Guest rez32 Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Hi all, for the longest time, I've thought that all dental schools in Canada were equal and standardized - same curriculum, similar facilities, etc. I don't mean that the campuses and the lifestyle in each school is the same, but in terms of the academic aspect of dental school, I thought it didn't really matter which dental school you go to as long as you get in. After reading through some of your posts with comments along the lines of "UofT is the best dental school in Canada" or "Western's lab is outdated" or simply "UBC's program is horrible", I have to wonder. Of course I'm not saying any of this is true, which is why I have to ask: IS IT TRUE? I know the experience you have in dental school is what you make of it, but I certainly would want to know if the basic education or facilities I pay for at one school are inferior to another school. Is there some truth to all this? What schools do you guys consider to be "good" or "bad", and for what reason? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Saint Seiya Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 UofT = best dental school in Canada??? I've never heard of such a thing as the best dental school in Canada. I know there are stats for the best medical school in Canada. Dental school?....nah. Are you talking about best by name or best by facility or best by teaching? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest depump Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Hey...I gotta agree too, I thought there is not enough information 'out there' that substantiates this claim. Oh well.....just wondering then, are there any stats on which school pumps out the most specialist? By my thought, i'd think the best school would be the one with the most graduates doing a speciality program since only 10% of us would become specialist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rez32 Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Yeah, I think that's as good an indication as any, seeing which schools pump out the most specialists on average each year. What I was thinking more in terms of, though, is something more obvious, like how modern the facilities are at each school, how much exposure does the school give you in terms of clinical work (I remember reading a post on this board about how UBC dental students are put together with med students for the first two years or something... it might've been another school though), and really how well the school prepares you for the board exam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest depump Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Hey rez32, yea totally, when I was out for the UBC interview, the facilities are not bad but the clinic had the old school pyschedelic colours of the 70's and 80's Has anyone been up to the U of A facilities? I heard they have old equipment there too.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pearly Whites Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 from what i have heard, U of T is said to be the best dental school probably b/c it is one of the few that has a separate dental program apart from the med students from the first year whereas many other universities have the dent students studying with the med students for at least 1-2 years. The good thing about western is that you get a lot of practical experience, however, when i was at the mcgill orientation, they said one draw back about western is that they dont get specialists to teach each individual area so you only learn the basics. but that's only what i heard from the mcgill student. As for mcgill, for some reason, it has a really good rep w/ US schools, even better than compared w/ U of T. so if you want to specialize in the states, mcgill probably good idea. The main thing w/ UBC is that you have to study with the med students for the first two years and you don't get to do any hands on work until the summer after the second year. However, they said they'll be changing things for the next few years... not sure what they mean exactly tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest depump Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 yea....! but who knows, I still get the feeling we are piggy backed at UBC for dent students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nanoarray Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 Has anyone been up to the U of A facilities? I heard they have old equipment there too....Old? Maybe....it depends on your definition of "old" and what eqipment you're referring to. Plus the UofA dentistry building is an old building, so it may give you a sense of everything being old. But, it's a beautiful old preserved architecture when you look at it from outside. In terms of facility, if you're talking about new vs old dental chairs, does it really matter to have old or new chairs? They're just chairs, aren't they? How much fancier would you like? I'd like to have a massage dentist's chair for my lazy back, instead of the patient's. (Hey, I'll be sitting in a clinic all day long, compared to my patient, right?) In terms of dental tray tools, hand-pieces and dental materials, I'll assume they're more or less the same. I don't know...haven't had any courses for those yet. I know that we don't have digital x-rays or computers at each dental station. Are those what you're referring to? To operate these equipments doesn't require much dental technique, does it? In terms of class, we have a small class of 33 people (one more came later this year). We help each other, lending lecture notes, photocopying notes,...it's a wonderful class. That's the beauty of a small class.....I know, I know,...speaking of my laziness again. :b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest depump Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 Hey....sweet, thanks for the info. I heard UBC is going to upgrade our equipment too, but honestly, I think they are spending too much on what we have as 'adequate'. I think we don't have enough chairs for the number of students entering though....but it would be really nice to update the clinic's 80's orange effect. Hey, anyone from UBC dent school right now? Who'd agree with me some Martha Stewart paint at the clinic will spruce up the day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nanoarray Posted March 20, 2004 Report Share Posted March 20, 2004 Donna Dewberry's one stroke painting sounds better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK Posted March 26, 2004 Report Share Posted March 26, 2004 Hi, Many people have told me that schools that don't split MD/DDS in the first 2 years are the best, i.e. Western & UofT. Also, Western has a lot of new equipment, and apparently their clinical experience is better b/c they don't have as many specialties offered like at UofT. This seems paradoxical, the reason is b/c a hard endo or perio case @ UofT goes straight to the Endo and Perio grads, where @ western the undergrads will treat it b/c there are no specialists to take it. On the other hand, UofT is UofT. Renowned in canada, has top notch profs with world renowned researchers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest koft Posted April 2, 2004 Report Share Posted April 2, 2004 Hold on ppl. I don't know about other Uni outside of Ontario, first thing first, if you want to determine the overall experience of the dental education you should ask those who graduated from UT or UWO. I agree, UT has the best researchers, however, their education is geared on mostly on theoretical aspect, whereas, UWO is very practical oriented. UWO does have specialists such as Oral Surg, Endo, etc, it is just they don't have grad students to take those cases (except orthodontics), so the undergrad gets to see some of these cases (excluding very difficult one). I believe both are excellent school, it is what you take out of the education and the overall experience. Also, both programs are not joined with meds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest per te Posted April 2, 2004 Report Share Posted April 2, 2004 Hi~ I think that is what JK probably meant, that the speciality graduate students are not at Western (except ortho of course). I don't think he meant that Western doesn't have any specialists. At any rate, I see it as a good thing too. Since we started on the topic of combined meds and dents program (at least partial), I am curious exactly which schools have this, as opposed to strictly dentistry alone. Med/Dent: UofA, UBC, McGill Dent: UofT, UWO, Sask(?) What about Manitoba and Dalhousie? I think it would be interesting to know and help new people out in their research. So would anyone like to finish that list? Also, what is your opinion on it? Especially those that have gone through the programs, do you think that it should play a part in choosing a school? ~*per te*~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JK Posted April 2, 2004 Report Share Posted April 2, 2004 correct me if I am wrong, but I think Dal is just Dents, not joined with meds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest epzi Posted April 2, 2004 Report Share Posted April 2, 2004 Manitoba isn't integrated with the med school. Does anyone know anything about the french dental schools. I've never actually heard of anything regarding laval or Montreal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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