UCLA dental kit requirements

[ayoon80]

UCLA requires that we buy a new dental kit from their store for $15000, and specifically say that used or kits from other sources are not acceptable. Does everybody actually shell out 15000 for these kits? Or can we get around this rule and buy used kits from other dental students etc for a lower price?

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[Rhea]

Hey Ayoon,

I am volunteering at a dental office right now, and I remember the dentist telling me that the kit you buy in dental school will actually be put to use again when you start working, or open your own practice. So in essence, you get your money's worth. I would buy a new set.
-rhea

 

[steiner19er]

true you will use most of that equiptment when u enter private practice. So buy it now b/c manufactors give the schools a good break, and that means savings to u, just so that u get used to their instruments and when u graduate u buy their instruments

 

[ayoon80]

thanks for the info guys.

 

[sanara]

Sorry to tell you there is no way around it, you gotta buy the kit. It's a total rip off (sources = UCLA dental students and employees at the CHS store who put the kits together). You get a laptop (which you would pay less for outside), which you only need for the Histology CD. They include things like ear plugs and highlighters at marked up prices and you still end up having to pay out of pocket for extra materials not included in the kit.

But think of it like this, you'rte only paying around $8000 for tuition a year, so you're still ahead.

 

[chocobo]

The dental kit is marked up because it goes through the ucla bookstore (processing costs). Everything would be cheaper if we could just buy them on our own. I don't think we payed for anything that was not in the kit though.

By the way, you don't need the laptop to view the Histo CD. You can just use your own desktop (which most people probably have) or you can even go to the school computers and view them there. Our class was unhappy about the laptop situation because they added really expensive accessory things that were unnecessary (we have a DVD-rom & a CDRW & forced to buy a printer).

 

[sanara]

Just to clarify...

I meant that I have known dental students who had to buy materials in addition to those in the kits either because they were not included in the kit or because they ran out.

Of course you could use any computer to view the histo CD, but I meant that was essentially all you need the laptop for as far as school work is concerned.

 

[ayoon80]

So the labtop really wasn't necessary? sheesh, it sounds like they are making us buy pricy things that aren't really needed!

 

[chocobo]

Yeah, definitely, like Sanara says, you'll be buying things that are not in the kit & you'll run out of things (I've already spend lots of money on typodont teeth & burs & scalpels, oh and of course, those really expensive textbooks).

We asked the school why we had to buy a laptop this year, and the school told us we needed it for the histo CD which was a really lame answer IMO since there are computers in the histo lab and you can view it else where when you're studying for histo. I'm sure it's good for people who don't have any kind of computer, since it's important to check school e-mail and such. In any case, the laptop is needed when we start going into clinic because the school is going to be computerizing patient data base & things (it's in the process of converting, I think).