New Dentist's Biggest REGRETS in Dental School

[@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!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Wow! Half a hw point... 😅 what do you recommend for students/dentists that are interested in the business side of dentistry?

[@Joycethedentist]

@@brittanywatu4835 That's a tough question! There are courses now that address this like Ignite DDS and Dental Nachos. Unfortunately, you have to pay for this extra education (not really taught in school) but they are great resources. Building connections with practicing dentists is great and very easy to do on social media. But mostly its the mindset. Students get so wrapped up in school while they are in school that they don't consider what it means in the overall picture. I think this is a great video to help bring perspective- hindsight is always 2020 :)

[@khaledahmed1484]

Tell us books to read about “business dentistry “

[@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 😊!

[@H1TMANactual]

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

[@michelchampagne8782]

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.

[@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!

[@brittanywatu4835]

You’re welcome!! I’d say d3 it’s okay to focus on the clinical skills. When it’s D4 year, it’s time to focus on speed, more experiences, etc! Good luck!

[@ronyeahright9536]

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, etc.....but 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.

[@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

[@LeoraHilbert]

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

[@brittanywatu4835]

Yes!! Do you know if you guys get to place implants?

[@dkkwon1980]

These are some things you want to weigh when deciding a school as well. Different schools provide different experiences with certain procedures outside of "drill and fill" and dentures. At many schools, you won't have much choice even if you seek it out in your clinical years.

[@skdavidnba]

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

[@brittanywatu4835]

Yes!! What point do you think you want to implement first?

[@tsurumonetally4531]

@@brittanywatu4835 Honestly, I think the point about diagnosis through radiographs and making connections is really important.

[@yiyangning5016]

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?

[@brittanywatu4835]

Great idea!

[@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 😬✌🏼🇬🇧

[@brittanywatu4835]

Good luck! Yes the radiograph diagnosing I definitely took for granted!

[@matthewjohnson6130]

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?

[@ryanw4765]

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.

[@brittanywatu4835]

This is so great, I’m happy that you get this experience!

[@ryanw4765]

@@brittanywatu4835 But I feel its better to focus on quality over speed. sometimes too much time constraint isn't good. What do you think after working right now? Also I am trying to get more surgical extractions. Did you get any during your final years? How are you finding it in private practice with sectional / surgical exos?

[@choochd]

Honestly, you are so blessed to even have the opportunity to see that many patients in a day. That means the school can accommodate such a pace. At our school, 1 hr appointments are physically unfeasible, it takes 30 mins sometimes just to get a start check. The only exception perhaps being a simple prophy and even then the attendings would have to be relatively not busy.

[@bryanromero7206]

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

[@brittanywatu4835]

Glad it helped! Good luck!! What do you think you need to work on the most?

[@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

[@brittanywatu4835]

Yes I thought four hour blocks were way too generous!

[@dkkwon1980]

In the real world, you need to average 10 min/surface or faster. Dental school will teach you how to do the procedure, but you need to strive for time management and speed before you graduate.

[@marittamuller2460]

Oh wow that is so different from Germany! We had morning (7:30am-12:30pm) Blocks and afternoon Blocks (1:00pm-6:00pm) and we could plan multiple patients within that. So basically we could Plan more patients if we felt like we were faster.

[@ripansekhon5369]

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 🤗❤️

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thank you!! Congratulations to you too! We did it!

[@Dr_andrewchoi]

I relate with this a lot. Great video

[@adeel4523]

Congrats on graduating dental school dude!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thanks dude!

[@macarezchatman1571]

Congrats Team Lefty🌱

[@miyaeberlein1715]

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!

[@NadiaOfficiall]

This is great advice!! I’m a D1 thank you for this :)

[@briannaschultz7420]

Thanks for the tips! I just started seeing patients as a junior and im always thinking about how to maximize my time here.

[@brittanywatu4835]

Good luck!! What are planning to do to maximize your time?

[@therobloxaddict8724]

Are you hailey Schultz sister? If so man YAll are talented

[@DentalDigest]

Great Video!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thanks for watching!

[@makeithappen_]

This is so helpful! Thank you!!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thanks! What’s your favorite tip? Or thing you’d like to improve on?

[@thieuvo8489]

I am a 3rd year dental student. I appreciate your tips! You mentioned about being ok making mistakes and experimenting. What certain things would you experiment in clinic?

[@brittanywatu4835]

Not really “experiment”, but being ok with taking on more challenging cases, such as more difficult endo, or surgical extractions. If you get stuck, the teacher can always step in

[@brittanywatu4835]

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

[@therobloxaddict8724]

Well I’m in junior high so yea

[@therobloxaddict8724]

When your in dental school do you have to call your patients and do the full patients planning?

[@therobloxaddict8724]

Also do you get a dental assistant in dental school

[@princebanger8501]

Can u tell me the all loan procedure and how to payoff correctly ?

[@daviddudleck7296]

Everything you said! I'm a 4th year so hopefully I can challenge myself with connections/speed. MUSC has same problem with specialty residents absorbing all endo/implants.

[@jordanchopra5038]

Where did you get your dental degree at? I was trying to find that out haha. Any reviews on the school?

