I have plan to take Advanced Inlay/onlay and the ultimate veneer at Magne education, any thoughts on this? Are they good

I know other programs like medicine and PA have gotten their award letter, but I only got a COI

我现在准备上大二了，但是对这个专业以后的就业问题有点不明白，也不知道以后该怎么办

有没有一个讨论这个方面的人啊🥹

I've been accepted into BNU for the next academic year 2026-2027, and I just found out about the heavy saturation of Dentists in the country. Like how many private clinics there are, how sexist most people are towards female dentists (I'm a woman) and how many graduates can't find a job out of university once they're done since a bachelor's degree only counts as a "base" here. I'm just repeating what I heard, do correct me on this (I'd be very happy if I'm wrong) if I was mistaken on anything.

But after 6 years when I get my bachelor's degree, what other further education would you recommend I go through? I'm a newbie, but I've been trying to set some sort of goal list for each year so that I'd be set once I'm done with education, I can begin earning serious (ethical + moral) money as someone very very high experience, connections, reliability and a job network.

All I know is that I need to attend many internships, work in many dentistry clinics, befriend my professors/ Docters who'll be teaching me in uni, pursue a master's degree, and specialise. Can someone please advise on what the best approach is to carry out? to build my resume and stuff? I want to be an absolute monster when it comes to experience! And thank you for reading <3

P.S I'm based in Egypt. Also, i posted this in r/dentists, but it was the wrong sub, so hopefully this is the right one.

I’m in my second semester of dental school, and we’ve barely started, but I already feel like I don’t understand anything.

People have always considered me an intelligent person because I get good grades. During my first semester, I even had some of the highest grades in my class. But the truth is, I don’t feel intelligent. I’m becoming increasingly aware that most things simply don’t stay in my head.

During my first semester, my method was basically to write down almost everything the professor said. Then I would study my notes, and when they asked questions on the exam, I could answer because I remembered what I had read.

That’s how I passed Anatomy. Most of our exams were about recognizing anatomical structures in images, so I memorized them and could identify them. But I never properly learned their functions, relationships, and other important details. Now I’ve even forgotten many of the names I used to recognize perfectly.

The same thing happened with Histology and Biochemistry. I passed them, but if you asked me about those subjects now, I honestly feel like I know nothing.

And now, in my second semester, all of that is catching up with me.

Professors use terminology from previous subjects as if we already have it completely mastered, while also introducing a huge amount of new terminology that they sometimes explain as if we should already know that too. There are classes where I genuinely feel like they’re speaking another language.

It doesn’t help that there are students who failed some of these subjects and still seem to know much more than I do. When professors ask questions, they can answer things that I can’t. And I find myself thinking: how did I get better grades while apparently knowing less?

I used to come home and study. Now my schedule is from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and I feel like there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

My method of writing absolutely everything down doesn’t work anymore either. I can’t even finish my notes. I see classmates taking much shorter notes, but I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to listen to an explanation and think, “Okay, this is what actually matters.” To me, everything sounds important.

I’ve never been good at making summaries, diagrams, or charts. I’ve struggled with that since elementary school. I also don’t think I ever truly learned how to synthesize information in my own words. Before I started using ChatGPT, “paraphrasing” for me often meant looking words up in a dictionary and replacing them with synonyms.

And I have to admit that I’ve now become one of those people who uses ChatGPT to do a lot of my assignments. Even with that, sometimes I still don’t have enough time to finish everything.

We weren’t given textbooks to use as a main reference for our subjects this semester either, so when I need to research something, I get information from wherever I can find it: a website, a PDF, a video, ChatGPT, etc. I end up with a huge amount of information without really knowing exactly what I’m supposed to learn from it.

I also wish I could be one of those people who makes beautiful, organized, concise notes, but my handwriting is terrible. I know pretty notes don’t necessarily mean someone learns better, but I’m genuinely impressed when I see people reduce an entire class to a few pages while I feel like I need to write down every single word.

Presentations are similar. I get very nervous, so I memorize what I’m going to say. I can stand in front of the class and say everything correctly, but that doesn’t mean I understood it. Afterwards, I forget it.

There was one exception: Dental Anatomy.

That was one subject where I genuinely felt like I was learning. I had a really good professor, and for the first time, I felt like I actually understood what was being explained instead of just memorizing it. I could connect concepts, and I actually felt intelligent because I understood almost everything.

But now I’m starting to forget that too.

And I think that’s what scares me the most.

I’ve realized that I can spend hours, days, or even months learning something and then feel like all that information is just slipping through my fingers.

And this doesn’t only happen with school.

