so i see all these medical/law/nursing threads.....how come no one ever made a thread about dental school?
i bet there are dental school students here, or people who are interested in going into this field.
this thread is for general discussion about anything related to dentistry.....and hopefully can help potential applicants answer any questions.
let's help promote dentistry!!

btw, i myself is a 2nd year dental school student =)

I am sophomore in college but i plan on being a pediatric dentist! ahhh im so nervous about getting into dental school

Was the application process really hard as it sounds like in order to get in?

jay chou which dental school do u go to?

hey good for you.
i've never heard of anyone wanting to be a "pediatric" dentist haha.....since children are suppose to be the hardest patients to manage.
application to dental school is just as hard anywhere. there will always be competition, and only more since more ppl apply each year. it only gets harder.


university of hong kong
i plan to come back to the US and practice though.
but i need to go through another two years of school....but i'm determined =)

yay! a dental school thread! i'm a sophomore at UT Austin, planning to go to dental school. are you going to be a general dentist? i think i'm going to do general dentistry at first, and then move to some specialty, like cosmetic, orthopedic, or othodontics.

The 3 specialties you listed are like the hardest to get into, you have to be in the upper top 10% of your class, haha.

I just got accepted dental school 3 weeks ago. I got several acceptance offers, and still waiting on a few more. Its the best Christmas present for me, it makes all 4 years of hardwork so worth it.

For me, I am just going to work hard in dental school, and then keep my options open. I heard horror stories of how hard the first 2 years is. Yikes!

I just went through the whole application cycle, so if anyone has questions, feel free to ask as well.

Just be sure to have A LOT of money, the application fees, going on interviews (plane ticket, hotel, etc), cost me roughly $8,000 - $10,000 alone. I'm glad my dad has the wealth to pay for this, if I had to pay for this, I don't know how I would have done this.

most likely a general dentist.
but a specialist in orthodontics makes more.....i'll think about that one after i graduate lol


congrats...you deserved it!
which school do you plan on going to?

when i come back to the US and practice, i hope i get into the UCSF or UCLA 2-year international dental program.

I applied for dentistry as my first preference for my uni course this year and the offers will only be released on 15 jan..

but before tat, I have to go thru an interview to determine if i am qualified for a spot in dental school. cuz i am at overseas at the moment and the interview's gonna be within a few days time, the dental faculty here is actually gonna conduct a 15 minutes phone interview with me instead.

right now, I am stressing a lot abt this cuz i dun realli know wat to expect from them. wat kind of questions will they normally ask in an interview like this and do i need to do any research or preparation tat's related to dentistry?? wat are the things tat i can and cannot say?

hope you guys can help me out with this... thanks heaps..




Grace

FINALLY!! I was just on the college students thread and I was like.. no DENTAL???

anyway I'm hoping to go to dental school. I'm a second semester Junior and I am currently studying for the DATs.. blehhh

good news.....our thread got pinned!!

hello ^^
im currently an undergrad student at UT Austin and in pre-dental.
I just have a few questions about dentistry bc ive heard dentistry is really "not worth it" or "too risky" when it comes to finding a job.

I've heard that if wanting to become a doctor, generating a business from scratch is very difficult and most of the time impossible. Is this true?

Also, compared to let's say pharamacy or nursing dentistry is the most stressful and time consuming. Is that true as well?

I've been thinking about switching to pharmacy because of the many horror stories I've heard about dentistry. I just want to clear things up. For the sake of my future. haha thanks.

I'm a second year, undergrad pre-dent too!
Yayy I'm glad we finally got our own thread.

I just shadowed two oral surgeons over break, and they were telling me dentistry is the best field to get into, especially if you want a private practice. It's worth it if you love what you're doing. The first oral surgeon told me he paid off his student loans and his practice within the first five years of his work, and the past 7 has been profit (he owns a practice in Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.).

