My student experience at The Center for Special Dentistry

I studied at The Center for Special Dentistry for two consecutive summers and have recently begun a one year full time experience before attending dental school. The Student Program offers a unique opportunity to experience high-end dentistry and gain exposure to a variety of specialties including oral surgery and endodontic, periodontic, orthodontic, pediatric, and cosmetic dentistry. At any given time there are a number of students in the office, so what you get out of the internship is largely dependent on how much time you spend in the office and what you do with your time there. While your responsibilities are at first limited, your demonstration of interest in the office and eagerness to contribute are key to gaining the trust of the doctors and senior interns and eventually taking on more responsibilities. During my first summer interning, there were a number of us actively seeking opportunities to help around the office and become involved. It didn’t take long before we were cleaning and preparing treatment rooms, scanning and filing documents, and assisting some of the dentists. That’s not to say, however, that they delegated responsibilities freely. As I stated before, you only got as much out of the internship as you initiated, and those interns visiting the office sparingly or texting all day in the staff room certainly may have missed many of these opportunities. While I was interning I actively participated in the daily responsibilities of the senior interns and gained an enormous amount of knowledge in both dental treatment and the business of managing a practice. If you’re looking for meaningful dental experience and are willing to put your time in, then I highly recommend applying for this pre-dental school program.

— A.C.

Categorised in: Dental Student Experiences

This post was written by Dr. Jeffrey Dorfman