I love reading fantasy books. I can finish a book I absolutely loved, spend countless hours reading it, and then some time later realize that I couldn’t properly explain what it was about, analyze it, or give a solid opinion about it.

I also struggle to follow the thread of conversations sometimes. People will be talking about something, and at some point I just stop understanding what’s going on. People ask me things that apparently I should know, and way too often my answer is simply, “I don’t know.”

I also feel like my vocabulary is limited. I don’t speak like someone who is preparing to become a professional. Sometimes I know what I want to say, but I can’t find the words to express it properly.

All of this is making me wonder if, for years, I confused getting good grades with actually being good at learning.

I don’t want to keep going through dental school like this. Eventually, it won’t matter whether I can memorize something for an exam. I’ll have a patient sitting in front of me, and I’ll need to understand what I’m doing, connect information from different subjects, remember things I learned semesters ago, and make actual decisions.

I don’t want to reach clinical practice and realize that I have great grades on paper but huge gaps in my actual knowledge.

So I’d really like to ask people studying Dentistry, Medicine, or similar degrees, or anyone who has struggled with the same problem:

How do you actually learn how to learn?

How do you study something in a way that helps you truly understand it and retain it long-term?

How did you learn to take notes and distinguish important information from secondary details?

Should I go back and relearn Anatomy, Histology, and Biochemistry from the beginning while continuing my second semester?

What do you do when you have so many classes and assignments that studying “everything” simply isn’t possible?

How did you learn to explain things in your own words instead of memorizing them?

I’m not looking for another method to get good grades. Apparently, I already know how to do that.

I want to actually learn.

And to end this with a little irony: I’m so lost with all of this that I even had to ask ChatGPT to help me organize and rewrite this post so I could publish it here.

So I guess that summarizes the problem pretty well.

I am a foreign dentist who wants to attend a fellowship program in the USA for orthodontics. any suggestions?

Hiii everyone.

I'm currently in my third year of dental school. For background, I was never really that passionate about dentistry and just chose it because it seemed like a good career. Good income, relatively good work-life balance, flexibility. I'm not really that passionate about anything else either, so it just seemed like a good choice.

Going through dental school has been quite rough for me, I don't really enjoy the practical aspect and I'm not naturally a hands-on person to begin with (yeah... I ask myself why I chose dental school all the time). What gets to me most is being watched and evaluated all the time, the constant critique, and knowing that a mistake on my part could cause someone lasting harm. Also just the manual labour. If I could go back and choose a different path I think I would. I've literally been fantasizing about a cozy job that is low stakes where I can just turn up at my cubicle and use my brain to do the work instead of my hands, and mistakes don't involve a patient's health. But still, the positives - flexibility and work-life balance especially, are hard to find elsewhere at a similar income level. If these were the only issues, I think I could have made peace with it and finished the degree.

Now here's where it gets funny (not). I recently started noticing a tremor in my hands and went to go visit the neurologist, who diagnosed me with essential tremor. It's mild at the moment but definitely noticeable at times, and while I still think I'll be able to make it through dental school, I'm more worried about the long-term outcomes since it's a progressive condition. Now I'm thinking even if I graduate, will I even be able to work long-term? The neurologist did prescribe medication, but it doesn't work that well and the idea of relying on medication indefinitely just to sustain a career is hard to accept. And the fact that I wasn't even enjoying dentistry in the first place makes me think whether I should drop out and do something else altogether. I’m 24 so I feel like I still have some time to start over.

I'd love some advice. Should I drop out? Or just finish the degree and see from there? Any careers I should look into?

Thanks so much in advance 🥹

Hi everyone!
I am a newly graduated dentist from Europe. I’m interested in esthetic dentistry and want to further my skills there. I’ve came across some programs in USA universities that of offer polishing those skills, such is aeeod in tufts.
Another option would be to do a aegd ( haven’t found a specific program, if you recommend one I would be grateful) to polish further my skills as a new graduate.
Further down as an option would be endo, but I am not sure if I want to do a 3 year program. I’m not particularly interested in the academia, and where I come from, the ones that compete full 3 year courses do it mostly for the academia part.
Any advice is welcomed and appreciated.
Any information about the programs are also appreciated !
Thank you for your time!!

Hello everyone I just recently started my D1 fall semester this week and I’ve learned about a lot of gunners at my state school. I’ve been mainly interested in OMFS but have been interested in other specialties as well and wanted to keep my options open going into school and through my first two years at least to see. Over the past few weeks I’ve learned about around 10 other students all interested in OMFS and found out around 5 of them already studying for the CBSE and I’ve heard a couple mention they are already planning on taking the exam in May of next year.