The second oral surgeon told me that the only this that is risky in this field is malpractice. He said that dentist have the most stressful careers because they get lawsuits left and right.

littoqtxlinda, before you switch career paths you should REALLY consider shadowing a dentist, because I was thinking about going to med-school to study oncology, but after I shadowed, I know FOR SURE this is what I want to do

Congrats Jay Chou for getting into dental school! Out of curiousity how well did you do on your DAT's? And...Organic Chem? I got a C+ in O Chem I and I'm wondering if I should retake the course

i didn't have to take DATs, because i'm not going to dental school in the states.
i currently go to dental school @ university of hk =)
i took 2 years of undergrad before heading off to hk though.....i didn't do well in organic chem either

i agree that you should shadow a dental professional at a private clinic.....thats one way to decide if you like it or not.

although i'm not a dentist yet, i don't think it should be too stressful
i think once you've become experienced, you should not have any problems in treating a patient.
but of course you'll feel a bit stressful when you're learning all this stuff in school! (how to come up with a diagnosis/treatment plan....how to clinically treat the patient.....etc)

but i believe both pharmacy and nursing have their advantages/disadvantages as well
nursing is more of a dirty and messy job i guess? you have to clean the patient and stuff....

^ May I ask, why would you need to go through an interview in order to get into Dental School (I'm assuming Melbourne University)? Did they change the entry requirements or something?
I just reviewed the website and it says there is no interview.

http://www.dent.unimelb.edu.au/dsweb/futur...grad/bdsc3.html

3rd year dental hygienist student , thinking about going to dental school after a year or two of work.(gotta pay off all those loans I have taken out )

You have to take into account that not all dentists do oral surgery. Dentists that do general practice, their malpractice rate is A LOT lower then oral surgeons. Oral surgery as a whole is stressful, since you do, well surgery. I would recommend you to shawdow a general practice dentist.

And your C+ in O.Chem, I would retake it. Some dental schools don't accept any grades that have the letter "C" in it . You gotta have all your grades in the B range at least. Its getting more and more competitive every year to get into dental school, so its the best if all your grades are either an A, A-, or a B+.

for those who are already in dental school, when do you see real patients?
is it like around your 2nd year or 3rd year?
and what was the experience like?

quick question for undergrads.. do you think its worth going into a pre-dental program... or just majoring in like bio..and plan to go to dental school?!

I'm planning on becoming a math major and then going into dentistry. Am I an idiot for not majoring in chem, bichem, etc?

hey this is cool. i didn't know so many soompi members were pre-dental or in dental school.

i'm a 2nd year undergrad at ucd right now. i'm also pre-dental due to parental expectations.

^You shouldn't pursue something just because your parents' expectations.


FOR ALL PRE-DENT MAJORS:
PLEASE do yourself a favor and SHADOW A DENTIST for MORE than a YEAR. Make sure you have interest, appreciation and dedication in the field even after that year of shadowing. You'll save money and time!

I, for one, was a pre-dent major. That is, until I shadowed a dentist. My goodness, I thought I was going to go insane. o_o Needless to say, I got out of my pre-dent program. Oh boy, I spent so many years of dedication and money on something I ended up not enjoying. It sucked but I am glad I figured it out before I applied for dental schools.

For those of you who are applying to or in dental school, GOOD LUCK!

I think it depends on the dental school, but most schools start seeing real patients during end of 2nd year, or 1st part of 3rd year.




Nope, it doesn't matter what major you are. I've seen some people who are English majors that get into dental school. What major you are doesn't matter, as long as you complete all the pre-reqs for dental school. Its just most people do the biology, biochem route cuz most of the classes that are pre-reqs for dental school are required for the biology major.

master papaya

hey.....

lol. the interview thingie.. it wasn't for melb uni dent.. it's for latrobe uni dent...

i couldn't get into melb uni dentistry cuz it's too hard... there's only 30 spots in melbourne.... but i got into another uni called latrobe uni.. it's true tat you dun need an interview for melb uni dentistry.. but the latrobe uni dental faculty also cancelled the interview at the last minute.. so . hahaha. i din go thru one either...

are you a dental student too??

Hi, Amazin Grace :)

Oops, I forgot that LaTrobe is offering dentistry too ^^;; It has been brought into effect this year?

Yeah, I'm a dental student at Melbourne Uni but only in 2nd year so I still have a long way to go :(
Melbourne dental school is indeed very competitive especially for the locals but at the end of the day, as long as you get into the course you want then it's something worth celebrating, right? :) So congrats on your uni offer!

Hey Master Papaya...

