Specialty schools vs. Clinical schools

[rav4182]

Is there really THAT big of difference of which school you go to if you want to specialize?

I really want to go to a school that has a strong clinical program that gives me most practice with patients and procedures, but i MAY decide to specialize in the future.

I understand some schools are more clinically focused than others. Can't these students also specialize if they do well on their boards? I mean, you can become very good clinically and study hard at the same time, right?

One of the things that attracts me to dentistry is the complexity of it. Are there procedures that only specialists can do? General dentists are qualified to work with kids and do endo procedures. What about perio, braces, and other more complicated procedures. Do those require a specialty?

And i've heard that for dental specialties YOU have to pay for the residency, they dont pay you. whats up with that?

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[rav4182]

really, no one knows anything?

 

[klutzy1987]

Ifyou do well on the boards (part 1) you will have the option of specializing regardless of what school you went to. Granted that coming out of a superior didactic school you are prone to do well on the boards. However you can do just as well if you sr\tudy right and you will be so far ahead of someone that went to a purely didactic school (a.k.a. columbia).

As for paying for residency, it depends on the residency. Hospital residencies usually pay you while university residencies usually you pay for them. Gotta find the right program.

 

[drhobie7]

Is there really THAT big of difference of which school you go to if you want to specialize?

I really want to go to a school that has a strong clinical program that gives me most practice with patients and procedures, but i MAY decide to specialize in the future.

I understand some schools are more clinically focused than others. Can't these students also specialize if they do well on their boards? I mean, you can become very good clinically and study hard at the same time, right?

One of the things that attracts me to dentistry is the complexity of it. Are there procedures that only specialists can do? General dentists are qualified to work with kids and do endo procedures. What about perio, braces, and other more complicated procedures. Do those require a specialty?

And i've heard that for dental specialties YOU have to pay for the residency, they dont pay you. whats up with that?

I don't think it matters where you go to dental school if you want to specialize. Like the previous poster said, just do well on the boards and get good grades.

There are quite a few GPs out there who do things generally done by specialists -- ortho, molar endo, implants, third molars. You don't need a specialty to do these. However, often in dentistry the key is efficiency. For example, it may not make much sense to do your own molar endo if it takes you 2 hours. That being said, there are some GPs that become quite good at molar endo and don't refer.

Dental residencies that are part of a hospital (OMS, GPR) pay you a resident stipend like medical residents get. Many of the other residencies (pedo, ortho, perio) will have you pay some or all of your tuition. This is because funding has been cut and these programs don't have the money available to them that they had a few years ago.

 

[KenKim]

So... general dentists... they can do EVERYTHING a specialist does.

so let me tell you WHY specialists exist

ONE. so lets say you are a general dentist. And you decide to go on and do some braces for a patient. You mess up badly and the patient sues you. Then you automatically loose the case and you are out of business lol. Why do you loose automatically? because u risked it when you should have referred the patient to the specialist. On the OTHER HAND, if you are a orthodontist and mess up badly and the patient sue you. You win automatically because you are a specialist of that sort of treatment and there are nobody in the world who couldve done better.


TWO. obvious reason. specialist are experts at their area

 

[biorenaissance]

So... general dentists... they can do EVERYTHING a specialist does.

so let me tell you WHY specialists exist

ONE. so lets say you are a general dentist. And you decide to go on and do some braces for a patient. You mess up badly and the patient sues you. Then you automatically loose the case and you are out of business lol. Why do you loose automatically? because u risked it when you should have referred the patient to the specialist. On the OTHER HAND, if you are a orthodontist and mess up badly and the patient sue you. You win automatically because you are a specialist of that sort of treatment and there are nobody in the world who couldve done better.


TWO. obvious reason. specialist are experts at their area

You need to contact legal counsel because you a horribly misinformed. Just because your a specialist does not imply you (really your insurance company) will automatically "win" in court if you are sued for malpractice on a procedure within the scope of your own specialty. I am contemplating both law school and dental school at this time and seeing your response makes me think malpractice would be very lucrative in comparison to dentistry

 

[sarah_bellum]

Is there really THAT big of difference of which school you go to if you want to specialize?