[@nikhithabhaskar8104]

Congratulations and a long way to go.....thank you so much for making these video cz these year iam into clinicals ...loads of love 😍😍😍

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thank you!! Good luck! Be sure to challenge yourself!

[@nikhithabhaskar8104]

@@brittanywatu4835 I'll try to give my best...thank u 😍😍

[@veo16]

What’s your take on dental offices making their prices public versus hiding the price until customers contact them? I’m looking for a dentist in my new city, but so far only a few places tell you how much a cleaning will cost upfront. The rest require you to reach out. Kind of a headache to deal with.

[@feliciaaa4273]

Thank you for your videos! 🥰

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thank you! What kind of videos do you want to see in the future?

[@laurenc5811]

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.

[@therobloxaddict8724]

I want to be a prosthodontics and I want to do general dental. Can you do both of your an associate dentist

[@drturfa4851]

Great tips! Thanks

[@brittanywatu4835]

You’re welcome!

[@timotiusarifgunawan6277]

Welcome to the dentist life

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thank you!

[@dentalthings_withsoohan2106]

love the advice!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Thank you! When’s the next video going to be out? 🤪

[@dentalthings_withsoohan2106]

@@brittanywatu4835 haha! I have been slacking SOOO hard on the videos...its still amazing how dedicated you were to it. BUT with this long break coming up I think I'll spend a few days just recording a bunch so I can edit whenever on my free time.

[@minizahra]

Current D24 here, how important do you think GPA is in dental school if you don't plan on specializing? I'm still studying my hardest every day but idk if I should be bogged down if I get a B in my classes...

[@brittanywatu4835]

To be very honest... no I don’t think it matters as much. No one has asked me about my gpa. But that doesn’t mean that people should just slack off in school of course 😇

[@minizahra]

@@brittanywatu4835 thank you ^.^ also ty for this video, I'll def keep this info in mind when i get to clinic later in a few years!

[@brittanywatu4835]

Good luck!

[@devikacm9072]

Hey did you know where the stem cell tooth filling is available??

[@Goldenmooonn]

Thank you so much.. This is really helpful❤️❤️❤️

[@brittanywatu4835]

You’re welcome! Good luck! What do you think you can improve on?

[@Goldenmooonn]

@@brittanywatu4835 I am done with my 2nd year right now, but due to this whole pandemic and lockdown our college is not going to open for like some more months which is like really stressing cause our 2nd year exams are getting delayed and our 3rd year is nowhere in sight, so I don't know what to do right now..! But as you said I also want everything I do to be perfect, this is what I want to improve about myself make mistakes and learn . And everything else for my 3rd and 4th year. I am just rambling I know.. sorry for that. ❤️

[@b100dr4g3]

Are you planning to open your own practice anytime soon?

[@brittanywatu4835]

In the future one day, but not anytime soon!

[@0ohyaa0]

Where can you find alumni conferences?

[@brittanywatu4835]

Sometimes your dental school holds them. Maybe during homecoming?

[@LS-cx5dg]

I’m super interested in going to dental school to do what I want to do for a living becoming a dentist. But I want to work with kids and adults do I go to dental school for pediatric or just dental. I also want to learn about the ortho field but don’t want to become one. Would someone be able to give some info about dental and dental school and how it’s like? 😊

[@brittanywatu4835]

First you’d have to go to four years of dental school for general dentistry. After that, you could then specialize depending on what you are interested in. Speciality can take 2-4+ years depending on what you’d like to do!

[@LS-cx5dg]

Brittany Watu aww thank you so much for responsibility I really appreciate it😭☺️☺️😊. Would the sim clinic be in the first 4 years or would that be considered specializing. Also I can’t believe I forgot to ask do I have to go to college college first for like academical classes? Thank you so so much again I also loved this video because it truly explained so much😊

[@brittanywatu4835]

After high school, you would need to go to four years of university for a bachelors degree. Then it would be four years of dental school. The sim clinic is during the first and second years of dental school. Then the third and fourth years, you will have real patients. Those four years of dental school don’t count as specializing, it counts toward a degree in general dentistry

[@LS-cx5dg]

Brittany Watu honestly 😩that’s a lot of college and money but it’s something I’m so interested I honestly don’t know how I could handle it all but I really really want to do this😭. I still have a couple years before college but I really have been opened up by all these inspirational videos on dentistry I guess I’ll work with it. If it’s something I really really want to do it’s all worth it😊. I’m also worried if I’d have a high enough gpa for getting into a good dental school and college. But this is honestly my dream and it’s been my dream for my whole life basically. I said when I was younger I’d never want to be a dentist because I was terrified when I was younger (I had a terrible experience that has traumatized me) but now I literally saying I want to become one. 😊 thank you again

[@LS-cx5dg]

Also does sim clinic go through 1-3 years of dental

[@PowerRangersRN]

Hi brittany I love u 😍😍

[@spyyow7745]

Hello! How old are you?

[@Darklovesto]

at least 26

[@brittanywatu4835]

I’m 25, good guess

[@poleviper07]

Hi brittany I love u baby and your videos