OH WOWWW!!!... you are doing dental science at melb uni?? tat's aweesoome.. you must be heaps smart to get into tat course.. man... if only i can get into dental science at melb uni... i will be jumping for joy.. but cuz i screwed up my umat so badly so.. yea.. nah.. i am pretty happy getting into dentistry .. eventhough it's at latrobe uni in bendigo.. quite far away... and i am going to live on campus and coming back to melb on the weeekends only..

yea.. latrobe uni just started dentistry this year.. and when i went for enrolment day... there were so many students from interstate coming to do dent there.. like ppl from sydney and stuff..

and 3 of my frens from high school.. we all got into the same course so.. yea at least i know some ppl ..

yea.. i agree... the course is wat that matters... and hm.. do you mind if i ask you.. wat will we be learning in first year dent?? and are they heaps of assignments and exams and stuff?? and do you know if i can transfer back to melb next year?? cuz one of my frens actually told me tat i could do tat...

thank you !!!

Bendigo is quite a distance! Well at least you are still able to go home during the weekends and it's good you have a few friends in the same course as you! It takes quite a while to adapt to the environment and the way lectures/tutoring are conducted so friends are really important in helping you to settle well in uni =)

I'm not surprised that there are lots of interstate students studying dent at LaTrobe! Even in Melbourne, we have heaps of interstate and international students - I think they account for almost 40 - 50% of the year level!

The aim of first year studies is to build a good foundation so you would find the subjects you study in second semester would be built upon those of first semester. Dentistry involves lots of sciences so you would be studying Chemistry (absolutely different to Year 12 one), Biochemistry (applying Chemistry in the context of Biology), Anatomy (learning about structures - mainly head, neck and thorax; understand the complications of certain structures and knowing some basic applications that might be necessary when something unexpectedly happens to a patient), and Histology and Embryology - all these in first year. I'm not sure how LaTrobe intends to introduce the course to the students but I think more or less the course structure would be similar.

Other than the science subjects, I also undertook a dental subject which includes comparative anatomy (animal skulls and teeth structures - herbivore, carnivore & omnivore), human development and behaviour (identifying permanent and deciduous teeth - able to note some features, differences and similarities between the molars, pre-molars, canines and incisors - this is hard and it takes some time so don't worry!; learn about how the tooth is formed, how the permanent succeeds the deciduous, and some theories). You would also be studying something call 'Dental Materials Science' which is learning the chemical, physical, thermal composition of amalgam, resin composites etc, different types of strength (e.g. tensile, shearing, compressive).

You'll have quite a number of practicals for the dental subject and the other sciences but they are generally very enjoyable since your demonstrator will be there to guide you so don't feel stress if you don't know everything in the textbook! Also, when you first read the textbook, you would come across a lot of unfamiliar terms and probably only understand 2-3 sentences out of the entire paragraph - this is normal and after a while, you'll find yourself understanding more and more as you re-read it =) The practical for human development and behaviour is rather demanding because you would have to draw heaps of images and radiographs. I'm not sure about LaTrobe though because it really depends on your tutors and lecturers.

I had quite a few of assignments e.g. writing up reports on the interview with a patient and a dentist respectively; practical books, dental materials science projects etc. The lecturers would give you adequate amount of time to complete them so you should be fine =) As for exams, you would have a written exam for each subject and a practical one for a few such as Anatomy and Histology. You would only start having practical exams in a clinical setting in second year but LaTrobe could be different.

I found first year rather challenging and you would have quite a lot of contact hours so you might found it to be as demanding as Year 12.

You can certainly apply for a transfer to Melbourne Uni but you might have to repeat first year (don't quote me on this though) ^^;;
It's best for you to e-mail the faculty directly and inquire further =)

Hope I helped you ^^

Hey master papaya!!

oh wowww.... you wrote so much... THANKS HEAPS!!! really.. i appreciate everything.. at least now i know wat to expect.. from wat you told me.. sounds like dentistry is pretty stressful... just like year 12 ... or maybe worse.. man.. not fun at all!! lol.... are you enjoying it yourself???

