Shadowing

[mynameistino]

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If you want some shadowing hours, do you just walk in a clinic and ask a dentist if you can shadow him?

 

[ISU_Steve]

I sent out letters with an attached copy of my resume to about 15 different practices, in various specialties, requesting permission to observe, and recieved positive responses from all but 3 of them (2 I still have not heard back from, and one told me no outright (they don't allow any observers apparently)). This just seemed to me to be better than showing up and asking to speak with the dentist unannounced.

 

[NCdds]

I started with shadowing my family dentist, and he referred me to 2 others he knew who may allow me to shadow them. Then I called their practices and sent them my resumes and got involved shadowing them as well. Another option is if you have a pre-dental advisor at your school, they may have some contacts to shadow.

 

[Sprgrover]

I started with my family dentist (I just called him up) and then went to a couple more near my home. All of the dentists I encountered were really enthusiatic about me shadowing them and I have a feeling most of the people out there nervous about gaining some shadowing experience will find this to be the case. I recommend calling first versus just showing up - the dentist might not be able to work you in and some days are better than others. Best of luck!

 

[IcemanDDS]

Like a post I read earlier, it might be better to stop by offices and ask if you can shadow starting at a later date. Might be harder to say no if you are there in person, also it would be more personal. But by no means would it hurt to call around. I got lucky I guess, my uncle is a dentist so I had an open door for shadowing. I'm thinkin about tryin to shadow at some other practices, ie specialty practitioners.

 

[edkNARF]

I did what NCdds and Sprgrover did, I started with my family dentist. I found this to be most helpful because I was already comfortable with him and his staff. In fact, I spent most of my time at his office chatting with his office manager.