The class of 2022 may end up being the most screwed out of everyone. 2020 got a free pass. Then schools had to focus all energy and cases on 2021 when clinics opened due to the limited time and patients. In the whole process, 2022 got pushed to the back burner. You got to be the assistants and ate whatever crumbs the seniors didn’t need. Schools probably won’t give you reductions like 2020 or 2021 because clinics were “open” and they don't want their reputations to suffer. I don’t envy y’all one bit. Good luck escaping.
Wow I’m so sorry for your experience, you got to do very little in your D3 year. I don’t think the D3’s at my school are that unfortunate, yeah they have to assist 1-3 sessions every week but most of them got to do some CDs and RPDs that were passed down by D4s, some even got 1 or 2 endo cases. A faculty at my school confirmed that the class of 2022 got screwed the most, much more than the class of 2021. Class of 2020 was largely unaffected. My advice to you is to befriend as many graduating seniors as possible, ideally those in the same clinic group as you. They will be more likely to give you their cases as they are done with their requirements. Best of luck to you!
I have done zero prophy ever since we got back to clinic last July, I sent all of them to the D3’s and the hygiene students. Probably same thing happened to OP.
Covid dental school everywhere:
Pretty accurate. Sometimes the D3s also wonder if they are in assisting school...
All the dental school senior presidents used to meet up on zoom for monthly updates, and pretty much every school was refusing to budge on requirements as much as possible for the class of 2021. I find it hard to imagine they would adjust anything for 2022. A lot of schools are doing D3/D4 pairs now. If that continues, class of 2022 is going to suffer until the very end. Not only were they ignored for an entire year, now they only have half the time during senior year.
I get the above thought process, however, they need reps. An educational institution is not providing reps right now. why would someone volunteer for more 2-3 patient experiences per week when they can see up to 30 pts a day if they leave school?
Are they going to be able to provide the level care expected of a dentist before they are turned loose onto the public?
For a lot of us we're really stuck between a rock and a hard place. Many people in my class never planned on a residency as part of their career plan. I for example can't uproot our lives to another state for a GPR and have my partner abandon their business. And if I absolutely did need a GPR, now the competition to get into one has increased 1000% thanks to Covid. Really don't know what to do at the moment.
Tough situation for sure.
Trust me, we've all tried. Since Covid started we've had to assist D4s and residents more than anything. Probably assisted 50+ times at least in the past year. There have been multiple patient cancellations and loss of patients. D4s have gotten all the priority with meeting their graduation requirements. We have been on the back burner the whole time. D2s have been completely excluded from clinic.
im class of 2021. Our school does not allow dental students to do molar endo (those automatically get referred to the residents) and currently people in our class are struggling to even get 3 cases (which is what is needed for graduation)
Yeah my school is exactly the same, the residents take all molars. The graduation requirement is only 3 endo cases, and this has been since pre-covid. I’m lucky that I just finished my 3rd, a lot of people in our class are still fighting to get theirs. Heck I even know D4s that have done zero endo on a real patient.
I concede to this point. The dental schools should not graduate someone unless they are safe for the public. However, if one feels they are prepared- and I recommend them to have a frank conversation with a faculty member they trust to determine objectively if they meet this threshold- my recommendation is for them to go into practice. The state of dental school (and residency) education is rapidly deteriorating. I'm not sure how GPR programs are doing so I really should not have commented on them specifically but if they are seeing 2-3 patients a week for an extra year it will, in my opinion, not have a significant impact on them. It is certainly situation dependent. I had classmates (pre-covid) who had faculty recommended particular students to consider a GPR/AEGD (hint hint, nudge nudge). Apprenticeships, although rare, would be what I gun for. less bureaucracy.