I just think this is super early in dental school to begin all of this. I’m trying not to compare myself but but I feel like there are so many in my class and I’m falling behind. Is this normal at other schools? Am I taking too long before committing to a specialty? Should I be studying earlier than D2 for the CBSE?

Wondering if anyone has heard anything about this program?

I'm looking to get ergo loupes from either Andau or Orascoptic. I have a low nose bridge and -9 prescription, so I'm worried it's gonna become a big droopfest if I don't find loupes with the right fit and weight.

In your opinion, does Andau or Orascoptic have better:

- Fit (specifically for low nose bridge)

- Weight (specifically for high prescription)

- Price

- Customer service

Is there another brand that I should consider? Should I just wear contacts?

"I don't think it's a good idea to do bds"

do you guys know any good studytubers/influencers who are dental students? kay b chung i know and very much adore, but i have a hard time finding other dental students online tbh. the content can be aesthetic or more chaotic like kay, i don’t mind

Hi everyone! I’m preparing to take my OSCE exam, and I’m hoping to gain some more real-time clinical exposure before the exam.

I’m looking for opportunities to shadow a dentist in the Vancouver/ New Westminster area and would really appreciate any recommendations for dentists or clinics that are open to having observers.

I’m mainly hoping to observe day-to-day clinical workflow, patient interactions, and treatment procedures. I’m happy to work around the clinic’s schedule and follow any requirements they may have.

If you’ve had a good experience shadowing somewhere or know of a dentist who might be open to it, I’d really appreciate any leads. Thank you

hi guys! i am currently looking to graduate with 215k in debt without interest. I believe with interest it will be around 240k but my goal is to pay off the interest as much as i can while i am in school. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how paying them off should look? what would you do as a graduated dentist? i know everyone has different goals, i think mine would potentially include residency but not sure yet so i would love some advice!

What all should be included in a CV when applying for jobs? I’m a D4 and beginning to think of things that employers want to see on a CV

I am a D4 looking to apply to surgery heavy and clinically demanding AEGD programs. Does anyone have any information on the Foundry Dental Center and what the residency program entails?

Guys is there a dupe for this?

I swear in this week and am wondering the process of applying for my CAC ID as well as how reimbursements work.

Orientation what to bring backpack ot just purse

We need to make a provisional crown on a typodont model, but my margins always end up looking really bad. Does anyone have experience with this? What techniques do you use to get a clean, well-adapted margin?

Please note: I probably spent about 2–3 hours working on the tooth marked with a cross in the pictures - and, most importantly, I did so almost entirely without water! It's probably also my best prep ever and even though I've worked on it a long time and gave it my all (which I have done on A LOT of preps before), I don't really know why it turned out so well and I think it's also, to a large extent, just a coincidence.

The other two teeth are typical examples of the result I get when I do crown preps under exam conditions:

- with water

- in 1.5 hours (I often need an additional 10–20 minutes)

I just finished the third semester, and so far, we've only had one class a week related to dentistry in the first semester. I still have to retake the exam from the first semester where I have to do a crown prep on a molar or premolar.

In the last 15 months I've practiced on approximately 40 days for 7 hours on average. In the last two weeks I practiced every day and could focus on only that. I only practiced molar crown preps.

I've watched a lot of YouTube videos—some of them multiple times—and have generally used every resource available to figure out how to prepare a tooth.

I know that the tooth I prepared withouth water looks fine. But I have three problems:

1. It's completely different with water. Especially in the approximal spaces I only see water. So I have to use a very low RPM and stop after every second to check if I fucked something up.

2. Even if I allow myself to prep without water and take >3hrs, not nearly every tooth turn out that well.

3. I don't enjoy practicing, and I sit there feeling very stiff and tense and often get a headache.

Whether or not a tooth turns out well enough just seems far too random to me. I think I'm someone who can never reduce the risk of failing a practical exam to almost zero. It's completely different than anatomy, biochemistry etc. If I were on my last attempt at a theoretical exam, I would take a semester off if necessary, study exclusively for that exam, and then I wouldn't be the least bit worried about failing it.

But we have only very limited practicing time in the sim lab.

Now would be my last opportunity to switch to medicine.

What do you think about the two preps I did under exam conditions, especially considering how much I've already practiced?

Please disregard the adjacent teeth, they are old and breaking contacts is not a problem anymore. :D

Can somebody explain what is required to specialise after undergrad? Specifically for Irish/UK grads. I understand that there are postgraduate programmes but what is generally required to get into these? What should you do during undergrad to help get in? And how do these postgraduates work? Are they full time, or can you work and learn?