What is MWU-AZ CODM really like?

When I was in the application process one year ago I really did not know much about any of the school I was applying to. All that I was able to learn about schools was what their websites told me, and that is never very much. Even after interviews and tours of schools, it is hard to really know what a school is like. I would like to give a brief review of MWU-AZ CODM and let you all know a little more about this great school.

First of all, our dean, Dr. Gilpatrick, is very involved in all of our educations. He honestly knows every student in the entire program (D-1 through D-4) by name and he will always greet you by your name when he sees you (if you have interviewed here or you will interview here you will witness this first-hand). He frequently stops by our simulation clinic to see how we are doing and he is at every event that we have at the school. I know that not many dental schools have a dean that is so active in the students’ educations. This is a great example of what the program is all about and what the other professors are like.

Here at MWU-AZ, all of the members of the dental faculty are required to have actually worked in a dental practice. This means that there are only dentists with real experience helping us to learn how to be excellent dentists. This ensures that we are getting the best dental education possible so that when we enter the real world of dentistry we will be extremely prepared to treat patients. This was one of the main reasons that I wanted to come to this school

A picture of the library.

Dr. Gilpatrick has created a very humanistic environment for the students here. He and Dr. Dugoni (University of Pacific is now named after him) have created a philosophy that all students enter the profession, and should be treated as members of the profession, on day one of school (Dr. Dugoni spoke to us on our first day of school about this and if I can find a recording of the speech I will post it for you). This was another reason I was so interested in this school. I did not want to go to a dental school where they have no respect for the students. Every professor is open to helping us whenever we need it.  Whether we need help with waxing a tooth or we just need someone to talk to, the dental professors are always here for us. This creates a spirit of comradery in the school both with the professors and between the students.

MWU-AZ CODM Class of 2016

Competition between dental students is non-exisitent here at MWU-AZ. The professional atmosphere at this school encourages us to work together and not against each other. Every dental student on this campus is a friend and a colleague and we are here to help each other succeed. We are all here for the same reason, to become excellent dental professionals so that we can provide the best health care possible to our future patients and in order to do that, we need to help each other as much as we can. All 111 of us are friends and we are all willing to help each other. The D2s, 3s, and 4s are also very active in our D1 education, offering after hours waxing courses, study help, and always offering tips and tricks for year one success.

Here is a link to our Facebook page. You can see from this on example that we are all very close and we do everything we can to help each other.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/200032836744977/

MWU-AZ is a very clinic oriented school. We take part I of the boards after our first year so that we can focus more on the clinical aspects of dentistry. D2s start performing hygiene procedures on patients. D3s see patients right away and that carries through to the D4 year. There clinic is enormous with more than enough chairs for everyone and sections of the clinic that are designated for each of the dental specialties. MWU-AZ does not have specialty programs but there are no not many restrictions on what students are able to do. If a patient comes in with a need for Oral surgery, students are able to do it if they want to. When I was interviewing here, there were two D4s and two D3s that were performing a bone graft of the maxilla on a patient; I never expected to see that at a dental school.

Another cool thing about the clinic program is that D3s and D4s work together on their procedures. In practice, a dentist will never work alone, so why make a dentist work alone in school? When a D3 has a patient, the D4 works as his/her assistant and vice versa. This creates an atmosphere of comradery and it helps to better prepare all of us to be the best dental practitioners in the country. Dr. Gilpatrick believes that, as dentists, we should be the best assistant, hygienist, and dentist in our offices when we graduate. There should not be anyone better than you at any procedure in your office when you graduate. This means that we become expert at assisting, cleaning, taking x-rays, placing rubber dams, etc…

There are no requirements for how many procedures need to be done in order to graduate. Dr. Gilpatrick believes that in order to become the best dental practitioners in the country, we need to push ourselves and do as much as we can on our own. Basically, we can as many procedures that we want or as few as we want but we know that whatever we do here (or don’t do) will determine our success after school. There were D4 students that graduated last year that had done literally hundreds of crowns. Students are performing major surgeries, ortho, perio, endo, etc. We can do it all here and we determine what our future is going to be like. I love this about MWU. I have found that when there is a set number for something that I have to do, I generally only work to that number and then I lose motivation, but here at MWU I determine what I want to do and I create my own future. I am not limited or held down with what I want to do while I am here at school.

The patient pool is also extensive and students do not have to find there own patients. There are many retirement communities around the school and those people need a lot of dental work done. There is always a steady flow of patients with a need for anything and everything you can imagine.

The sim clinic for D1s and D2s is also incredible. We have top of the line equipment and we are encouraged to use it all. For example, this week we are waxing # 29 (right mandibular 2nd premolar) and if we get a 90% or above on it we are able to cut a crown (using our wax-up) using the E4D (in office crown cutting machine).

I cut my first crown today using the E4D!

Basically, we have access to everything you can imagine and the sim clinic instructors are absolutely amazing. They help us with anything that we need and they truly want us to do our best.

Okay, I have to stop now. I need to study for the remaining two exams that I have this week (I took one this morning). I apologize for all of the text but I get really excited when I am writing about this school. I absolutely love it here and I would never want to be anywhere else. This school was a perfect fit for me and I hope that this has helped some of you to get a better picture of what MWU-AZ is really like. Again, if you have ANY questions or comments, post them here and I will do my best to answer them. If there is anything that I forgot to mention that you would like to know more about, let me know.