Dental therapists can fill cavities, extract primary teeth and put in crowns and spacers. DT’s get a 2½-year degree (compared with four years for dentists) and earn roughly half what a dentist does. University of Minnesota School of Dentistry’s Dental Therapy program is the first in the country to graduate 9 students in 2011. The school’s second graduating class of …
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Dental School Standards in Oral Cancer Knowledge
After my oral cancer diagnosis, my Mom went for her dental check up and you can bet she wanted to be sure she was getting a proper oral cancer screening. When it never happened, she said something to her dentist. “My daughter had oral cancer and I want an oral cancer screening.” He replied that he always takes a good …
Oral & Maxillofacial Resident asks, ‘How do I prevent being brushed-off from patient because I’m just a ‘resident’?
Twelve UCSF oral & maxillofacial residents entered the conference room at 7AM for my lecture. They were polite but I got the feeling they wondered why they had to hear from a patient when that happens every day on rounds. However, five minutes into my talk I noticed their stiff body language soften. At the end, their questions demonstrated they …