5 Pearls for (future) Perio Residents
(or any dental specialty)
I’ve received some requests in the DM’s on IG to discuss any perio residency tips I might have to share. I can only attest to my own journey because every program is different, and each class has its own personality, however, I do hope that current and future residents can find the following useful for their own visions and goals.
Happy Scaling!
1. Form friendships with the seniors or upperclassmen in your program.
Most perio programs are on the smaller side having anywhere from 2-6 residents a year. The co residents that are crazy enough to join you for the ride are from all over the country, and sometimes all over the world. These are your friends and future family.
The upperclassmen have so much knowledge they can pass down. They have gone through the same classes, and worked alongside the same faculty. Most of the upperclassmen are willing to help if you just ask! They can offer advice on how to successfully manage the course load and clinic schedule.
From my own personal experience, most of my upperclassmen were so kind. They would help both in didactic and clinical settings. Some would block surgery times off in order to assist us in our first year, when we were a little (a lot) green. They also let me practice “starting” IV lines on them. Outside of clinic, they also always offered a shoulder to cry on when I was down.
Later in life we’ve all helped each other find jobs and remained close friends, which has been neat…
2. Find Friends in OTHER graduate/residency programs.
Finding friends in other programs is just as crucial as finding friends within your own program. Many of the cases that get referred to the graduate students in a dental school end up being multidisciplinary cases. This is the first exposure I had working with other specialists. By working together, you can learn to digitally plan implant cases so that the restorative process goes seamless.
Because I stayed at the same school for my perio program, where I also completed my DDS, some of my classmates stayed and enrolled/matched in other graduate programs as well. We had some combined classes together, and many patient cases together.
In some cases, the prosth, ortho, and endo residents could choose their surgeon. It always helps to work on multidisciplinary cases with people you know and trust. I remained friends with a few of these residents after my program ended as well.
Some of us still also practice in the same city.
3. Time Block and Manage your Time Wisely
I would say one of my biggest mistakes in dental school was studying for way too long, and not knowing how to differentiate between what material was important and what was fluff. I used to think that studying for hours and hours was effective because I was putting in the blood sweat and tears into my work… this was so wrong… in reality I could have studied less and more efficiently, and done a lot better academically.
In residency, though, there is so much material to read and learn. There is no possible way to read every single thing, and study for hours on end without breaks. Finally—I got really good at managing my time wisely. I also had hour or afternoon blocked breaks in my schedule which allowed me to be more efficient, allowed me to do things take breaks during the day to workout, shadow, and essentially reset.
Once I got over the “guilt” of not studying all the time, my grades improved drastically. I also had better coping methods outside of school because I wasn’t so stressed with studying all the time.
4. Watch and Learn from the Part Time Faculty.
I was given some invaluable advice by my dad early on. He told me that I should follow and work with the part time faculty as much as possible. He said that they had so much knowledge to share because they spent the majority of time in private practice. (this is not to discredit full time faculty because to them, I’m also beyond grateful)
So, I started to work with the part time faculty whenever they were available, and then also I began to shadow and observe them in private practice on days off. I honestly learned more on these days than I did on clinic. Because the adjunct faculty is used to teaching, having you come into their element is a whole new level of learning. A bonus to all of this, was the networking. It helped me find jobs after residency because I had worked closely with so many faculty.
5. Treat it like your own Private Practice.
I can only speak on my own program experience, and what I have talked about with friends in other programs. I started to develop healthy habits while in residency that I carried out into private practice. In residency, I got in the habit of confirming the night before surgery to answer any lingering questions, and make the following surgery day go more efficiently. I was also in the habit of brining in patients for a pre op appointment to take photographs, dispense meds etc. All patients have my google voice number in case of any emergencies.
I treated my patient family as if it were my own private practice. I started to keep track of patient acceptance, as well as began working on training “assistants” or in this case dental students. It’s a huge transition from the didactic setting into the private practice setting. In my last year of the program, I started to treat residency as if it were my own private practice.
I have friends who chose other specialties, so let me know if you want to hear from other specialties. A round table with everyone could be pretty dope. Also, if you have other questions or want me to elaborate, just let me know.