Help with Advanced Standing Admissions to Dental Schools

 

For International Dentists:

 

The Fundamental Restorative Techniques program

 

 

What We Do For You

 

at Duggan Dental Studies – formerly Duggan Study Institute, LLC (or DSI)

 

There are 9- and 18-day programs offered, as well as weekend programs.  Each course is designed to take you through all of the most common preparations that we do in restorative dentistry.  You will learn more of the principles behind the design of the preparations, and more of the principles behind the successful execution of the preparations than ever before, and than you may ever learn again!

 

Also, there are a variety of supplemental aids and programs that can help you learn a far more refined approach to restorative dentistry at home – for those who cannot get to our teaching center for personal hands-on education courses. 

 

Having worked with close to 4000 international dentists, Dr. Duggan is probably more experienced in describing the concepts and showing how to put these into action than anyone else in the field.  He has literally worked on hundreds of thousands of preparations with students since 1992.  Duggan Dental Studies uses teaching technology that is only used in two other educational institutions, and it was made for them by Dr. Duggan.  As you work with Dr. Duggan you will see exactly what he sees, while he is working on your typodont, because he has a miniature video camera mounted on his loupes!

 

If you participate in these FRT programs prior to applying to dental schools, your application can be greatly supported by a recommendation from Dr. Duggan.  Since letters of recommendation are required for applications, a US letter from an institution that the schools are familiar with will carry a great deal of weight.  Many students from DSI have done very well in all of the school programs, often demonstrating superior understanding and skills.

 

If you are invited to interview at a school and take a practical examination, the FRT course will help you demonstrate an advanced level of technique.  Dr. Duggan teaches more than just technique – he also teaches the rationale behind different types of preparations and how they can be used wisely in a broad-based clinical practice.  Many practitioners today don’t have all of the tools that allow customization of restorative dentistry to the needs of a diverse population – this is addressed in the FRT program

 

All work in the course is done on typodonts mounted in Columbia manikins, although we have a Frasaco manikin that can be used as well.  Concentration on appropriate positioning and use of finger rests for BOTH hands is emphasized.  While it would be greatly desired to include amalgam and composite restoration in the course, it is not included since it is not required in any of the practical examinations of which we are aware.  If this changes, we will gladly incorporate restorations into the course, since they are generally a very weak area for students, even those with a lot of clinical experience.

 

The Course Manual for Fundamental Restorative Techniques was completely written by Dr. Duggan as a guide to dentists needing to augment their understanding of clinical principles in restorative dentistry, and to communicate how best to execute preparations in a strategic fashion.  This is a unique manual, incorporating hundreds of illustrations with accompanying descriptive text.  It is only available through our courses.

 

Students enrolling in our office FRT courses, or in the online offering, will also receive as part of the tuition, a set of articulated models, showing a variety of preparations that Dr. Duggan has done at one sitting on a typodont mounted in a manikin.  There are class II, class III, PFM, ¾ crown, and onlay preparations, even a DO onlay and a porcelain veneer preparation.  This articulated model set shows the relationship between the preparations to the adjacent teeth and opposing teeth, generally missing from all other models available.  When you receive these models you will also be able to view online the actual videos of Dr. Duggan doing these exact preparations, with helpful hints inserted at various points to help you understand what you are seeing and how it can benefit you.

 

Candidates for advanced-standing admission should also be aware than many schools, even after they accept you as a student, consider this as a provisional acceptance.  Many have “summer review” programs, where they will evaluate you further regarding how well you learn and how ready you will be for your experience in the school clinic.  Once you have received your acceptance to a school, you might also consider a thorough additional training program at Duggan Dental Studies, so that your school “review” program will be more comfortable and your position at the school will be more secure!

 

The 9-Day Program:

 

Be sure to check the outline on another tab.  From this you will see the detail that we have put into this program. 

 

The 18-day program:

 

For this program the sequence of study will be much the same as for the 9-day program, but there will be more time to master the skills during the course.  It is always encouraged that students practice at home after courses, especially if they send their work in to Dr. Duggan for critique on DVD, but having extra time personally with Dr. Duggan is a great benefit.  This course is mostly scheduled earlier in the year, before the stress of imminent exams builds to the point where the extra time is hard to schedule in.  For the May Colorado exams, for example, starting an 18-day course in January or February is ideal.  It is especially helpful because Dr. Duggan will have more opportunity to work with each student and see what they are really capable of learning over a somewhat longer period.  This will generally result in more informed and even more positive letters of recommendation for students that are applying to dental school programs.

Be sure to check the outline on another tab.

 

Weekend Courses:

 

These courses are designed for students who live in the area and can reasonably commute to our Newport Beach teaching facility.  The 9-day program is divided into three three-day “weekends”, generally Friday to Sunday.  The 18-day offering is divided into six such weekends.  The largest advantage to this “commuter” program is that homework can be assigned between weekends, so that Dr. Duggan can see how much you are learning as you practice at home.  He has developed particular homework exercises that will increase your hand skills, while simultaneously enabling him to accurately gauge your level of understanding of the principles of the preparation, and make appropriate modifications in how you reason and picture designs ahead of time.

 

Also, during this weekend course there is time between weekends to study lecture and video demonstrations more completely – either on-line or on DVD, to supplement what Dr. Duggan presents during the classes and provides in the course manual.

 

 

The Online Fundamental Restorative Techniques Program

 

We are currently completing this online offering.  In early 2009 we completely recorded a complete 9-day course, including all of Dr. Duggan’s presentations, demonstrations using the Point-of-View camera, and also his work with students on their work, showing them how to do modifications of the work to improve the success of the restoration.

 

Soon dental school applicants will be able to sign up to view this complete package of video recordings, thus “experiencing” the FRT program without leaving the comfort of their own home.  There are obvious limitations to this approach, but by judicious study of the Articulated Models and sending in your typodont on a regular basis for critique, you can make considerable progress for a cost that is greatly reduced.  Packages are available that reduce the cost of critiques when a number of them are signed up ahead of time, so that it is easier to keep on a definite schedule of submission and learning.

 

Typodont Critiques through the mail by Dr. Duggan

 

If you send a typodont with 8 preparations to Dr. Duggan he will evaluate each preparation in detail using a high-magnification video camera, and then record his analysis and suggestions on DVD for you to watch at home. 

 

When typodonts are submitted regularly, there has been great improvement shown for many students – Dr. Duggan has done close to a thousand of these critiques over the years and found them to be very useful indeed.  There is no place to get a more thorough and detailed analysis of where you stand – and he makes great suggestions as to how to improve for the next round of submissions. 

 

Package sets of critiques are available that reduce the cost of each submission and will help to keep students on a regular schedule – otherwise it is much more difficult to maintain the discipline for effective home-study and practice.  Also, it is important to not be practicing the WRONG approach, or you can perpetuate bad habits. 

 

Dr. Duggan is widely recognized as one of the most caring and experienced dental educators in the field – he knows what you are looking for and he will tell you exactly what you need to hear about your work, and how to improve it.