Welcome back to the 4th blog post of our ergonomic series! With ergonomic loupes becoming an increasingly more popular choice in the loupe market today, let’s talk about chairside tips that will help smooth your transition and maximize the benefits of ergonomic loupes.  Ergonomic loupes allow you to reduce neck flexion because you are viewing your tooth of interest from two planes. This can be disorienting at first and require both spatial and fine motor adjustments. After using traditional loupes for four years, the transition to comfortably using ergonomic loupes in my clinical care ..read more

It's that time of the year again for another application season of dental and residency application programs. To help you prepare for this next professional journey, we asked recent successful applicants to the domestic and international dental school admissions process (you can find their success stories here): "What is one piece of advice you have for someone applying grad school in your profession?" Below is the compilation of all the great advice they have to share (in no specific order): " One piece of advice I have is to start early and try your best to stay organized! There are s ..read more

Reflecting upon my shadowing experiences back as a pre-dental student, I realized that often times I didn't understand terminology regularly used by dentists, hygienists, and assistants. To propel your success as a future dentist, I'd like to debunk 10 common dental terms that will help you feel comfortable and well-versed in a clinical setting. Pictured above: Four-handed dentistry with an incredibly hardworking hospital corpsman/dental assistant (Dr. Giao and HM3 McPhearson). I believe that my learning as a "shadow" would've been enhanced greatly if I knew what these professionals were u ..read more

In the past, we've covered what it takes to be a great interviewee and how to start preparing for interview day, but today I want to share with you a singular question I asked during my own interviews while applying for residency that I believe contributed in no small way to a successful match cycle. Most interviewers were delighted to hear me ask something like this, and one program director in Alabama even exclaimed: "It's been many years since an applicant has asked this question!" Before I reveal what you should say, I want you to first understand the psychology behind asking this type ..read more

Welcome to the 3rd blog post of the ergonomic series. With over a handful of companies offering a variety of dental loupes at vendor fairs in dental schools and regional/national conferences, it can be hard to make a decision that is best fit for you. Loupes are an intricately customized tool that, when selected appropriately, can elevate your clinical abilities and prolong your body’s shelf life in dentistry. Whether you are a first year dental student or ready to upgrade your well-loved pair of loupes, this blog post will help you Identify what factors you should prioritize based on your cli ..read more

Welcome to the 2nd post of The Pre-Dental Guide’s Ergonomic series. The blog space offers many tips and tricks to help you gain acceptance to dental school. Today, I’d like to take one step further and provide guidance on how you can kickstart your clinical training on the right ergonomic foot. It’s no coincidence the first lecture as a D1 student in the UCSF operative sim lab course is fully dedicated to ergonomics. In fact, chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders are the top contributors to dental disability and dentist burnout. According to The White Coat Investor, 1 in 7 health care pro ..read more

Happy New Year to new and returning readers! I’m excited to introduce to you The Pre-Dental Guide’s Ergonomic series: a series of blog posts where I’m going to share ergonomic lessons I’ve learned (the hard way) and how to best take care of our bodies preventively to sustain a healthy relationship with your mind, body, and dentistry. Two of the best ways dentists can achieve this is by 1) having a custom set of loupes to limit postural discomfort and 2) making a mindful practice of ergonomics every day. To kick off this series, this inaugural blog post will focus on Four Factors You Must ..read more

Greetings! As we earn more loyal readers to our blog, I thought it was timely for us to re-introduce ourselves and share a bit about our professional journeys in dentistry. The last time we’ve given you a formal introduction was when we started The Pre-Dental Guide in 2020. It’s been about four years of life since then, and I’d love to share some insights I believe will help your pre-dental journey to dental school with you. That being said, let me introduce myself. I’m Dr. Jenny Giao and one co-author of The Pre-Dental Guide Blog. I started this blog with my dear friend of over a decade, Dr ..read more

Now that you've already done the hard work of crafting and submitting your professional school application (e.g. AADSAS), it is time to start your preparation for the interviews you have received or are anticipating receiving. With the COVID restrictions mostly behind us, many programs have resumed their in-person interviews or have implemented a hybrid approach (half virtual, half in-person interviews). These changes obviously require applicants to adapt and plan in advance. The good news is that once you have been invited to interview at the program you are interested in, it truly means you ..read more

As yet another competitive cycle of professional school applications begins, we are receiving recurring questions and concerns from students who are drafting their personal statements. These questions are very valid and relevant, so we felt it would be beneficial to share what they are and how we solve them. Let's dive right in: 1. Should I include a "patient anecdote experience?" A patient anecdote experience refers to a memorable patient encounter that applicants may choose to include in their writing. This is typically done with the intention of captivating the reader with storytelling and ..read more