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I received my results earlier in the week, and just wanted to write a short summary of my experience and things I learned about the exam, since many of these points have not been covered in this forum. Here are some suggestions if you are planning on taking it:
1) Read the candidate guidebook 3-4 times from front to back. Then read the prep/fill/endo criteria tables 25 times. Focus on what will give you a "5" on each section, but also read what will give you lower scores.
2) Get an excellent assistant who has experience with this test. My assistant, Ericks, was the best possible assistant. He can travel to different locations and he brings along everything you need--instruments, handpieces, caries indicator, composite, ultrasonic scaler, light cure, etc. He had the rubber dam expertly placed within seconds after I confirmed anesthesia. He knew the exam inside and out. He submitted the patients for approval and grading and really took the stress away. Ericks' SDN ID is boardassistant and his email is [email protected]. He is definitely highly recommended by myself and others on SDN. I would suggest getting in touch with him early to book him for your exam date.
3) Endo suggestions:
5) For patient selection, you obviously want lesions and perio that will qualify. Confirm this with any knowledgeable instructors at your school beforehand. Take multiple xrays from different angles to get the best possible view of the caries clearly getting to the DEJ (this only needs to be shown on ONE xray--either the periapical or bitewing that you submit). Since I was traveling quite a distance to take the exam, I paid Lu Lau to provide patients for me. They had all the patients and backups I could use with ideal lesions and plenty of clicks for perio; however, the service cost me $8000, so if you can find reliable patients and can put up with the stress of taking care of their lodging, transportation, food, waking up on time, etc, then you can save money by doing so.
If you have any questions/suggestions, please post them here.
1) Read the candidate guidebook 3-4 times from front to back. Then read the prep/fill/endo criteria tables 25 times. Focus on what will give you a "5" on each section, but also read what will give you lower scores.
2) Get an excellent assistant who has experience with this test. My assistant, Ericks, was the best possible assistant. He can travel to different locations and he brings along everything you need--instruments, handpieces, caries indicator, composite, ultrasonic scaler, light cure, etc. He had the rubber dam expertly placed within seconds after I confirmed anesthesia. He knew the exam inside and out. He submitted the patients for approval and grading and really took the stress away. Ericks' SDN ID is boardassistant and his email is [email protected]. He is definitely highly recommended by myself and others on SDN. I would suggest getting in touch with him early to book him for your exam date.
3) Endo suggestions:
- Find excellent teeth. This was definitely the most difficult portion for me, partially because of bad tooth selection. You want large pulp horns, natural taper of the canals, and short, straight canals. The most desirable teeth would be maxillary central incisors and maxillary first premolars with 2 canals.
- Make sure you measure every dimension before mounting, and follow the mounting guidelines exactly. Teeth that are mounted too apically or occlusally relative to the plastic teeth were rejected during my exam, for example.
- Try to find teeth that you can rubber dam isolate at the same time. The optimal aforementioned combination of maxillary centrals and first premolars can be isolated together, therefore saving time when removing and replacing the dam for taking xrays.
- Use occlusal films for taking working xrays because you can put both teeth on them at the same time. Spending time before the exam accurately measuring the length of the canals from the radiographs will save time because the first xray you need to take will be the master cone film (or the accessory cone tree if you are really confident). That applies to the lateral condensation method of filling which I was taught, but if you learned another method, stick with that. Lateral condensation could lead to fracture of the roots, especially of brittle extracted teeth. If I knew another method and had the equipment, I would have avoided lateral condensation.
5) For patient selection, you obviously want lesions and perio that will qualify. Confirm this with any knowledgeable instructors at your school beforehand. Take multiple xrays from different angles to get the best possible view of the caries clearly getting to the DEJ (this only needs to be shown on ONE xray--either the periapical or bitewing that you submit). Since I was traveling quite a distance to take the exam, I paid Lu Lau to provide patients for me. They had all the patients and backups I could use with ideal lesions and plenty of clicks for perio; however, the service cost me $8000, so if you can find reliable patients and can put up with the stress of taking care of their lodging, transportation, food, waking up on time, etc, then you can save money by doing so.
If you have any questions/suggestions, please post them here.