yea.. definitely it feels so much better knowing tat i have frens there doing the same thing as me... at first i was so reluctant to go down cuz i was scared tat i am gonna be all alone there... yea... bendigo is far away... and i live in glen waverley area.. so yea... even further!! hahaha.. on enrolment day.. i already saw ppl from sydney.. and from wat i heard.. they couldn't do dent in sydeny as undergraduate anymore.. apparently.. it's all masters there.. and melb uni is moving towards tat model.. i think they gonna change dent into a postgraduate degree in 2011... i knoww.. some of my cousins and frens .. they are international students and they are doing medicine at melb uni.. hard core international students.. rich too!! hahahaha


ok.. i am gonna ask my question one by one.. hehehe

so.. why is the chem in dent ddifferent from the year 12 ones?? it's obviously of a greater depth i suppose... and there's nth related to physics rite?? lol.. i did chem and physics in year 12 so... a bit scared about the bio part... is there a lof of stuff to memorize?? oh wow.. so much new stuff.. anatomoy.. histology.. biochemistry.. embryology... in first year.... i dun even know wat some of them are.. like histology and embrylogy.. i went and look at some of the resources at the latrobe uni library website.. and hahah.. all the pictures of teeth.. jaws.. hahah anatomy!! lol

oh.. you mean we can actually choose wat subjects to take?? cuz you said you undertook a dental subject?? the practicals.. is it a bit like the pracs you do in bio class? hahaha.. or do you just watch the demonstrators ?.. yea i think latrobe wil be similar to melb uni.. cuz rumour has it tat our lecturer's actually from melb uni dental faculty..

so.. does tat mean we have to write a lot of reports after each practicals?? and man.. if you found it hard in first year.. i am worried tat i will struggle thru it.. lol... cuz everyone's smart in my faculty... hopefully.. it all works out.. and cuz we are the very first year in latrobe.. we dun have seniors to consult or materials to refer.. sigh.. can i ask you for help if i encounter problems in my studies? lol...

how many contact hours do you have?? i heard tat our contact hours is like 32 hours per week?? man. tats massive... !!! so. dental students generally dont have a day off like most uni students??

yea... i heard from my frens tat you need like a HD to transfer between one uni to another.. tat's hard.. i will find out more myself ..

and yea.. you definitely did help me !! so much... thanks heaps once again....
by the way.. wat's your msn add?? lol.. maybe i can ask you questions if i need too hahahah ..

^ I'll answer your questions above via PM since things are getting more specific =)

^ Hey!!! some dents from Aus!!!!!!!!! I am from WA and gonna start studying dent at Uwa this year!great to see some dents!
[master papaya] do u mind posting answers to Amazin Grace here? I'd be intersted ins ome of thouse answers!
Also , I didnt do bio in high school so do you think that would casue more difficulty?
thanks!!!

hey!!

thanks heaps !!! i will reply tat via PM too...




HEllloo!! ~S2~

wow!! coooll... you are gonna do dent at UWA this year!! you must be heaps smart to get into it.. i did apply to UWA dent but nah... my umat wasn't enuff to get me into it.. they offer me pharm instead at Curtin but i dun think i am gonna go there .. hehehe

hm.. i din do bio in high school too... i did chem and physics.. but a lot of ppl told me tat in dental faculty... there would be ppl who's in the same situation as us.. so.. hopefully shouldn't be a problem

oh awesoome... glad to meet first year dent students from aus here.. maybe throughout the year we can discuss some of the things tat we have studied and answer some of the problems we have... tat would be great !!

^ ahahaha online study budddies!!! ahahah I'm scare after hearing all these people who fail or don't get the chance to repeat .... but we'll get through it yea? ahaha i did chem and phys too! awesome to meet youu Amazin Grace
and everyone else here!!

hehehe.. online study budddies.. would be so much fun!! yea.. we'll definitely get thru it together!!! oh yay!! *highfive*.. physics and chem rock.. but have to start liking bio from now.. hahaha... but one of myfren.. who's gone to queensland uni to study dentistry.. he said they need to study physics.. like kinematics and stuff like tat in dentistry.. so weird rite?? lol

hrmm...where're all the dental students from the uk??!!

where are all the dental students?! ahahah its so deserted!!!

oh well. i tink i'd rather bio than phys, and tts sayng sumfin cus i dint like phys at all!!


yes, must become a teeh loving bio loving dentist ahaha

yea... it's pretty deserted here.. dental students must be realli busy with their studies.. hehehehe

reali?? you like memorizing chunks and chunks of stuff?? hm... i actually enjoyed physics towards the end of year 12...

phys was interesting and fun but stuff i didnt get, i didnt get., and all those formulas. at last with memorizing, u just memorize.

yup i hear all these crazy stories about so many students failing and we got 35 contact hours a wekk sigh.

my dad's graduating from University of North Carolina Dental School May '08. Man, Dental School seems EXTREMELY stressful from what I witnessed from my dad and his fellow classmates. My grandfather and my uncle both have their own dental offices for practice, so his WHOLE family are dentists.. lol no way that I would want to stare at people's mouth all day long. Not going down their path~

