University of Kentucky College of Dentistry

From Student Doctor Network Wiki

1) Name of Your Dental School Kentucky

2) What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week? Depends on the year...spread out (I guess)...2nd semester of DII through 1st semester of DIII is the roughest stretch (juggling path, pharm, etc. along with clinic)

3) What is the hardest class? Why? If we are talking about fewest number of A's...micro (and it is the heaviest credit value at 11 credits)

4) What is the easiest class? Why? Ethics...Jeez, aren't we all ethical out of the womb. Who needs a class?

5) Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabatoge each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out? It appears that it is a mixture (as is probably everywhere). We had about a fourth of the class applying to specialty programs which does obviously contribute, but overall I would say that our class was a co-op. Although, each class develops its own personality and I am sure gunner proportions vary from class to class within the same school.

6) Are the class notes based primarily on textbooks? or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors? Depends on the class. I think that most students buy the textbooks for reference; however, most classes test from the powerpoints/handouts.

7) Are there any classes taken with medical students? If so, which ones? Yes, when I was in d-school (just graduated), we shared micro and physio with the meds. Not sure if this is still the case.

8) What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages? No Pass/Fail although it was prior to my arrival (switched around 2000). Grading scale varies from class to class. B+'s are probably the most varied with scales like 87-91, 87-89, 84-89.5. Some courses give everyone the same grade regardless of percentage performance (competency-based I suppose) and give A's for writing a paper (Ethics, Clinical Pedo).

9) Is there a notetaking service for lecture available? No

10) Is class attendance mandatory? Of course Depending on the course, there may be a roll sheet that gets passed around. Most of the basic science course professors do not take attendance. Almost all of the dental-related courses (especially restorative) take attendance.

11) In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)? Almost everyone within our college is approachable and usually not too busy to help you out if you need it. Many of the professors you will get to know and they will get to know you which helps. There are also several that I have hung out with outside of school in relaxed settings. For example, a few of my classmates and I have dinner with our opath director regularly (we have hit nearly every authentic mexican restaurant in Lexington ).

12) Is there a big brother/big sister program that pairs you with an upperclassman or professor who "mentors" you? Aside from our faculty advisors, no unless you pursue them yourself.

13) What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score? Not exactly sure, although I think there were only a few that retook Part I. I think that our average was around average (84?) although we did have one that got a 98 and several others that got 90+ (out of a class of 53).

14) When do you take the NDBE? 1st year or second year? We were designated three weeks at the end of DII to study or start an early summer break

15) Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes? The three extra weeks was awesome. I hung out by the pool with my decks for a major portion.

16) Do most people study in the University Library? Or does the place clear out right after school and everybody studies on their own? We have a really nice library just a stone's throw away that many of my classmates would frequent. I think after DII, the numbers quickly diminished. I mainly studied at home.

17) Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? We have a pretty solid patient pool. In short, patients are pre-admitted by the college (and picked up through our Urgent Care Clinic), screened by available students, and you decide whether you want to take assignment based on your needs and interests. Overall, you can easily satisfy your clinical requirements; although, finding a good partial denture case and enough endo can be challenging.

18) Is it a hassle to get a chair once you get patients in? In your opinion, does your school have enough chairs? Not at all. Once you're a DIII, you get assigned a cubicle and can stow all of your goods there. You do share with a DIV and they get dibs on that cubicle if you both have a patient on the same day in the student clinic. However, the coordinators will find a place to put you regardless. I can't imagine having to deal with the headache of the first-come, first-serve monster.

19) What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Perio=at least 15 SRP's, a Mock Board SRP, and a final case competency which can be a pain in the arse if you do not have a patient in active perio therapy around the last semester of 4th year. Pros=3 complete dentures, 2 partials, and a sixth bonus case (single denture, immediate denture, etc.) Endo=7 cases (we don't go by number of canals) Restorative=more competency-based; They do count restorative experiences (amalgam, composite, crowns) and for third year the threshold was 30. They dropped the numerical requirement for DSIV and now you have to complete Mock Boards and a PFM crown/provisional competency once you have completed at least 3 crowns. There is no numerical requirement for crowns after completing the competency. There are also a few dentoform competencies that we do as a class. OMFS=complete the 3rd and 4th year rotations at 2 weeks a piece and the associated competencies that most students do on rotation. Pedo=Pretty ambiguous. Some students are assigned to a pedo mobile that goes out to rural Kentucky every Monday while others (including myself) only saw a few kids in the pedo night clinic and completed a competency (Class II restoration). Its really weird because no matter if you saw one patient or 10, you get a B regardless. Although, the director recently instated an "A" option that requires you to write a 4-page paper on a pedo topic. Ortho=Depending on what grade you want, you can do a box case for a B/B+ or treat a patient for an A along with a few other hoops to jump through.

Please feel free to PM me if you want further specs (as if this wasn't enough to put you into a slumber)

20) Are there opportunities for different off-site dental clinic rotations? If so, what are they? Almost everyone does a 4-week stint at a site in rural Kentucky following DIII. This is somewhat flexible and we had some go to different states, Indian Health Service, or work in our Urgent Care Clinic slinging pulpotomies.

21) Are there opportunites for outreach trips to underserved areas or countries? If so, what are they and for how long? Absolutely. I am not sure about duration, but we had several of our classmates going to places like Haiti and Honduras. I'm sure there were other trips, but I can't recall offhand.

22) Is there sufficent preparation for practice management? What career placement opportunites does your school offer? We have a practice management/business course that runs most of DIV. You get a few nuggets here and there, but most of the time it is a vehicle for reps to come in and woo you into buying their insurance, using their practice management software, or allowing them to completely run your practice for you so you can just drop by and pick up the cash on your way to the links We get numerous e-mails from our front office for job offerings and also have a website dedicated to fresh grad practice opportunities.

23) What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years? No dress code before you start clinic. Hats and scruff are welcome. Once you start clinic, scrubs or business casual.