What to do if you suck at doing dental work?

[CaliDent383]

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[Mackchops]

First of all, do you enjoy dentistry? Because if you do you can work on your hand skills. Trust me on that one -- it just takes time and, if you are a little more lacking than most in innate ability, a LOT of practice. Ask your faculty for help and take their advice.

Second, you should be more worried about your ability to provide a high level of care to your patients, not "getting sued all the time"...

Third, there's always path, public health, radiology, oral medicine, anesthesia, ortho (different hand skills required), or become a GP and limit your practice to removable or something like that. There are a ton of options that don't require the fine skills necessary to cut a Class II out of a plastic tooth...

 

[mantraman1010]

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[btk2333]

Ok so I am in my second year and am quickly realizing that my hands are too shaky and I have perceptive skills are too poor to be a decent dentist (It would have worked out better if no school had even let me in with a 16 PAT). I might be able to pass my courses but I don't want to end up getting sued all the time so I was wondering which speciality relies the least on these skills or should I try to go straight into research .

Ok my main question for you would be why do you think your hand skills suck. Is it because of your grades on practicals or actual patient experiences? There were times when I thought my hand skills were subpar, but with a some work I feel pretty confident in my abilities. I wouldn't give up hope just yet, you're going to spend a lot of time working on your hand skills the next couple years and if you keep an open mind and work at it you should improve a lot

 

[CaliDent383]

Thanks for the encouragement, I think a lot of it might be just nervousness and self-doubt about my abilities... I will keep working at it and hopefully get better.

However, I am really intrigued by specialties like dental anesthesia, radiology, and public health; I think these might suit my skills and aptitudes best. I know there are very limited spots for these, however, so could anyone give a quick rundown on what type of stats/experience you need to be accepted to one of these straight out of dental school?