Just wondering if anyone in the UC (university of California) system has been able to retake a class when getting a C- to C+ on their science classes. I heard that we we are unable to retake classes unless we get lower than a C- on it. This is unfortunate for me. D:

hey there!!

lol... tat's alrite.. you dun have to do physics ever again.. hehehe

i was so. overwhelmed when i went for my course orientation yesterday.. i am gonna find it so hard to understand my lecturer.. he mumbles under his breath and he has such a thick british accent!

and from they told me.. dentistry seems like such a hard and stressful course to do!! sigh

from wate veryone told me, it does. but then. there ARE dentists out there. hence they do SURVIVE. so y cant we? ahahah trying so hard to b positive

wow finally i can ask some questions lol
i'm a junior in highschool and i'm interested in dental but i dunno what class should i actually take that will get me in dental school easier...
Is it hard ? xD

Getting into ANY dental school is hard, there is no dental school that is easy to get into.

There is around 3,000 - 4000 applications PER school, and of those only around 300 get interviews, and of the 300 only 50 - 100 are accepted.

What do you mean what classes? You're still in high school so you should be striving for the highest level courses you can possible take. I'd high recommend taking AP Calculus AB/BC and doing well on the AP exam to cut down on a math course in college. Once in college, you need to complete the typical dental school pre-reqs. This includes one year of biology, one year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry, physics is recommended, a writing course, etc. Some dental schools ask for more, some less. You should do research ahead of time to think about where you want to go. You have to worry about your undergrad school first, though. I'm sure you're feeling the pressure already since you're in your junior year.

I guess I'll add my bit.
I didn't take AP calculus, or even calculus for that matter in highschool. I didn't even take calculus in college either. Save yourself the trouble and don't take calculus.

The only math I took in college was stats, which was really easy. The only dental schools that require any sort of calculus are 2 of the 56 dental schools, and they are Boston University and Harvard. If you don't plan to go to these, you don't need calculus. Many people think they need to take calculus, since they think they'll "look bad".I got accepted to 4 dental schools without even taking calculus.

Also physics is not recommended, one year of it is REQUIRED by almost all dental schools.

i want to become a Dental Hygienist not a Dentist..
my problem is what science courses am i suppose to take in highschool? and what courses am i allowed to take in uni?
i'm in grade 10 right now so i was planning to take Bio 20 and Chem 20 next year but would i need Physics 20?
this is the criteria sheet that i got from the U of A.



when it says Options any Faculty does it mean i can pick any university course (fine arts)? i know that i need a year of pre-reqs in General Science and then apply for the Dental Hygienist Diploma Progam.. i'm really interested in East Asian Studies but it's not related to my field.. =/

I've gotten mix reactions about taking stats. Did you find it helpful to take the course while in undergrad? I do plan to apply to BU and Harvard (I'm from Boston and currently doing undergrad in Boston) so calculus is something I have to take. I'm a chemistry major, so it's required. May I ask where you go to dental school and what schools were you accepted/where did you apply?

hello soon or awhile to be dentists.

im a sophmore in high school right now and i am really interested in entering the dental field. I've always wanted to be a dentist ever since I was young, not for money purposes(although it can be good) or bragging rights, i feel as if being a dentist was a calling for me. I loved going to the dentist as a child and i still do now, and that is why. if anyone is curious.

so my question to all you people are what are the classes i should be taking in high school right now? like for grades 11-12. what would well prepare me for college or bring interest to the dental colleges out there.

Another question is what are some of the top colleges where it is good for dentistry. i will take advice from the college and career centers that my school offers but it would be real awesome if i can have your feedbacks.

and it would be very good if i got some other details about schooling and dentistry. for example like, how much years of school and how good do i have to be right now in high school to be accepted to these colleges. i have A LOT more questions which i cant think of right now, so i will be visiting this thread a lot. =D thanks!

I think that you ARE allowed to retake those classes that you got a C in, but it's just that the grades you get after retaking those courses don't replace your original grade in regards to your GPA (and I forget but I don't think that they count for credits either).

i restored my first patient's first tooth about a week ago!
it was a buccal pit restoration with amalgam.....haha
putting on the rubber dam took longer than making the cavity preparation >_>
and yeah i had to do an injection for the IA nerve block