No, as far as I can tell.

 

[KenKim]

You need to contact legal counsel because you a horribly misinformed. Just because your a specialist does not imply you (really your insurance company) will automatically "win" in court if you are sued for malpractice on a procedure within the scope of your own specialty. I am contemplating both law school and dental school at this time and seeing your response makes me think malpractice would be very lucrative in comparison to dentistry

u actually took my words literally? LOL OF Course you dont win AUTOMATICALLY. but of course you have a better case if you are a specialist than being a general dentist. end of story

 

[drhobie7]

You do expose yourself to more risk as a GP doing procedures typically done by specialists. However, I don't know the measure of that risk. With respect to the law, your outcome/technique/complications are compared to what the average specialist in your geographic area would have done when you do ortho, endo, oral surgery, etc as a GP.

 

[dentalWorks]

Ifyou do well on the boards (part 1) you will have the option of specializing regardless of what school you went to. Granted that coming out of a superior didactic school you are prone to do well on the boards. However you can do just as well if you sr\tudy right and you will be so far ahead of someone that went to a purely didactic school (a.k.a. columbia).

As for paying for residency, it depends on the residency. Hospital residencies usually pay you while university residencies usually you pay for them. Gotta find the right program.

I heard thats not going to be an option any more, since they are changing Step 1 to being pass-fail in.....2012?

 

[DiscoBalls]

You do expose yourself to more risk as a GP doing procedures typically done by specialists. However, I don't know the measure of that risk. With respect to the law, your outcome/technique/complications are compared to what the average specialist in your geographic area would have done when you do ortho, endo, oral surgery, etc as a GP.

You also get paid less doing specialty procedures as a GP

 

[drhobie7]

You also get paid less doing specialty procedures as a GP

Yep. Insurance has specialty rates.

 

[rav4182]

well if there doing away with that then whats gonna be the new way to qualify for a specialty?

 

[armorshell]

well if there doing away with that then whats gonna be the new way to qualify for a specialty?

They'll come up with another test, in fact they're already in the works, at least for OMFS.

As far as me, I went to a so-called clinical school, and my classmate and I ended up at a highly competitive and sought after OMFS program so there's an example for you.

 

[kitejunky27]

go to the school where you feel you will get the best education.

Within the first 6 months after school, you will have done more clinical practice than in all of dental school.

The boards are going pass fail now. Where you go to school could help differentiate yourself from other candidates

 

[LaFleur]

I heard thats not going to be an option any more, since they are changing Step 1 to being pass-fail in.....2012?

I have heard this also, and I'm pretty sure I saw a thread on sdn where it was confirmed by dental students who got emails from ada or their deans. I'll try to find it later (since searching on my phone=complicated).

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[LaFleur]

They'll come up with another test, in fact they're already in the works, at least for OMFS.

As far as me, I went to a so-called clinical school, and my classmate and I ended up at a highly competitive and sought after OMFS program so there's an example for you.

Sorry, didn't see your reply. >.<

I actually have another question--how does one distinguish a clinical school from a didactic one? Are public dental schools more likely to be clinical?

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[klutzy1987]

Sorry, didn't see your reply. >.<

I actually have another question--how does one distinguish a clinical school from a didactic one? Are public dental schools more likely to be clinical?

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Schools that dont start clinic until the beginning or middle fo tird year and only have clinic a couple of days a week and have mainly didactic courses, and their belief is if they teach you the principles and theory behind it you can fidure out how to actually do it are didactic schools. The clinical schools are schools like temple, where they have a watered down curriculum and make it easy for the students to get good grades however they have a crapload of patients so you get exposed to alot of cases and patients would be a clinical school.

Then there are schools that have an excellent clinic and still put a major focus on didactic and those schools are the best. Hence why i chose StonyBrook. I start clinic in the beginning of second year (OMG in 2 months lol), and the class average for the boards is usually in the high 80's to 90.