Studying and Practicing Dentistry: General Discussion

[Tomato]

It seems like only MRACDS fellowship (not the membership) can be used. Dentists need to wait for at least three years after graduation before they can apply for MRACDS membership, it then takes another two years to become a fellow. According to laerla, her friends got into specialities three years after graduation, so I don't think MRACDS was used in their cases.

MRACDS = Member of RACDS, FRACDS = Fellow of RACDS. Some unis require you to pass FRACDS primary exams. I think alternatively they may require evidence of MRACDS study (not necessarily the membership) because some applicants may have worked for many years (i.e. more than 3 years after graduation) before they apply for specialty study. Anyway whatever FRACDS primary exams or MRACDS or other postgraduate qualifications are not essential according to Iaela's friends' story.

 

[laerla]

MRACDS = Member of RACDS, FRACDS = Fellow of RACDS. Some unis require you to pass FRACDS primary exams. I think alternatively they may require evidence of MRACDS study (not necessarily the membership) because some applicants may have worked for many years (i.e. more than 3 years after graduation) before they apply for specialty study. Anyway whatever FRACDS primary exams or MRACDS or other postgraduate qualifications are not essential according to Iaela's friends' story.

Well to be honest I'm not here to say don't study or don't get mracds or fracds lol, i mean if you want to then go for them. They will help you along the way by no means. I mean I have also talked to recent graduate specialists before and they tell me that you need to not only pass the Primaries, but you actually need to get very good marks. So I do hear a mixture of different stories/advices, but my friends I am close with, so I know more about how they got in.
But I can't say this applies for everyone, so still do what you have to do and are suppose to do, eg. study/ get good grades etc.
I guess my main point is don't forget to socialise with other dentists/colleagues/specialists, because dentistry is a very small world, almost everyone knows everyone.

 

[Tomato]

Well to be honest I'm not here to say don't study or don't get mracds or fracds lol, i mean if you want to then go for them. They will help you along the way by no means. I mean I have also talked to recent graduate specialists before and they tell me that you need to not only pass the Primaries, but you actually need to get very good marks. So I do hear a mixture of different stories/advices, but my friends I am close with, so I know more about how they got in.
But I can't say this applies for everyone, so still do what you have to do and are suppose to do, eg. study/ get good grades etc.
I guess my main point is don't forget to socialise with other dentists/colleagues/specialists, because dentistry is a very small world, almost everyone knows everyone.

Haha, I know what you mean. Last time I asked your friend's specialty was because the requirements for different specialties are quite different. Some are much more competitive than the others depending on the popularity.

 

[laerla]

Haha, I know what you mean. Last time I asked your friend's specialty was because the requirements for different specialties are quite different. Some are much more competitive than the others depending on the popularity.

All good, yeah that's true. Yeah sorry didn't want to say which specialty because otherwise it won't be too hard to figure out who one of them is, then I might get into sh*t lol...
Although I still don't know how people can go through another round of studying lol

 

[Unluckydude]

MRACDS = Member of RACDS, FRACDS = Fellow of RACDS. Some unis require you to pass FRACDS primary exams. I think alternatively they may require evidence of MRACDS study (not necessarily the membership) because some applicants may have worked for many years (i.e. more than 3 years after graduation) before they apply for specialty study. Anyway whatever FRACDS primary exams or MRACDS or other postgraduate qualifications are not essential according to Iaela's friends' story.

Well to be honest I'm not here to say don't study or don't get mracds or fracds lol, i mean if you want to then go for them. They will help you along the way by no means. I mean I have also talked to recent graduate specialists before and they tell me that you need to not only pass the Primaries, but you actually need to get very good marks. So I do hear a mixture of different stories/advices, but my friends I am close with, so I know more about how they got in.
But I can't say this applies for everyone, so still do what you have to do and are suppose to do, eg. study/ get good grades etc.
I guess my main point is don't forget to socialise with other dentists/colleagues/specialists, because dentistry is a very small world, almost everyone knows everyone.

I've heard a story about someone who got into prosthodontics without meeting any of the requirements mentioned in the earlier post. The person completed her dental degree in China in 2013. After working as a dentist in China for only 6 months, she got accepted into a Dentistry PhD program at the University of Sydney. In 2017, she got into the Doctor of Clinical Dentistry in Prosthodontics. She was not registered to practice dentistry in Australia, didn't do RACDS/MRACDS, didn't even have two years of clinical experience, and was allowed to resit the entrance exam after she failed the first attempt. I guess everything is achievable if you know the right people.

 

[laerla]

I've heard a story about someone who got into prosthodontics without meeting any of the requirements mentioned in the earlier post. The person completed her dental degree in China in 2013. After working as a dentist in China for only 6 months, she got accepted into a Dentistry PhD program at the University of Sydney. In 2017, she got into the Doctor of Clinical Dentistry in Prosthodontics. She was not registered to practice dentistry in Australia, didn't do RACDS/MRACDS, didn't even have two years of clinical experience, and was allowed to resit the entrance exam after she failed the first attempt. I guess everything is achievable if you know the right people.

