Technology or faculty?

[ToothbrushBuddy]

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Is it better to choose a school with cutting-edge technology that students can learn how to use and practice with, or go to a school with professors and faculty that are leaders in their field and are on the cutting edge of research?

 

[gn4]

depends on you. If you just plan on doing "drill and fill" dentistry, you should just go to a school with good clinical instruments.

 

[VaderJames]

I agree that it depends on what you are looking for out of your school. New types of technology and techniques are completely available post dental school in continued education courses. This is where you can excel from an average dentist to cutting edge learning about the finer points from people who have been practicing for multiple decades rather than teaching students.

 

[sgv]

If you want to be researcher, obviously go to research school or go to cheapest school so you can survive on that researcher's salary or special teacher's IBR. Go to cheapest dental school and then get your Master's/PhD from a research school...I have no idea what the heck you want out of dental school...

[Amount of $$$ that the state is willing to pay for your education] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> dental tech./professors. Generally professors are good enough anywhere. Use that saved $$$ and spend it specifically on CE courses on areas that you're weak in. CE courses are taught by people who are definitely the best in the nation. It's kind of a crapshoot with dental school professors and there's no way you can find out which school has highest ratio of good professors to bad professors.

Dental simulation/Dentsim is useless once you start working on non computer mannequins with typodonts because you can actually move the heads on these mannequins and the drills aren't oversized like those dentsim drills with LED sensors. Mannequins with typodonts are useless once you start treating patients under supervision of dental faculty and under the umbrella of the school in case you mess up. Treating patients in dental school is useless once you're on your own in the real world without an instructor holding your hand or a dental school to cover your ass from a lawsuit in case you mess up. Catch my drift? See how far back and useless dental simulation technology becomes in about four years? No D4 is 100% ready for the ass whooping from the real world and there's a huge learning curve for those couple of years after graduation and no amount of nifty dental simulation is going to help you at this point.

why would you care about research if you wanna be a GP? just learn how to read a research article and learn basic statistics to sift through the BS. Don't spend $200,000 more going to a big research school for a skill that only takes a summer research gig between D1 and D2 to develop. i know dentistry is trying to become minimally invasive with emphasis on medicine over surgery to become dental medicine and not just dental surgery, but geez, don't screw yourself out of $200,000 going to a research school to learn more dental medicine from JDR. besides dentistry is lightyears behind medicine in terms of keeping up with technology. for good reason too. why spend $100 million on restoration research when you can spend it on targeted cancer therapy? don't go into dentistry if you want the hottest new technology or "cutting edge research". You'd be in the wrong field...(radiation oncology is that way --->)

 

[ToothbrushBuddy]

If you want to be researcher, obviously go to research school or go to cheapest school so you can survive on that researcher's salary or special teacher's IBR. Go to cheapest dental school and then get your Master's/PhD from a research school...I have no idea what the heck you want out of dental school...

[Amount of $$$ that the state is willing to pay for your education] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> dental tech./professors. Generally professors are good enough anywhere. Use that saved $$$ and spend it specifically on CE courses on areas that you're weak in. CE courses are taught by people who are definitely the best in the nation. It's kind of a crapshoot with dental school professors and there's no way you can find out which school has highest ratio of good professors to bad professors.

Dental simulation/Dentsim is useless once you start working on non computer mannequins with typodonts because you can actually move the heads on these mannequins and the drills aren't oversized like those dentsim drills with LED sensors. Mannequins with typodonts are useless once you start treating patients under supervision of dental faculty and under the umbrella of the school in case you mess up. Treating patients in dental school is useless once you're on your own in the real world without an instructor holding your hand or a dental school to cover your ass from a lawsuit in case you mess up. Catch my drift? See how far back and useless dental simulation technology becomes in about four years? No D4 is 100% ready for the ass whooping from the real world and there's a huge learning curve for those couple of years after graduation and no amount of nifty dental simulation is going to help you at this point.

why would you care about research if you wanna be a GP? just learn how to read a research article and learn basic statistics to sift through the BS. Don't spend $200,000 more going to a big research school for a skill that only takes a summer research gig between D1 and D2 to develop. i know dentistry is trying to become minimally invasive with emphasis on medicine over surgery to become dental medicine and not just dental surgery, but geez, don't screw yourself out of $200,000 going to a research school to learn more dental medicine from JDR. besides dentistry is lightyears behind medicine in terms of keeping up with technology. for good reason too. why spend $100 million on restoration research when you can spend it on targeted cancer therapy? don't go into dentistry if you want the hottest new technology or "cutting edge research". You'd be in the wrong field...(radiation oncology is that way --->)

Good advice, thanks. I actually just want to work for the IHS as a public health dentist, so I'll probably just go to the school that accepts me that's the most service oriented focus.

 

[jeffity]

Go where you'll get the fundamentals -- some framework/foundation. You'll essentially get that at any school. So it comes back to cost. From what I gather (dent forum, friends at other schools....and even the trusty word-of-mouth here...), you might have to work harder at some schools to get the most out of it. Perhaps patient pool is skinny (or on your shoulders alone), or you'll have to fight for a seat or to work faculty in your favor. But no matter where you end up, you'll get out of it what you put in. The fancy toys and sim clinics are great (apparently my school has a decent one), but what good is my pretty little milled crown if I can't do a solid crown prep to design around/place it on?

As for interest in public health, while it might be nice if your school embraces that (or if you have student organizations heavily involved in outreach), that's sort of a personal, built-in feature that you either of have or you don't. I recall you're not a fan of ASDOH, but that's the prime place to be if you want to go that route. But is it necessary? Absolutely not. So again, shoot for fundamentals and go cheap.

 

[goffdent]

Apply to a school that has a specialty in dental public health then...