Textbooks in dental school

[7 Iron]

So I haven't gotten my book list yet for my first year, but I'm sure it will be extensive. However, some dental students have told me to NOT buy any of the textbooks unless it's essential to the class. Do you all agree with this? Which books do you use the most? Obviously I want to make smart financial decisions, and I'd rather not spend a couple thousand dollars a year on textbooks that I won't use very much!

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[MatthewLeeDDS]

So I haven't gotten my book list yet for my first year, but I'm sure it will be extensive. However, some dental students have told me to NOT buy any of the textbooks unless it's essential to the class. Do you all agree with this? Which books do you use the most? Obviously I want to make smart financial decisions, and I'd rather not spend a couple thousand dollars a year on textbooks that I won't use very much!

Talk to some second year students at your school. I for one bought all the books my first semester (military scholarship) and never opened a single one. Still haven't. We have yet to take a class where a textbook is required to do well.

 

[dentaldawg32]

dental school = POWERPOINT

 

[newyorkblork]

So I haven't gotten my book list yet for my first year, but I'm sure it will be extensive. However, some dental students have told me to NOT buy any of the textbooks unless it's essential to the class. Do you all agree with this? Which books do you use the most? Obviously I want to make smart financial decisions, and I'd rather not spend a couple thousand dollars a year on textbooks that I won't use very much!

Ask the professors and the upperclassmen at the specific school you are entering.

 

[bigstix808]

ive bought 4 books (one of which the professor wrote it so his exams come straight from it) and the others are ones i wanted to just keep around (opperative, perio, and RPD). there is a good chance upperclassment will be able to hook you up with a digital copy of some of the books, but even then, you prob wont use them.

 

[Philippines03j]

I only opened anatomy textbook while we were discecting cadavers 🙂
Disclaimer: Some professors test more out of the book...My single tooth indirect class is tested heavily out of the lab manual and some from the power points. Luckly the lab manual is free for the PDF version😀

This is #2 on the list of "what we wished we would have known before dental school"...Can be found on my blog...

 

[Daurang]

You can search out textbooks sold in foreign countries that is 1/4 the price of the exact same textbooks here. There is a huge warning sign printed right on the book that says 'NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE USA.' I say bullcrap.

 

[DentToBeCont]

I bought all my text books undergrad online, and they were all the foreign books with 'NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION IN THE USA' on the cover. I would then sell them back online for the same price if not a few extra bucks (depending on what the average cost was then going for). Saved myself over $2,000 compared to bookstore prices of used books.

I plan on trying to do the same thing for Dental School. Right now I'm trying to hunt down what text books and editions I will be needing. So even if I end up not needing them it will not affect my pocket! Worst thing that can happen is someone tells you that the book isn't neccessary only to find out 1-2 weeks in you really need it perfrom well. Then you are stuck with 3 options:
1- Find a friend with the book to share (you get second priority)
2- Buy it online and have to wait another 1-3 weeks to receive it (like this wont add to your stress)
3- Man up and empty your wallet at the bookstore (cause its not like we are going to be $200,000 in dept when we graduate).

 

[BombayBDS]

some books can be really helpful. especially if you plan to have a mini-library to refer stuff on a regular basis.
you could borrow books from the library and then decide what books you really want.

 

[John Durian]

This is a good thread. I think I only bought about 10 books throughout my undergrad education... I hope dschool is no diff book-wise 🙂

 

[Noelle23]

Some dental schools are moving away from actual text books and they are puting them on the school mandated laptops. This really stinks because they force you to pay for them and put all the software on the laptop for you... So, you can't get around not purchasing it🙁

 

[DentToBeCont]

Some dental schools are moving away from actual text books and they are puting them on the school mandated laptops. This really stinks because they force you to pay for them and put all the software on the laptop for you... So, you can't get around not purchasing it🙁

Im really glad my school isn't.. I would be one ticked off D-1!😡 Books are always a rip off through a school. Like they aren't already getting enough of our $$$ they have to stick you for another 4-5 hundo each semester

 

[John Durian]

Some dental schools are moving away from actual text books and they are puting them on the school mandated laptops. This really stinks because they force you to pay for them and put all the software on the laptop for you... So, you can't get around not purchasing it🙁