Haha yea that's it, the "right people". Although I must say it is quite common for dentists/specialists who work at universities but are not allowed to practice dentistry in Australia, due to them obviously not passing ADC(Australian Dental Council) exams. So they usuallly have a restriction clause in their registration with AHPRA, saying something along the lines of they are only allowed to work as dentist/specialist in universities. And there are goods and bads. Some of them are excellent clinicians, and some of them....not so much lol....had a few as supervisors when I was going through my final year of dental school.
When you say resit the entrance exam, I am assuming you're talking about the ADC? Because that one I think you can sit it as many times as you want, but I may be wrong. But what a lot of overseas dentists do is, they work as DA in dental practices, while studying for their ADC. A lot of them do fail multiple times as it is not easy

 

[Unluckydude]

Haha yea that's it, the "right people". Although I must say it is quite common for dentists/specialists who work at universities but are not allowed to practice dentistry in Australia, due to them obviously not passing ADC(Australian Dental Council) exams. So they usuallly have a restriction clause in their registration with AHPRA, saying something along the lines of they are only allowed to work as dentist/specialist in universities. And there are goods and bads. Some of them are excellent clinicians, and some of them....not so much lol....had a few as supervisors when I was going through my final year of dental school.
When you say resit the entrance exam, I am assuming you're talking about the ADC? Because that one I think you can sit it as many times as you want, but I may be wrong. But what a lot of overseas dentists do is, they work as DA in dental practices, while studying for their ADC. A lot of them do fail multiple times as it is not easy

No, I meant the clinical entrance exam for the speciality which was ran by the university of Sydney. I don't think she has passed the ADC yet. Just out of curiosity, if someone had a limited restriction clause, would I still be able to find that person's registration on AHPRA?

 

[laerla]

No, I meant the clinical entrance exam for the speciality which was ran by the university of Sydney. I don't think she has passed the ADC yet. Just out of curiosity, if someone had a limited restriction clause, would I still be able to find that person's registration on AHPRA?

Oh ok, well Usyd must be desperate then lol....yeah as long as she is registered with AHPRA, you will be able to find her. That's how I found my supervisors and knew lol

 

[Unluckydude]

Oh ok, well Usyd must be desperate then lol....yeah as long as she is registered with AHPRA, you will be able to find her. That's how I found my supervisors and knew lol

Lol, in that case, I don't think she is registered with AHPRA at all.......Doesn't the law require uni-based dentists/specialist to be at least registered with a restriction clause? Isn't clinical training part of the speciality program? Speciality students don't need AHPRA registration when treating patients?

 

[laerla]

Lol, in that case, I don't think she is registered with AHPRA at all.......Doesn't the law require uni-based dentists/specialist to be at least registered with a restriction clause? Isn't clinical training part of the speciality program? Speciality students don't need AHPRA registration when treating patients?

lol do you know her chinese name? because AHPRA is very specific, if you get one letter wrong, it won't come up. A lot of them go by their English names in uni, but AHPRA they only have their chi names...

 

[Hutcherson]

Hutcherson is currently in the process of specialising so may be able to add to the above when next online!

So getting into specialty (DClinDent - 3 years post grad) will depend on the requirements of each university. Different criteria at each one as someone has posted before.

The basic overview is:
- 2 years or plus of dental experience after graduation
- Passing Part 1 of the FRACDS exam (known as primaries) p.s you need to pass Part 2 of the exam to obtain FRACDS fellowship
- Research experience e.g honours, publications
- Teaching experience e.g clinical educator or supervisor
- Attending CPD courses or doing a diploma/masters clinical degree etc
- Experience in the public and rural sector
- Good grades from your undergraduate dental degree
- Resume + cover letter

Hope that helps!

 

[Time]

It seems like only MRACDS fellowship (not the membership) can be used. Dentists need to wait for at least three years after graduation before they can apply for MRACDS membership, it then takes another two years to become a fellow. According to laerla, her friends got into specialities three years after graduation, so I don't think MRACDS was used in their cases.

Just a correction here -

FRACDS is fellowship, MRACDS is membership.
You need 3+ years of experience to sit the FRACDS fellowship final exam.
You do not need 3+ years of experience to do the MRACDS membership program which takes 2 years.

 

[q8888315]

Sounds like it is more difficult to be a dental specialist (also more costly) than gaining an offer from medicine and become a GP specialist..

 

[chinaski]

Not really sure how you extrapolated that from what is described above...

 

[Limobean]

Seeing as the job greatly involves bending over to work in someone's mouth, what do dentists do to maintain good back posture and avoid back/neck pain?

 

[Cal]

Seeing as the job greatly involves bending over to work in someone's mouth, what do dentists do to maintain good back posture and avoid back/neck pain?

getting in trouble for not following ergonomic practice during dent school until it is habit

 

[Dreamer]

Seeing as the job greatly involves bending over to work in someone's mouth, what do dentists do to maintain good back posture and avoid back/neck pain?

Also exercising/working out + regularly stretching are important

 

[JCS]

I don't know a single dent student that collects human teeth.

I don't recommend keeping the teeth. Just get rid of it and don't bring it to the country as it poses too many risks and problems. They'll have enough resources for models to work on and I don't quite see a benefit of collecting human teeth given that all you need to know and learn will be provided by the University.

Even though the uni asks you to collect teeth they usually have extra teeth for you to use, so i won't worry about collecting any back home

Seeing as the job greatly involves bending over to work in someone's mouth, what do dentists do to maintain good back posture and avoid back/neck pain?

ergonomics can be an assessment criteria during dental school and tutors will keep emphasising on good posture. I know a few dentist who do yoga regularly to help stretch and all

 

[medlad12]

1) As of now, most dental graduates do not get a starting salary much lower than 110k.

Is is problematic to go into dentistry for the lifestyle due to the money? (work 3 days a week and live comfortably?) or is this destined to fail?

 

[chinaski]

You can work three days a week as a doctor and live comfortably. Heck, you can work three days a week as a plumber and live comfortably.