Thanks for sending in your questions! Here are the most popular ones that I answer in this video: What do you typically do when you shadow? Is shadowing important? How do you find shadowing opportunities? How do I ask to shadow? What are the shadowing requirements for pre-dental students? Is 300 hours too much? When should pre-dental students start shadowing? Does shadowing in high school matter for dental school? Can I shadow doctors and dentists at the same time to help choose the right path for me? What to bring shadowing? What should I wear? How long should you shadow in one day? How do I keep track of my shadowing hours? Do I still have to shadow if I work as a dental assistant? What questions should I ask the dentist I'm shadowing? How do you know when to ask your questions? How many dentists should I shadow? Should pre-dental students shadow general dentists or specialists? How to find different specialists to shadow? How to shadow during the pandemic? When you were shadowing, what were you most nervous about? What to absolutely avoid while shadowing? How long did you shadow before asking for a letter of rec? How to ask for a letter of rec? How to thank the dentists you shadowed? How can you make the most out of the experience?
I'm a senior in high school and am going to shadow a dental hygenist in a couple of weeks and had no idea about what to do. This video helped me out so so so sooooo much. I literally have a whole sheet of notes I took from this video that I will be using. Again your information was so helpful I really apreciate it! :)
Shadowing is def important! Great Q&A. My mom was a dentist but I shadowed a handful of other dentists as well. I wonder how many offices will have people shadowing now with COVID
Super happy I stumbled upon your channel. I have been Dental Assisting for 8 years and plan to begin school to start the process of becoming a dentist. I love your feedback and experience strength and hope. Thanks for vlogging consistently even though you are very busy in school! Very appreciative of your perspective
I’ve worked as a dental assistant for 4 years and I am doing the same!! I just finished my AA degree and working towards my bachelors degree now :) Message me if you want to connect!
I'm a high school student and I was planning on getting my shadowing hours done this summer but Ms. Rona said no :( I'm afraid to even ask to shadow now because of the Coronavirus situation and reopening regulations! Still, thank you for the very helpful video! My biggest fears are a) getting rejected by the dentist I ask b) gathering the courage to ask a dentist.
Im planning to ask shadowing my jr year of hs, but you can always just email them, then it doesnt really matter if they say no because you dont know them
@@benlee5039 good points! also, funny to revisit this same comment 7 months later ahahaha. I've been shadowing in person since August 2020! So, it is possible to shadow during the pandemic yay :)
Thank you so much for making this video! It was so helpful and answered basically all of my questions. I was hoping to get most of my shadowing hours done this summer to apply next cycle, but with the pandemic pushing my plans back hopefully I won't have to end up taking two gap years :/
I did shadow a general dentist But now I wanted to shadow endodontists Also Laura is endodontics a improving speciality to work I really wanted to become a really good endodontists
@@LauraSmiles Thank you sis U are a saviour I saw ur vids first due to the dilemma of choosing but I am glad I chose dentistry Stay safe and stay happy Peace out ❤
Omg I needed this video and I didn’t even know I needed it! I really want to start shadowing some pediatric dentists especially early on...but it’s hard to do now with everything going on because most offices around me still aren’t open 🤯
Are you going for general dentistry or are you planning on specializing in a specific area??? You are so inspiring, I love your videos and I can’t wait to be in dental school!!! ❤️
Question; do they expect you to know stuff, like the basic things and tools? Are they going to ask you questions or would they just tell it to you? For example the tools to use and how to use it
When shadowing you are just watching, you don't get to actually operate. And it really depends on the dentists, some dentists are more talkative and explain everything that they do, but some you just sit there and watch them. It is better to not touch tools at all unless you have permission.
Hi Laura, can you do a video about how to establish a trusting relationship with patients? I've always struggled with sparking up conversations with them because I have trouble keeping a conversation going. I understand some patients are shy or prefer not to have small talks, yet I still want to be able to make the patients comfortable. Sometimes I become awkward because I wouldn't know what else to say or how to respond hahaha
I love your videos!! You're part of what persuaded me to become pre-dent!! Do you think it's worthwhile to wait to submit the AADSAS application until I have more shadowing hours? Because of COVID, I was not able to start shadowing until recently. Now I don't know if I should send in my application and just talk about my lack of shadowing hours in the question related to how coronavirus impacted my application or if I should wait a couple of weeks till I can get more hours :(
THANK YOU!!! I love to hear that!! :) As long as you met the minimum shadowing requirements for the schools that you're applying to I would submit your AADSAS app (if everything else is done and ready to go). You could definitely talk about how COVID's impacted your ability to shadow more
I’m really excited and can’t wait! I got an opportunity to start shadowing this summer, and two of my friends will be there with me as well. Is there anything I should study in order for me to understand the procedures I will be shadowing?
Hi Laura! I don't know if you've done a video about this before but could you do a video about the process of applying for dental school and how a science GPA vs cumulative GPA is calculated?
hello! i know this video is kind of old, but i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how to bring up to your personal dentist that you are interested in shadowing them? i’ve had to find a new dentist since i moved to college and had some issues i needed to have fixed, so i’ve been into his office a few times. during my first visit he asked about what i was studying and what i wanted to go into, and i told him about what i thought i wanted to go into at the time, but i’ve recently taken an interest in a few other things, including possibly going to dental school. how would you suggest asking him about possibly shadowing him? thanks in advance!
What do you actually do when you shadow a dentist? Do you just follow the dentist around and observe? Or do you help the dentist under direct supervision like an intern?
I have question I am working dentist clinic as front desk and dentist assisting the doctor will that count as shadow opportunities. I am doing my undergraduate pre-dental
hi! Thank you so much for this video, I just got my first response from a dentist I reached out to about shadowing! I've shadowed before in high school (im currently a college graduate now, pursing post-bacc in dental since I majored in a non-science) but I was wondering if there is anything I need to really know before shadowing? Should I educate myself on the dental instruments/procedures/etc. yet?
You don't need to know before shadowing because you can ask the dentist questions! But it's always nice to know some background info about the procedures. I ended up just learning on the spot by asking questions :)
@@CJKcozy OMG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! That really means a lot! Sometimes I wonder if the videos are worth making but comments like yours give me motivation! :)
Hello!!! I am a Junior in High School and would really like to shadow but I feel like maybe it’s too late for me to start, not only because i’m a junior already but because summer is almost over. Also because of the coronavirus i’m afraid i will get turned down if i do ask, do you have any pieces of advice :(
Junior in high school!!! That even close to being late. You can always start during the summer before your freshmen year in college. Honestly, just ask, if you get rejected call different dentistries, some are more than happy to have you shadow them.
It would be best if you go into their office. You can always start with asking your personal dentist since you already know them. It might be different since the pandemic but it never hurts to just call them. Try to call them at not-so-busy hours so they can actually consider.
They are for the most part! Some colors fit a little differently than others but FIGS has an awesome customer service team that takes care of you for easy exchanges! 🥰
Can you talk about the school you go to and your personal recommendations for schools? You don't have to make a video you can just comment it. But I mean like😗👉🏽👈🏽......a video is nice too😂😂
