Waxups More or Less?

[birdsflyinghigh]

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Is it better to go to a school that offers more waxup time vs. less? Is it an effective learning tool and will it make me more competent?

 

[mike3kgt]

Is it better to go to a school that offers more waxup time vs. less? Is it an effective learning tool and will it make me more competent?

Irrelevant for school purposes. All schools make you do enough waxing to get the basics... it's up to you if you want to apply it to more clinically relevant applications.

Don't focus on only what's been shown or talked about by first year dental students on tours... most waste their time with comments like "we've got this awesome histology teacher" or "the perio instructor is tough"... instead focus on questions like "what are your requirements like" or if you are interested in specializing "what's your specialization rate".

Good luck!

 

[DrJeff]

Good for learning hand skills and dental anatomy for sure.

Still feels sometimes like you're being hazed by an instructor when they ask you to redo that transverse ridge on #3 for the 4th time though 😉

 

[longhornpride]

I think the quality of the cafeteria food is probably a bigger deciding factor than how many wax ups you'll do.

 

[AmpedUp]

I honestly don't think it should be a deciding factor...wax-ups are fun & all, but you probably won't be doing it as a dentist. You won't have time for that.

 

[Sublimazing]

Irrelevant for school purposes. All schools make you do enough waxing to get the basics... it's up to you if you want to apply it to more clinically relevant applications.

Don't focus on only what's been shown or talked about by first year dental students on tours... most waste their time with comments like "we've got this awesome histology teacher" or "the perio instructor is tough"... instead focus on questions like "what are your requirements like" or if you are interested in specializing "what's your specialization rate".

Good luck!

what if that perio instructor is really really tough tho?

wax-ups are something that all d-schoolers must do...and it actually helps quite a bit in learning about contacts, emergence profiles, and dental anatomy...but not being great at them...or struggling with them won't prevent you from being a great dentist. Back when I was doing hands-on dentistry in my GPR, I was told that I had the best clinical work of all my co-residents (what an honor 😛 ) and I was that guy in 1st year who had to re-mediate occlusion because of crappy wax-ups.

I found in dental school, and throughout my GPR, that the only time I really need to be artistic was when I was doing anterior composite veneers (and even those you can cheat with a lab fabricated stent). When you're a dentist you can have your lab do all of your wax ups and they come out beautiful. And when you're carving amalgams or composites you'll see that the tooth does a lot of the work for you. My trick always was to be as conservative as possible with the prep so that I don't have to reshape and build up.

The people in your class who are amazing at wax-ups (and there will be more than a few that just blow you away with their skill) will most likely have prettier amalgams, with tertiary anatomy...but it really just doesn't matter. It's icing on the cake, and a nice skill but it just isn't that important. Pt's don't care about fossae anatomy on #2OL as long as the contacts are solid.

And also...just because a school spends less time on wax-ups doesn't mean that you have too. You can do wax-ups for four years straight...and I guarantee there will be faculty that will be happy to evaluate them for all four years.

My advice is to base very very little stock on a school's Pre-Clinic Sim-Lab...because it just ends up mattering so little even by the time you're in your 3rd year of d school

 

[mike3kgt]

The people in your class who are amazing at wax-ups (and there will be more than a few that just blow you away with their skill) will most likely have prettier amalgams, with tertiary anatomy...but it really just doesn't matter. It's icing on the cake, and a nice skill but it just isn't that important. Pt's don't care about fossae anatomy on #2OL as long as the contacts are solid.

While this is true, what I have found in school, in practice, and in residency where we teach the waxing, crown prep, and denture classes is those that are better at waxing are better at all aspects of dentistry. Their crown preps are better, their work is cleaner (dentures etc), and overall their presentation is at a significantly higher standard.

It may be silly now but when you are in practice, you use those basic skills every day (even if you are in ortho, endo etc). Yes you may not be carving wax anymore, but contouring provisionals in the mouth is basically no different with a handpiece and a flame-shaped diamond than with a hollenback carver on a bench top cast. Foundations are critical.

It's a skill that doesn't come quickly to some... like myself. I did terrible in waxing and couldn't really get it right away. Kept working at it and it took a long time but now I'm finishing my prosthodontics residency.

I agree though, don't choose your school because of silly things like this. Choose your school because of #1 cost control, #2 quality of graduates' clinical skill/experience, #3 reputation of the school and #4 a place where you will be professionally satisfied for 4 years and, if you're married, a place where your significant other will be satisfied.