would it be better for me to shadow a general dentist?
3) It gets sooo boring! I just look at the dental assistant do some stuff and sterilize some stuff and my legs hurt from standing for 3-5 hrs...is this what you do when you shadow?

any suggestions to improve my shadowing experience would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Assuming that you are going to go into DS with an open mind about how you would like to use your education, I would branch out. First and foremost you gain the training and education in order to practice as a GD. Then you move on to specialty work, if you would like. That being said you should look into shadowing a GD. This will give you a good look into the everyday life of what your education is going to offer you. I could see how ortho could get boring and not too interesting real quick if you are just standing around, no offense to the ortho guys.
I also shadowed and assisted an OS. He worked at the local VA, so I was able to see how the entire clinic worked. Also got to see how a recent graduate resident worked and what she thought. I was able to eventually assist in the minimal of jobs, but hey it was still assisting or hands on right ?
Expand yourself out and gain contacts. Pretty important, esp. if you are applying to a local school. Ie. My adcom knew my OS, and I was able to talk about him like he was a friend of mine.
In any event good luck...

 

[dantemac]

Don't let this hinder you. Be the best pre-dent you can around the patients and the assistants. Ask lots of questions, be interested, and learn as much as you can from observation. When the doctor is around or just in general, word will get back to her how proactive you are and how interested in the career you are.

 

[dskies]

Yea..If your shadowing an orthodontist in hopes of being an orthodontist, that's great. But if you are doing this as generic dental shadowing requirement, or to see what it's like to be a dentist, you won't get that in an ortho clinic. The types of things she does (and I guess what you are missing out on since you don't follow her around) won't cover what you will see in dental school or as a general dentist. Maybe find a few places to shadow, keep in interesting.

 

[doc toothache]

Don't let this hinder you. Be the best pre-dent you can around the patients and the assistants. Ask lots of questions, be interested, and learn as much as you can from observation. When the doctor is around or just in general, word will get back to her how proactive you are and how interested in the career you are.

Unless, it is encouraged, they might be tempted to call ABCD Pest Control.

 

[DocHolliday1982]

from one of the dental assistants, I've heard some horror stories about oral surgeons and what they need to see LOL

any serious suggestions?!

After 80hrs nothing bothered me, but then again maybe I have a strong stomach... One of the assistants told me they had an "Assistant in Training" rotate through their office.... Long story short she couldn't make it through the day, she was really upset, apparently she wanted to be a Pediatric Dental Assistant and somehow got sent there lol

Anyway, if the person telling you this was an Ortho Assistant, they may not have the strongest of stomach's either (as to why their in the part of Dentistry that has the least amount of "blood and guts", I'm sure they love ortho too, but that may also be a factor as well)..... That said, I think some of the stuff some Perio Docs and Perio oriented GPs see could make a lot of us run for the hills..... might as well see what you can handle now......

Also, I have never heard of anyone thinking Oral Surgery was anything less then cool, GPs, Dental Students heading GP, and Pre-dents....... Good Luck tho

Oh and most Private Practice OMS Docs do mostly Wisdom Teeth and Implants all day, which you really should have a stomach for if you are going to be a GP.... I mean I guess you could wind up downing Crowns and Fillings all day but you'll at least have to check out some implants and extractions in D-School

 

[sbesbesbe]

After 80hrs nothing bothered me, but then again maybe I have a strong stomach... One of the assistants told me they had an "Assistant in Training" rotate through their office.... Long story short she couldn't make through the day, she was really upset, apparently she wanted to be a Pediatric Dental Assistant and somehow got sent there lol

Anyway, if the person telling you this was a Ortho Assistant, they may not have the strongest of stomach's either..... That said, I think some of the stuff some Perio Docs and Perio oriented GPs would make us all run for the hills..... might as well see what you can handle now......

Also, I have never heard of anyone thinking Oral Surgery was anything less then cool, GPs, Dental Students heading GP, and Pre-dents....... Good Luck tho

Oh and most Private Practice OMS Docs do mostly Wisdom Teeth and Implants all day, which you really should have a stomach for if you are going to be a GP.... I mean I guess you could wind up downing Crowns and Fillings all day but you'll at least have to check out some implants and extractions in D-School

The thing is I WANT to see some blood and cutting and all that LOL
All i see in ortho is putting metals on teeth and tightening it...
No offense to any orthodontists but it seems boring...

BUT that's not my main problem,
The problem is that I barely get to talk to the dentist! It seems like the dental assistants do all the work and the dentist just does the final checkups...
I'm shadowing to see the dentist NOT the dental assistants...
I am having a headache now! should I look somewhere else?
When you are shadowing a general dentist, do you get to talk to him/her much?

 

[DocHolliday1982]

The thing is I WANT to see some blood and cutting and all that LOL

Oh well then I'm not sure what was said that diverted from shadowing an OMS...... no worries..

I was very fortunate, their were two Oral Surgeons in the office, one young and one old.... both loved telling me everything the were doing and why, both let me assist (extensively) without me having to ask at all........ (Before I cause a lot of confusion, I should mention I am an older applicant with A LOT of lab experience which they did ask and I did mention before I "jumped-in" and assisted, that said I do get the impression I wasn't the only pre-dent that shadowed them that they let assist)

One GP I shadowed was really chill let me watch everything, I tried to ask questions, got polite answers..... but not a whole lot, ran out of stuff to ask on the 2nd day (largely due to him being a mostly Crown & Fillings type and there are only so many questions you can ask about that)

The other GP I shadowed was a young flashy go getter type...... Did everything in his office, implants, Ortho, had a Cerec machine, there was a TV on in the lobby playing a dental channel and he was on half the commercials.... Guy loved to talk about everything he was doing..... (I got the impression part of it was to impress me enough to make him my dentist, which there is absolutely nothing wrong with, smart if you ask me)

I'll tell you how I got to shadow these guys and a lil advice you can take or leave.....

The young GP was a friend of mine's Dentist, he mentioned I was looking for a Dentist to shadow, (I think he was looking for another patient) and he told my friend that I should call him and set something up.....

The older GP was a friend of mine's Dad, he gave him a call for me and I got to shadow him for two days.....

The Oral surgeons...... One of the hygienists at the Older GP's practice had a good friend who was an assistant in the Oral Surgeons office, She mentioned that she had given her friend a call for another young pre-dent patient and got him a day of shadowing over there... She asked if I would like that, I said I'd love it.... Next time I shadowed, she told me she forgot and would get back to me, I scheduled a cleaning from her two weeks later, during my cleaning She reminded herself again, then e-mailed me a few days later telling me It was set up and to give them a call...... the rest is history 🙂

My advice is if you are having a hard time finding a GP to shadow (make sure you scour your family and friends first, when I said the guy's whose dad I shadowed was a friend of mine I really meant he was a friend of a friend who mostly had only ever talked to on Facebook, so it took some guts for me to ask, so really make sure you SCOUR your contacts), worst case, schedule a cleaning somewhere (Preferrably a single Doc practice), talk up the hygienist, mention you're trying to go to Dental School and how much of a tough time you are having finding a GP to shadow, they'll probably set you up with their Doc.....

While you are shadowing talk up the assistants/hygienists, let them know you are interested in seeing everything, mention different types of techniques or specialities and odds are they have friend in another office that can hook you up (as long you guys get along and you play it right)......... Good Luck, you can PM me if you need

 

[reidjones]

Completely Agree!