New Dentist's Biggest REGRETS in Dental School

Hi Plaque Pals, as always, I like to be transparent with my dental school experience. This video is great for current pre-dental students, particularly in their third and fourth years. Here are nine things that I wished I would have done more in dental school...

Work update: I have been working as a dentist for TWO MONTHS already! I am more comfortable around the dental office, I notice that I am not as nervous to talk to patients, and I am picking up speed in my procedures. I am challenging myself a lot, especially with pediatric patients, more than I ever did in dental school. I hope you all are doing your best in your studies, whether it is your pre-dental or dental school studies!

My Pre-Dental Services (Including MOCK INTERVIEWS!)

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[Joycethedentist]

Great reflections. Unfortunately dental schools are not really set up to prepare you for the business world.. I wouldn’t say that’s your fault hehe. A lot of full time faculty are not in touch with the outside world either. School is a bubble. This is why it’s valuable to have part time practicing faculty but I personally found it was a waste of my time because of the way school was structured. I spent more time dealing with students arguing over half a homework point. Hope your video inspires students to think ahead a little!

[Godfavorsmi]

No regrets girl. School can only teach you but so much. Really getting out there in the real world going through trial & error is what you need to get experience. You could’ve stayed in dental school for 10 yrs and still not be 100% confident/ ready. That’s how I felt about respiratory. You learn through experiences

[alannahanita-marie]

Thank you for sharing all of this! I'm in my 3rd year and I feel like I need to get quicker at diagnosing and treatment planning myself as well. We practice treatment planning with cases and submitting written assignments but actually explaining it to a patient is a completely different skill! I agree, even if you know why one treatment is better than the other, it's much harder to put it into words that the patient will understand and accept. Great video Brittany 😊!

[HTMANactual]

Since I finished your D1-D4 playlist I feel like I finished dental school too. Time to start applying for dentist jobs 😊

[matthewjohnson]

Great advice! As a current D1 this is good to know as I'm working on building my hand skills in sim lab. Just curious, where did you go to school?

[LeoraHilbert]

Ooh more endo and implants? I’ll keep these things in mind when I get to clinic! 🤗

[meenhall]

Thanks Brittany! D3 over here and this is super helpful. Feeling like ive got tunnel vision in clinic trying to learn all the clinical stuff but it's so crucial with all the things that you've mentioned to gain some perspective and be proactive!! Thank you!

[yiyangning]

Hey Brittany, can you do a video on when is the best time to think about specialty in dental school? Does your school have decent opportunities for students to experience different specialties?

[skdavidnba]

Thank you for being so transparent. I agreee with the points you said. As a current fourth year, im hoping to apply this

[michelchampagne]

Dental school and your DDS diploma is only the beginning and you cannot learn everything in 4 or even 5 years. Your real learning starts now and you have to get into CE seriously. The world changes so fast that every day that you miss learning you will never be able to make up for it. Welcome to the real world and do what you have to do. Dental schools could be better but they only give you a minimum. It is up to you now. I have 40 years of experience and I am still learning, I hope every day, so do not give up.

[TheDentistryDiary]

Theae were such good tips honestly I’m in 2nd year and these help. So true about the radiographs I’m going to take that on board, thank you 😬✌🏼🇬🇧

[shirororowowowo]

Summary


1. Know how to dx from radiographs
2. Know how to convince your patient
3. Challenge your speed in clinics
4. Do more aesthetic cases
5. Do more endo
6. Do more implants
7. Know the business side of dentistry
8. Get more connections
9. Make mistakes

Third year student here but I’m glad I know that I should do most of these things before graduating even before watching this vid 😂

I’ve never heard of undergrads doing implants but wow 🤭 tbh I wouldn’t trust an undergrad to do an implant, the cost itself is alrd expensive, can’t have someone who doesn’t rlly have experience to do it

[bryanromero]

Thank you for the advice!! Current 3rd year here and needed to hear this. 😄

[ronyeahright]

When I was in dental school, if someone asked us" whats the hardest part about being a dentist?"....we might have thought, ...molar endo...maybe difficult surgical extractions, it is getting paid for our time. That's either getting paid a fair fee from insurance companies, if at all for some things, and getting paid from some of our patients as well. Both are an unending struggle, and that doesn't even count all of the money lost on wasted chair time from broken and no show appointments. The dentistry itself? If you keep educating yourself, keep trying hard, work on your weaknesses, good dentistry is predictable and almost easy.

[ripansekhon]

Hey brittany ! Congratulations .. I’ve been following you from a pretty long time i guess when you were in D 1 or 2 and we were at the same track of our courses and I graduated july this year.. and it’s really overwhelming to see you grow so much in every aspect.
Here wishing you the best for the future and keep up with the good work 🤗❤️

[brittanywatu]

What is one thing you can do more of in pre-dental/dental school?

[miyaeberlein]

Thank you so much for this video, Dr. Watu! I'm an incoming D1 so hearing from a recent dental grad is so helpful. I'm going to go to a school that also has graduate divisions for most of the specialities. How would you recommend we get exposure to more endo or implant cases in dental school with that in mind? Thank you!

[sarenikaktus]

whoa, 4 hour blocks? we have 2 hour blocks and at first it was really hard to finish a filling in that time, my teacher was always telling me that i work like a snail xD it feels like everybody was able to do a filling in less than two hours right away

[ryanw]

Wow! 4 hour blocks! We only have 45 minutes per appointment (1 hour but given to clean and get materials for next appoint down to 45 minutes). We have about 6 patients per day in our final year. Sometimes even feels a bit rushed, but can extend apts for molar endo and crowns to 1.5-2 hours. It's so interesting to see how different dental schools are structured.

[laurenc]

Realistically, you're never going to get all the experience you want in 4 years of dental school. There's just not enough time or resources for it. Clinic in dental school is so different from actual private practice and theres a steep learning curve in the first few years as you figure out what works best for you and as you continually learn how you want to practice. Thats what continuing education and study clubs are for.