Shadowing a Dentist

Why do dental schools even require prospective students to include shadowing experience in their applications? If you know, you know, so why spend tens of hours confirming that decision?

Why Do I Need to Shadow a Dentist?

Even if you’ve always wanted to be a dentist, shadowing is an important step in the journey toward dental school. For all pre-dents, it’s essential to shadow a dentist in order to understand firsthand what it really means to practice dentistry. This is especially true for students who struggle to answer the question why dentistry? Being able to pinpoint your reason for pursuing dentistry will make you a more confident and stronger applicant, and shadowing usually helps uncover this reason. While observing dentists benefits you and your self-discovery, racking up shadowing hours also demonstrates a passion for the field to dental schools. Immersing yourself by shadowing at a dental office shows schools that you know what you’re getting yourself in to and that you love it.

Here are the steps I took to shadow dentists and a few tips I found useful during the process.

How to Ask to Shadow a Dentist

1. Find a Doctor to Shadow

This may seem like the most obvious step, but it's also the most daunting! First, brainstorm a list of doctors whose practices interest you being sure to add offices near your house, your own dentist, and offices that specialize in something you like. My list included a pedodontist since I like working with kids, as well as an office down the street from my apartment.

It's not perfect, but this is the letter I gave to the dentist whose office is near my office. Click on the picture for a .doc version that you can use if you'd like.

When reaching out to the dentist or office manager, be sure to reference your interest in them specifically. When chatting with the pedodontist, I told her my passion for working with children is why I want to shadow her. For the conveniently located office, I told the manager that I peek in the office everyday as I pass it going to work and would love to finally step in and take a look around.

Picking dentists to shadow whose practices actually interest you (for any reason!) will result in a genuine connection once you reach out to them.

2. Stop by the Office in Person

You never know until you ask! Yes, dentists are busy people, but many eagerly mentor those students who will become the future of the field (you!). I found that showing up to offices in person and introducing myself to the office manager or doctor led to a lot of yeses when I ultimately asked to shadow. Taking the time to stop by to chat shows your interest in this office in particular. They know you’re not simply cold-calling random offices and seem to be more willing to agree to shadowing. I always had a letter prepared to pass along to the dentist in case he/she wanted to know more about me. If the front desk told me they’d get back to me, I’d leave the letter with them so I wasn’t forgotten.

3. Schedule a Day (or Two) to Shadow

Or three, or four, or five. Once you’ve been given the ok, arrange a time to actually go observe. See about scheduling at least four hours in one day to shadow so you have the opportunity to watch multiple procedures. I also recommend asking to pick out multiple days to stop by. Not only does shadowing demonstrate your passion for dentistry to schools, but it also provides an opportunity to build rapport with potential letter of recommendation writers.

Every school requires a letter from a dentist to be in your application packet and a great dentist to write it is the one you’ve shadowed on multiple occasions. If you can arrange to come in and observe on a regular basis, that dentist will know you well and be able to write an awesome letter. If the office prefers you to come in only once or twice, though, that’s ok! Any exposure to the field supports you and your goals.

4. Act Professionally, Be You, and Show Your Interest!

Though you may feel nervous on the day you’re scheduled to shadow, remember you’re there to learn. Wear something business casual and confidently introduce yourself as well as who you are to everyone, including patients. Don’t be afraid to ask the dentist questions (not in front of the patient in case the patient is nervous or uneasy) and don’t be afraid to not know the answers to the dentists questions. You’re here to be an information sponge as well as make a good impression on the dentist.

5. Jot Down Your Experience

As soon as you get home, write a summary of your day, being sure to note anything you learned. Because you’ll be spending many hours shadowing, recording your experience after each day will allow you to reference specific moments, patients, cases, or procedures that impacted you and your decision to become a dentist whenever you’re asked to explain your answer to why dentistry? Quickly writing about what you saw at the office that day will make your life much easier when filling out your application and preparing for interviews!

6. Say Thanks

Whether you shadowed for one hour or one hundred, you can never say thank you enough! Though most doctors want to nurture the rising generation of new dentists (and their soon-to-be colleagues), it’s important to recognize their busy schedules and their generosity in allowing students to observe. Sending them a heartfelt thank you note ensures their kindness does not go unnoticed. You can either send something by email or snail mail, but I personally find physical notes to be more impactful. Whichever delivery method you choose, though, be sure to send the letter as soon as you get home from the experience so that you don’t forget. The world of dentistry is small, so I liked to think of shadowing as my first foundation of networking with my future colleagues!

How Many Hours Do I Need to Shadow?

The exact answer to this questions varies on a school-to-school basis, but shoot for at least 100 hours. The majority of those 100 hours should be with a general dentist, however you should shadow specialties that interest you, too.

It's up to you to keep track of your own hours, so jot down how long you spent at each office when you record your thoughts and experiences for that day. During my application cycle, schools didn't verify my shadowing hours, but they could tell how much exposure I had based on what I said in interviews. Relax knowing that your hours won't be checked, but don't lie on your application. The best way to sound like you did what you say you did is by actually doing it!

A Reframing of Mind

When I began researching dentists to shadow, I was preparing to jump through more time-sucking hoops just to please future adcoms. Reframing my perspective and placing myself at the center of each shadowing experience made me gain more from observing besides just another hour to add to my application. By focusing on our growth and journeys toward becoming dentists, time spent on shadowing doctors will not only make us pre-dents look better on paper, but also make us absolutely confident in our passion for the field.