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

Who is this blog post for? Any pre-dental student, current dental student, and eager clinician motivated to refine their daily practice. Direct class II composite restorations are one of the most common procedures done in a general dentist office. This “bread and butter” procedure warrants being proficient and investing the time to improve your clinical skills. It’s my pleasure to re-introduce our guest co-writer ,Dr. Charlie Cage. In true alignment with her slogan ‘solo dentistry bites’ we are here as an operative and general dentist duo, summarizing (6) clinical tips to help you improve on e ..read more

Well, first of all, congratulations! The purpose of this blog post is to provide you a timeline and a game plan on how to best navigate the remaining months of the application cycle in order to gain admissions to dental school. I remember receiving my interview invitation to UCSF three years ago and feeling butterflies in my stomach- it was a special moment. It felt like someone had acknowledged and validated the hard work I'd put into to becoming a dentist, and that they wanted to get to know me for who I am. I hope the same feeling for you in your endeavors in the future. To best make that ..read more

It's no secret that attending dental school nowadays is an expensive process. From spending thousands of dollars in application fees as pre-dental students to then borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars in dental school, it has never been more important for prospective dental students to be financially prepared. While there are several different ways to minimize debt, there is a tried-and-true route (zero debt + stipend) for those who are open to serving not only patients, but also our country. Given all of the above, we are excited to share our first electronic publication with you- Every ..read more

"Do you want to specialize?" Not only is the question above a common interview question, but pre-dental and dental students alike often find themselves pondering what life is going to be like after dental school. The truth is, even if one had full intentions of becoming a general dentist going into dental school, it is going to be nearly inevitable for him/her to, at the very least, reconsider this initial thought, especially once the curriculum exposes the individual to the myriad of fascinating disciplines within the dental field. In fact, some general dentists even voluntarily go BACK to s ..read more

While filling out your secondary applications, you may notice many dental schools asking some variant of the same question: "What factors influenced your decision to apply here?" There are obviously many ways to formulate an answer, but I'd like to share with you my approach. 1. Start by doing the necessary research on the school of interest: Thoroughly study the school's websites. Read the school's annual reports and current events. Find specific aspects of the curriculum that pique your interest. For example, the school you are looking into may incorporate PBL (Problem-Based Learning) into t ..read more