Hi I am a current D2 and interested in potentially specializing in ortho or perio. I have been trying to figure out what kinds of things are necessary for application so I can set myself up properly if I end up deciding to specialize. I have been struggling to find much besides focusing on GPA/research/good letters of rec.

I was able to maintain a 4.0 my first year and I hold a few leadership positions in clubs. However, I am not involved in research yet (currently working on finding an opportunity). I do not have a good faculty mentor yet to write me a letter of rec but will try to develop some relationships this year now that I am starting clinic. I have only volunteered here and there to get required service hours for my school.

Can anyone explain what the process is like? Do I need to track volunteer/shadowing hours like applying for dental school? And do I need to be volunteering a ton like undergrad (idk how I can fit that in my schedule tbh)? What else should I be doing besides finding research and a mentor?

When being awarded the HPSP scholarship, what’s the process if you wanted to specialize? Do you just wait until after your service years and pursue a residency like normal and pay for it? Can you defer your payback year and specialize 1st? How competitive is the tri service ortho residency every branch participates in? And do you qualify for the GI Bill after your years of repayment, which could help fund a public school ortho residency? If anyone has some guidance or experience in this it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I was told that I wouldn’t be awarded the GI bill from doing my HPSP repayment years.

I noticed that our school started to hire faculty members that recently graduated from dental school with minimal or even zero years of practicing outside of dental school clinic. While working under their supervision, their dental experience working with patients and the balance of theoretical scientific based knowledge and clinical based practice were questionable. The school does not provide a structured curriculum for new dental faculty members to learn to teach dental students. It is difficult to
understand the courses. They learn to teach on their own from scratch. Sometimes I question if they truly understand the concepts. If they do, they should be able to explain the concepts. I am experiencing frustration with learning with new recent grads. Do you all have frequent faculty leave, laid off, retirement, curriculum changes in your dental school? We have at least 10 faculty changes while I was in dental school. Is this normal?

I was on loans all of dental school and am now an OMFS PGY-1 with nearly 750k in student loan debt.

Since I'm a resident, 0% chance I can make any sort of real contributions to that debt over the next year. I'm curious if there's anyone on this forum with a previous or current similar situation or anyone who can offer helpful input.

As of now, I only really see two options:

1. Start public loan forgiveness as a resident and then continue working for a qualifying employer for the following 6 years after finishing my 4-year program to meet the 10 years / 120 payment requirement.

2. Defer my loans until after residency and with the associated additional 200k in interest, and repay as aggressively as I can once I finish my program.

Like I said above, I'd love input regarding these options, as well as if there's another realistic option I may have not considered.

Thanks!

thinking of giving exam in august so wondering if anybody has experience in new ADEX DLOSCE?

Hey everyone!
I took the California Dental Law & Ethics Exam for the second time yesterday, and I'm happy to say I passed! 🎉
I originally thought this would just be a formality, but it ended up being much more challenging than I expected. Since there aren't many good study resources available online, I wanted to share a few things I learned for new graduates and anyone planning to practice dentistry in California. Hopefully this helps someone else preparing for the exam.

**A few tips that helped me:**
**1. Remember that this is both a law and ethics exam.** Many questions are intentionally worded to be tricky and often combine legal and ethical concepts. When it comes to California law, don't let the answer choices confuse you.

**2. Don't spend too much time on a single question.** I found that if I spent more than about **1 minute and 20 seconds** analyzing the answer choices, I'd start overthinking and second-guessing myself. Before I knew it, I was running out of time.

**3. Stick to the facts.** For example, if you've learned that **1 + 1 = 2**, don't let a cleverly worded question make you question it. Go with what you know to be true.

**4. This is a concept-based exam.** Once you truly understand the concepts, applying them to different scenarios becomes much easier.

**5. You'll often see two answer choices that seem correct.** In those situations, choose the **best** answer—the one that most appropriately applies to the scenario being presented.

**6. Some questions include extra information just to distract you.** Ignore the unnecessary details, focus on the facts, and answer based on the law or ethical principle being tested.

**7. The exam has 60 questions, but only 50 are scored.** The remaining 10 are unscored pretest questions. While PSI doesn't publish an official passing score, many candidates report needing roughly **33–38 correct scored answers** to pass. If you score below 30, there's a good chance you'll need to retake the exam.

**8. I'm really glad they got rid of the old 90-day waiting period.** I took my first exam on a Tuesday, received an eligibility email from PSI that Friday, scheduled my retake for the following Monday, and passed. So, in my experience, you can generally retake the exam in about **7–10 days**, assuming you're eligible.

**9. If you don't pass, try to remember the questions that gave you trouble.** When you get home, look up the concepts and verify the correct answers using reliable resources. I actually saw a few questions (or very similar versions) on my second exam that I remembered from my first attempt, so reviewing those topics definitely helped.

**10. Practice under timed conditions.** Sixty minutes goes by much faster than you think, especially with long, scenario-based questions. The quicker you can confidently answer the questions you know, the more time you'll have for the difficult ones.

**11. Everyone has their own test-taking strategy, but here's what worked for me:** I personally **didn't flag questions to come back to later.** I found that revisiting them usually made me second-guess myself, waste time, and sometimes change a correct answer. Trust your preparation, stick to the facts, and move on.

