Volunteer work

[Manyak222]

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How did you guys/girls go about obtaining volunteer work? Im not as fortunate as some of you who have a "cousin Balky" who is a dentist and wouldn't mind me shadowing him. In fact, I know no dentists. For those of you without the good fortune of Mr. Balky (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c125/mastical/balky.jpg), how did you get the hook up? Did you just call every dental office in your area? What kind of responses did you get? Gratsi!

 

[WSDriller]

Talk to your personal dentist. I have been impressed with how helpful Dentists can be if you just ask. Also, find out if your state has a homeless shelter that offers dental services for the people at the shelter. I'm in AZ (Phoenix) and I spend a day a week at the shelter doing plenty of volunteer work. They love the free labor.

 

[Manyak222]

Nice driller!
What kind of work do you do at the homeless shelter?

 

[lifeisgood]

Hey Manyak!

I met the dentist I shadowed at a bar in Lake Havasu called the Naked Turtle....So my advice, go bar hopping looking for dentists 👍

 

[Manyak222]

You're kidding! It takes a special dude to meet a dentist at some bar in havasu and get some volunteer work out of it. I have some connections that I will pull this monday to see what i can get. What do you do as a volunteer?

 

[WSDriller]

I sterilize equipment, wipe down rooms, chair side assist the dentists, and do plenty of observing. Because it is a homeless shelter, I see some pretty nasty cases. (due to "meth mouth" probably) Seeing some of those cases, it's a good way to find out if you really want to be a dentist. Great experience and looks good on an application (so I have been told).

 

[Manyak222]

Sounds like the type of stuff I did in a hospital. Homeless people were the hardest to deal with. I'd say it didnt detract me from wanting a career in the health field, but I didnt say to my self "now THIS is what I want to do" after dealing with a homeless patient. I enjoyed helping people a lot, but homeless people usually came in after a fight escorted by police, and some were violent. Not what you would see as a dentist for the most part other than the mouth perhaps.

I sterilize equipment, wipe down rooms, chair side assist the dentists, and do plenty of observing. Because it is a homeless shelter, I see some pretty nasty cases. (due to "meth mouth" probably) Seeing some of those cases, it's a good way to find out if you really want to be a dentist. Great experience and looks good on an application (so I have been told).

 

[lifeisgood]

You're kidding! It takes a special dude to meet a dentist at some bar in havasu and get some volunteer work out of it. I have some connections that I will pull this monday to see what i can get. What do you do as a volunteer?

Where do you live again?

I volunteer now in a free med/dental clinic in Costa Mesa and it is really cool. I assist the dentists, sterilize instruments, clean, paperwork, special projects for the dentists (usually on the computer), and other things. Everyone I volunteer with from the dental director to the "real" DA's and other volunteers are really chill. I really enjoy it, plus it gets me out of a half day of work every week. Love it.

 

[lifeisgood]

I sterilize equipment, wipe down rooms, chair side assist the dentists, and do plenty of observing. Because it is a homeless shelter, I see some pretty nasty cases. (due to "meth mouth" probably) Seeing some of those cases, it's a good way to find out if you really want to be a dentist. Great experience and looks good on an application (so I have been told).

I see the same stuff too...plus lots of Mexican immigrants with some CRAZY dental work that we fix for them.

 

[Uracil]

Hey Manyak!
Well in my case, I called 234583 dental offices for a period of a month during the summer and no luck 😡
Then, my mom talked to her friend who's a dentist and he let me go shadowed him. Thennn he offered me a job as dental assistant 😱 with no experience! 😀
The 2 dentists that worked there were 30 and 31 years old, and I became really good friends with them 👍, and we even went out to dinner sometimes after work and a couple of times to this bar, etc. They were the best! 😀 😛

 

[Lemming]

I think that a lot of people just do dentistry types of shadowing and volunteering, which is great. It seems to me, at least from the 5 or 6 admissions directors that I have talked with that in most instances they want to see some true volunteer work and not just shadowing. Something like what driller does would be perfect, but even if it is just serving food at a soup kitchen, it confirms to them the #1 reason on peoples apps...that they want to help people. This came pretty much directly from a director's mouth. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you have a problem locating a dentist to work with, you will have no problem finding a rescue mission or similar.

 

[Manyak222]

I'm in the san fernando valley, about 10 minutes north of ucla. I have to find some kind of volunteer work in dental labs since all my work so far has been at hospitals and all the secondaries ask about dental volunteer work and actually ask you WHY you don't have any if you dont. I was going to just call all my local dental offices but after some responses I got I decided it was gonna be harder than i thought.

Where do you live again?

I volunteer now in a free med/dental clinic in Costa Mesa and it is really cool. I assist the dentists, sterilize instruments, clean, paperwork, special projects for the dentists (usually on the computer), and other things. Everyone I volunteer with from the dental director to the "real" DA's and other volunteers are really chill. I really enjoy it, plus it gets me out of a half day of work every week. Love it.

 

[Manyak222]

Hey Uragirl!
You see, you fall into the "cousin Balky" thing I was talkin about. That's awesome that you climbed the ladder so fast. I'll be sure to hook up an undergrad when I become a dentist...

Hey Manyak!
Well in my case, I called 234583 dental offices for a period of a month during the summer and no luck 😡
Then, my mom talked to her friend who's a dentist and he let me go shadowed him. Thennn he offered me a job as dental assistant 😱 with no experience! 😀
The 2 dentists that worked there were 30 and 31 years old, and I became really good friends with them 👍, and we even went out to dinner sometimes after work and a couple of times to this bar, etc. They were the best! 😀 😛

 

[Uracil]

Hey Uragirl!
You see, you fall into the "cousin Balky" thing I was talkin about. That's awesome that you climbed the ladder so fast. I'll be sure to hook up an undergrad when I become a dentist...

I will too. 🙂

One dentist told me when I was asking him if I could shadow him "You don't need shadowing experience, that's after you get into dental school"...😱 😡 🙄

 

[WSDriller]

I will too. 🙂

One dentist told me when I was asking him if I could shadow him "You don't need shadowing experience, that's after you get into dental school"...😱 😡 🙄

LIAR

 

[fancymylotus]

dads old classmates👍

 

[Manyak222]

The Balky phenomenon

dads old classmates👍

 

[fancymylotus]

The Balky phenomenon

NEENER

 

[Uracil]

LIAR

I know...he didn't want me to shadow him for some reason.

 

[DentalDevil]

If you want contacts, you might be able to contact your undergrad institution and ask their career center or pre-health advisor. A lot of the time they have local dentists or alumni on a list who are willing to have students shadow.

 

[DentalBoarder]

How did you guys/girls go about obtaining volunteer work? Im not as fortunate as some of you who have a "cousin Balky" who is a dentist and wouldn't mind me shadowing him. In fact, I know no dentists. For those of you without the good fortune of Mr. Balky (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c125/mastical/balky.jpg), how did you get the hook up? Did you just call every dental office in your area? What kind of responses did you get? Gratsi!

I have gone to the dentist in April 2004 for the first time in 9 years (NO CAVITIES!!!!). I haven't gone back since. Then I gathered enough courage one day, went to his office about 1.5 yrs later, and asked if I can volunteer for him. He was really nice about it. He also wrote me a letter of rec!

 

[Euphoria36]

i got my job out of the classifieds in the paper. they were looking for a dental assistant and i was desperate for a job, i knew nothing at the time but decided to gave it a shot anyway. the dentist was nice enough to give me a chance and show me the ropes and ive been working there for over a year now. i've come a long way from where i started. i pretty much run the office and do a lot of the hands on assisting work in the back as well..

keep looking i'm sure you'll find something...