Dental School Is Exactly Like This

Dental School is Exactly Like This.  Ok, well, maybe not exactly.  Still, dental school was certainly an awesome experience.  I'm sure we could have made such a great video in our day if we had the technology.  In fact, weirder things than this are know to happen.  Hat tip to UNLV School of Dental Medicine.

Buy my book on Dental School click here.

Double click the youtube video for option of full screen.

Corrections and Additions

1.  Ok, I seem to have left off the following ADA approved dental school in my listings in the book.  Probably because they do not have a website at this time.  My apologies; here is the info from the website I did list:

Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine 
10920 S. Riverfront Park 
South Jordan 84095 
Dean: Dr. Richard N. Buchanan 
Phone: 801-878-1400 


2.  In the printed book, the word "you" should be "your" at the top of page 54 and in the "Tip" section on page 69. These two typos occurred only in the print version.


*The e-book kindle version has these corrections as of April 6, 2012.


Improved the weblinks as of may 2012.

Dental Schools Opening All Over

In response to rising demand for a dental education back in the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a large increase in the number of dental students matriculating in dental schools across the nation.  Some of this was due to federal funding increasing the number of slots available.  After a while, this led to what some called an oversupply of practicing dentists leading to a wave of unforeseen changes in the business of dentistry, namely the introduction of managed care dental plans and increased competition.

In time the cost to the schools of providing a dental school education began to rise and some, mainly private, schools began to close; schools like Northwestern, Georgetown and Emory.  

Recently there has been an increase in the number of schools opening or planing to open across the country.  I do not know what long term effect this may have.  It will be interesting to see what happens and how this might affect dental school admissions and graduates.  One planned school at the University of Central Florida has been put on hold. I do hope these new programs will provide a great educational experience and not just become a profit center for the parent organization with little actual training or education for the students.

More information on Dental School can be found in my new book.

See my previous post on dental school admissions applications vs. the slots available

Continuing Education--"CE"

Continuing education, otherwise known as "CE," is a constant in any profession.  School does not end with graduation. A dentist must constantly keep up with not only the newest techniques and materials, but also re-learn what has since been forgotten.  In my state we must complete at least 20 hours of CE every year just to keep our license. This is actually quite a low number, as many I know have many more hours than that.  Continuing education, and the associated credits, is usually be obtained by attending lectures, courses, local meetings, national conferences, and hands on classes.  Online courses are also useful and becoming more common.

Back in the old days physicians and dentists would learn by didactic or "book learning" but also by observing procedures and surgeries.  Anesthesia using ether for surgery was first demonstrated in the "Ether Dome" at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  You can see this lecture hall/operating room still today.  I visited this historic place several years ago.  The benches are quite steep so "students" could observe the activities below.  So, learning is a continuous process.  Your dentist probably is spending more hours in lectures on weekends and evenings than you know.  This is why we call it dental practice.  We are always practicing and learning.