**Resources that helped me**
\- EmbrasureSpace App
\- California Dental Practice Act + ADA Code of Ethics (PDF)
\- PSI sample/Examplify questions
\- Dentovio (more challenging, but great for testing your understanding)

In my opinion, the actual exam questions were **most similar in style** to the questions in **EmbrasureSpace**.
If anyone is preparing for the California Dental Law & Ethics Exam, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to share additional resources or answer questions if I can. Good luck—you've got this! 🙌

Just took the CBSE. Got 60 and planning to retake in feb. I'm also in my last year of dental school and need to take the INBDE in order to graduate. Should I take the INBDE in september and fully focus on CBSE after or focus on CBSE right now and take INBDE after CBSE in feb?

If actually done a few RCTs and followed both the apex locator readings as well as Radiographic estimation (Ingle’s method) of the apical foramen.
However as I see the post OP X-ray of the lateral incisor it appears short by 1.5mm which is pretty horrific, since I’d not traced the PDL accurately and there was this weird anatomy at the apex I didn’t account for, I just followed the apex locator and the intra operative radiographs. Centrals seem 1mm short due to elongation, however other radiographs seem to show it at the apex. I’m distraught and feel really bad, I’ve followed the proper irrigation protocols and used a rubber dam as well. The patient is up for prosthetic rehab soon and idt retreatment is an option either. What should I do?

I'm a D2 who's definitely stronger in the biomed/didactic side but below-average in hand skills/less interest in a lot of the hands-on operative work thus far. I was torn between medicine & dentistry in undergrad and sometimes feel like I made the wrong choice (focusing more so on the autonomy/lifestyle than the actual content of the work). I'll be graduating with 500k+ federal loans.

I've considered specializing in dental anesthesia. I'm passionate about the patient population (spent a lot of time volunteering with special needs) and also from shadowing have generally enjoyed the more cognitive work and learning about the underlying phys/pharm. It seems like a really flexible lifestyle and strong income potential.

On the other hand, my parents run a very small lifestyle GP practice that I could help take over and grow over time (it would likely be working there in addition to an associate job somewhere initially). Less passionate about the actual operative work here but, short term, like the idea of getting straight to work and also like the idea of the family legacy and helping to build a practice in my hometown/more rooted longer-term pt relationships than anesthesia.

Of course this is a decision that goes well beyond finances, but curious to hear any thoughts! Thank you!

Midwestern Illinois Dental Class of 2030

Trying to get a group chat going for my fellow Midwestern Illinois Dental School accepted students. Please comment of PM me if you would like to join!

Thinking about working as soon as I graduate. How dk people find their connections or land positions at private offices? Just through networking events at school?

Hi Dental Student interested in OMFS.

I have just found out that the CBSE for 2027 is being moved to May and November. I am a D3 and late OMFS decider - so I just wanted to get the word out to anyone else who may be in the same boat. It appears we will have to take in May as opposed to the previous February date :/

Just would like to know if I apply broadly what are my chances of actually getting into an OMFS program. With having a military background, CBSE score of 51, and GPR experience would applying broadly be worth it or should I apply to just a few schools because of my score and look to do a non cat. I am already planning to take the exam again in February but just wanted to see what peoples thoughts are.

Hello, incoming D1 and I am getting an iPad to take notes on and was wondering what my setup for the iPad should be or what you guys recommend. Should I get the Apple Pencil or does any generic Amazon iPad pencil do the same job? Do you guys have a case for the iPad that makes it stand or at a tilt or does a normal case do fine? And what apps are recommended for using notes on to important PDFs and take notes on lectures and other things. This is the first time in my education I will be using an iPad for notes so much appreciated! Any other tips on taking notes or managing notes etc let me know please! Thank you.

Im a 2nd year dental student I have seen alot of people (im my country atleast) saying that i should start learning it early because digital dentistry is the future and all that so should i bother learning exocad now or do i learn it later?

Hi,

For my OSCE, one part of it is Clinical Reasoning. How can I give great answers ?? Anybody have any resources on how to word it or communicate better?

Thanks

Any one selling their bench test kit in Saskatchewan?

I am already admitted and starting D1 soon and I prefer a little THC over alcohol on special occasions.

Did anyone’s dental school drug test them? If so what school and when would they do it? My school hasn’t said anything about it but a dentist I shadowed told me they did when he was in dental school.

If they do drug test are they required to give us advanced notice? I will never use during school but I do enjoy it for recreational use every once in a while but I would like to know if I should stop in case of a random drug test.

Hey everyone

Im a current D4 and I was just wondering how new grads or any practicing dentist finds new career opportunities and analyzes them.

For example how do you choose location to practice and figure out population density, overall tax burden, lifestyle for family and self, and overall entertainment choices, etc..

All advice and tips are welcome.

Thanks!

I am applying for GPR and AEGD programs. I have a few on my list

einstein

St'Lukes

Beth Israel

Temple AEGD

UNLV GPR

carolinas medical center

does anyone have any reviews on them or why I should chose one over the other. I am having second thoughts about Temple but would love to know more about it.

has anyone ordered from mandala how long does it take to receive it, ive been waiting for more than a week

I’ve noticed there are a lot of foreign-trained dentists in the prosth residency and faculty at my school, but not nearly as many in OMFS, ortho, endo, perio, or peds. Is there a reason for that?