Who has shadowed an orthodontist?

[Phish]

I spent yesterday shadowing an orthodontist just to see what it's like. Wow. First of all, he was scheduled to see 73 (!) patients throughout the day. Also, I got so sleepy into the third hour... it was basically run of the mill stuff. I could imagine doing it, but shadowing it was pretty boring, to be honest. Out of the 30 or so patients that I saw him work on, only two got braces on- the rest were just check ups, rewiring, etc.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

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[txaggie03]

Yup. And the doc I shadowed had his assistants doing all the rewiring. I found myself watching their work more than the doc's.

 

[Nevertheless]

I shadowed an orthodontist for two days last summer. My experience was very similar. After shadowing a general dentist, ortho seemed pretty boring. The most interesting part was when he took his (real) human skull off the shelf and tried to explain the complexities of jaw angles to me. Other than that it was small adjustments and retainer fittings.

 

[Alanine]

yes, i shadowed one a couple of times...and i personally was not interested in it all too much. I also ended up watching the assistants more than the orthodontist. The orthodontist was busy the whole entire time, basically running from one patient to the next..but the time spent with each patient was ~5 minutes, tops.

 

[uldental]

I shadowed an orthodontist this past fall and had similar experiences. I got to study his patient's progresses throughout their ortho life in pictures and charts. I think its a rewarding career but hard to see in just 1-2 days of shadowing, because ortho takes time...
Did anyone get to see the them put in a temporary anchorage device?!!! 😀
soo coooool!!!

 

[camshaft]

Just remember that many times shadowing anything will be far more boring than doing it yourself, so don't let that dictate your interest in a field. My dad was a surgeon and up until the day he retired said that watching someone else do surgery was unbearably boring for him.

 

[MAdental]

.but the time spent with each patient was ~5 minutes, tops.

dream job right there.

 

[Canard]

Yea, it was same for me where I watched assistants more than doctor but it was very interesting to see how orthodontist decide on the treatment plan or changing the treatment plan with explanation of why from previous orthodontist that the patient had.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

I worked at an ortho clinic for 5 summers, and I can guarantee that you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Most of the real WORK orthodontists do is not on the floor - it's in their offices during the treatment planning process, where they're tracing cephs and pans, and working with models and doing calculations. If you are a do-er, then go into OMFS. If you are a planner, then go into ortho. Orthodontics is a lot of puzzle work; once you figure out a game plan (extract first, then fix cross bite...or use class II head gear....rapid maxillary expansion, etc) then its a slow process over a few years.

So, unless you get to sit in on treatment planning and initial exams, all you really see are the assistants bonding and doing tune-ups.

 

[mitrieD]

I'm more interested if anyone shadowed a dental surgeon before.


Are dental surgeons allowed to let students shadow them as long as the patient is okay with it?

 

[amalgamgrillz]

I'm more interested if anyone shadowed a dental surgeon before.


Are dental surgeons allowed to let students shadow them as long as the patient is okay with it?

yes.

 

[jeffity]

I did ortho once because it was offered to me...figured I shouldn't turn down checking it out. Interesting, but boring (I know I didn't see much and it's all over my head right now). I need to see blood and I need my hands to be dirty. I need to get in with a surgeon.

 

[chippy]

I shadowed an orthodontist for a day and found it pretty exciting actually. It's so fast! It did seem kind of...what's the word...low key maybe? Like no blood, no needles, no numbing, no gas, scalpels...very clean and quick. Surface level. But yeah I agree, I feel like the assistants did a lot of the work and that some of the lab work was actually more interesting than what was going on up front.

I have shadowed oral surgeons before in a hospital clinic setting and all I saw was extractions. Lots of extractions. I guess I wasn't that blown away by it because general dentists do extractions too.

 

[jeffity]

It's too bad that's all you saw them do were extractions.

The orthodontist I went to told me ortho (to him) is more of an administrative position with creating and overseeing the treatment plans and running the crew of assistants.

 

[slm266]

Shadowing on the floor is almost pointless. If you have just an hour or so to shadow make sure its during consults. You'll learn much more after watching a few consults (if he's good) than from a day of shadowing him or assistants at the chair.