An Idiot's guide to DDS-1

For long time i have been bombarded with questions some silly and some really tough ones regarding how to get into a dental school starting from scratch...so i thought of finally compiling all the information i have and putting it here so that you folks read it and then i think would have essentially all the information to begin with. However the information i am putting here is for international dentist program in US dental schools for foriegn trained dentists.



so here we go....

List of abbreviations which i might use:


GRE- Graduate Record examination
TOEFL- Test of English as foreign language
ECE- Education Credential Evaluators
WES- World Education Services
NBDE- National Board Denatal Exam
ADA- American Dental Association
MPH- Masters in Public Health
MHA- Masters in hospital Administartion



So i begin with a scenario where people usually start thinking whts next the time somewhere during internship and thinking MDS or DDS ? The very first thing here is commitment ...be it MDS or DDS you need to be true to yourself for it is not an easy road and if you think you have seen somebody who told you this is very easy or that he or she was just average while in class but now studying in a dental school in USA its not a true scenario. Maybe the person hideen potential was not out in dental school back home. So for all those who think i will do DDS cos that other brainless fellow cud do it plz don even try.
Anyhow comin back to topic the time you decide yes its going to be DDS or DMD one starts with few basic questions which i am going to put as they come in my mind:

Ques: Which exam to give ?
Ans: The exam one needs to write and pass with good score to get into a dental school in USA is NBDE.

Ques: What kind of exam is this?
Ans: This is a multiple choice exam with usually 400 questions. Most of the schools need only NBDE part 1 exam for incoming candidates, only few schools need a candidate with both part 1 and part 2 score.

Ques: What all subjects i need to study?
Ans: For part 1 you need to study all the basic science subjects namely Human Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Human pathology, Microbiology and Dental Anatomy and Histology. Dental materials and pharamcology is not included here.
For part 2 you have ALL THE SUBJECTS LEFT OUT OF PART 1.

Ques: When is this exam held?
Ans: you can take this exam anytime in a year but the thing is that this exam is held only in USA so you have to actually be present here to write it.

Ques: Ah so now you telling i have to be there....and how i should do that?
Ans: Well this is a part where you need to sit and think cos it depends on number of factors. You can come on visitor visa and write the exam or you can go for a student visa directly by going for courses like MPH, MHA etc.

Ques: Ok how do i go for Student Visa? What are it advantages or disadvantages if any over tourist visa?
Ans: Well thats a big delimma i was in initially..but then i decided to go for MPH. 2 clear advantages...1 the ease of visa, you can stay and take dates for exam at ur ease and convenience.. you are there in US only when they call for interview and all sorts of thing...secondly the advantage of having a US degree behind u, also u can do some voluntary observership kind of things here.Of course its lil expensive for the part of livin here but then i feel these outweigh the benefits. Though you can come on visitor visa too but then remember you have to come back again for interviews etc when they call you.

Ques: let see i want a student visa then how do i go for this MPH thing?

Ans: Well for this you have to give GRE and TOEFL exam. GRE exam you can give in your country. It consists of elementary maths and english and there are lot of books available for prepration. I used Kaplan and Barron's books. You can prepare well in about 3 months for GRE and should take you around 15 days to go for TOEFL after your GRE.

Ques: and then what?

Ans: Then as you get both the scores you apply to various universities and wait for your acceptance and I-20 to come. Take visa and come over.

Ques: What various universities?

Ans: Universities which are popular are Eastern Tennesse state university, Western Kentucky State university, Alabama state, University of Albany, San Diego State university etc etc. You can join any one you prefer or whr it suits you financially.

Ques: Ok so visitor visa or student i take one and come to USA then how do i go about?

Ans: See now it depends when are you reaching, session starts in Jan and in August. I prefer you come in Jan cos if you come in Jan you will have time to settle down, get all the paper work done required and prepare to give the exam by june or july maximum.

All the best folks...