I know UNLV talked about this during the interview. I think it was like $1,000+ for the CD with the books on it for D1. I mean, wtf. A CD costs $1,000?! No printing, paper, distribution, misc costs and you're still going to charge me $1,000?! 😱

 

[7 Iron]

I know UNLV talked about this during the interview. I think it was like $1,000+ for the CD with the books on it for D1. I mean, wtf. A CD costs $1,000?! No printing, paper, distribution, misc costs and you're still going to charge me $1,000?! 😱

That's crazy! Buying the CD should be optional. Luckily I never heard anything of the sort at my dental school. Pretty sure we will still use books the good old fashioned way. But I guess it's best to just find a D-2 to ask about the books.

 

[manyflowerr]

Books available for Dental courses are Dental Anatomy Colouring Book, Dental Hygiene, Basic Guide to Dental Procedures, Dental Anatomy, The complete Book of Dental Remedies, The Tooth Book, Dental Assisting Colouring Book.

 

[JohnMattBrewer]

Yea, i totally agree with BoomerSooner10 , talk with older students and ask their opinions 🙂

 

[ltb]

I know UNLV talked about this during the interview. I think it was like $1,000+ for the CD with the books on it for D1. I mean, wtf. A CD costs $1,000?! No printing, paper, distribution, misc costs and you're still going to charge me $1,000?! 😱

This actually is not an awful deal. The only drawback is that you don't get the books to physically put on your shelf, but it's an amazing reference tool. Plus, come on, you really think most of the cost of book sales is the paper or distro? It's paying the author for these things. Dentists make good money, so books relating to the subject that are written for those professionals are also going to cost more than your average book (another example of this is poker books - a 300 page book on this subject tends to run a whole lot more expensive than your average 300 page book - a lot of that is because even one thing you pull out of it is going to be well worth the extra money you paid for it). One of my friends went to NYU, where they do this - given the price they paid for books, he has a giant library that's very useful now, while those of us who went to schools where we had to buy books (or were supposed to, anyway...) need to buy them when we find we need them.

If UNLV gives you a library as big as what NYU does, $1k is an absolute steal.

 

[TuckerT21]

If I'm not mistaken, you usually do not pay for a "CD." You pay for licensing, which only last for your 4 years at D-school. So really you are paying thousands of $$$ in RENT for these resources. Total rip-off.

 

[jinlighter]

At NYU they tell us we get to keep the books in our virtual library but they stay the same version they are when our licenses expire.

@OP: I'd say not to buy any book until they tell you to. If they have digital books then it's most likely in the tuition cost and if they don't most professors will cut the fat off of each topic in a ppt.

 

[dentalormental]

The books aren't on a DVD, they are on your computer. You download them with a single program that manages them, updates them while you are in school, allows unlimited access to them after your 4 years, and gives you access to them on multiple computers, your ipad, ipod, iphone, android, and even on the internet for no additional charge. Also, anytime that you highlight on one computer or make notes, it syncs it with all the other methods of access to those books you have After having done this for almost a year and never carrying a single book in my backpack I would NEVER go back to having textbooks again. If I need a reference in 15 years out of a book from dental school all I have to do is go to my computer. Greatest move our school could make regarding textbooks.

 

[BombayBDS]

The books aren't on a DVD, they are on your computer. You download them with a single program that manages them, updates them while you are in school, allows unlimited access to them after your 4 years, and gives you access to them on multiple computers, your ipad, ipod, iphone, android, and even on the internet for no additional charge. Also, anytime that you highlight on one computer or make notes, it syncs it with all the other methods of access to those books you have After having done this for almost a year and never carrying a single book in my backpack I would NEVER go back to having textbooks again. If I need a reference in 15 years out of a book from dental school all I have to do is go to my computer. Greatest move our school could make regarding textbooks.

this sounds awesome!

 

[ltb]

If I'm not mistaken, you usually do not pay for a "CD." You pay for licensing, which only last for your 4 years at D-school. So really you are paying thousands of $$$ in RENT for these resources. Total rip-off.

completely and utterly incorrect - the license never expires, you just don't get updated editions beyond whatever is available when you leave the school.