Everybody tells internationally trained dentists to get an observership. Almost nobody tells you how. It is not a website you scroll on your phone, and it is not luck. It is a list of clinics near you, a short polite email, and the willingness to send it again when most people do not reply. Because most will not reply, and that is completely normal. You only need one yes.
Observerships come from reaching out
There is no portal that hands them out. There is no list that is kept up to date. The dentists who take observers are simply the ones somebody asked.
That is the part that makes people uncomfortable, because asking strangers for a favour is harder than filling in a form. It is also why the applicants who do it well end up with US clinical exposure on their application, interview answers with real patients in them, and a dentist who knows their name well enough to write about them.
The method is not complicated. Make a list of the dental offices near you. Send each one a short, polite message that says who you are, what you hope to learn, and how little of their time you need. Expect silence from most of them. Keep going until somebody says yes, because one yes is the whole job.
Build the list before you write anything
A list of thirty is a morning of work and it is the difference between one awkward email and a system.
Dental offices close to where you liveStart with the practices you could reach on a weekday morning without a long journey. Proximity matters more than prestige, because you will be going repeatedly.
Dentists from your own country or languageA dentist who trained abroad themselves understands your position immediately, and they are the most likely to say yes. Look at local associations and community clinics.
A mix of general and specialist practicesA general office shows you volume and patient communication. An endodontist, periodontist or oral surgeon shows you depth. Both are worth having on the list.
Clinics attached to a school or a residencyFaculty practices and community health centres are used to having learners around, so the paperwork is familiar to them even when the answer is no.
Write down the practice name, the dentist’s name, and an email address for each. Use the dentist’s name in the message. A letter addressed to nobody reads like a circular, and circulars get deleted.
The email, written for you
Fill in your details once. The three emails below update as you type, and each has a copy button. Keep them short: a busy dentist decides in the first two lines.
The first email
Short, specific and easy to say yes to. Send it to every clinic on your list, one at a time, with the dentist’s own name at the top.
The one follow-up
Send it about a week later if there is no reply. One follow-up only. After that, move down your list rather than pushing.
After they say yes
Reply the same day. Confirm the date, ask what they need from you, and make yourself easy to host.
Most of them will not reply, and that is normal
This is the part that stops people. Thirty emails, two replies, one yes. That is not failure, that is the process working.
Thirty clinics. One gold square. That one is an observership, references, stories for your personal statement and something real to say in an interview. The twenty-nine grey ones cost you nothing but the time it took to write a short email.
What to do once somebody says yes
Getting in is half of it. What you do inside decides whether you get a letter, a second site, or a referral to their colleague.
The pieces of this journey, and which programme covers which
People assume one package covers everything. It does not, and we would rather say so here than after you pay. Tap any tab.
Master the CAAPID Application
$1,800 · 12-month cycle · 6 modules
The application itself, run with you across the cycle: personal statement with multi-round faculty feedback, a US-format CV with your international experience reframed for US readers, a school list built around your profile, clinical exposure and observership strategy, and a direct line to Dr. T, Dr. Kaur and the faculty.
Mastering Bench Test Preparation with Dr. Kaur
$1,100 · live on Zoom · preparations only
A separate programme, not part of the CAAPID package. Seven live days, one preparation at a time, with a demonstration before each and individual feedback on your own work, then a practice week with unlimited evaluations and a competency exam.
KIRA and interview preparation
Booked separately · with Dr. T and Dr. Slesnick
Also separate from the CAAPID package. Kira Talent written and recorded responses, timed practice under real conditions, and a three-session interview programme with Dr. Slesnick and Dr. T for the schools that invite you.
TOEFL iBT 2.0 Course
$499 · 45 days · mentor-reviewed
Built for the new 2026 ETS format: Build a Sentence, Listen and Respond, Email and Academic Discussion, and the 14-question Speaking section. Most US programmes set a minimum before anyone reads your statement, so a weak score disqualifies you quietly.
The Research Gate Project
Free to apply · led by Dr. T and Dr. Kaur
A mentored collaborative research programme that ends in a peer-reviewed publication under your name. Fifteen or more batches published so far, a four to five month publication timeline, and it costs nothing to apply.
Two things to do while you are waiting for replies
Emails take weeks to turn into a yes. That time is not dead time, and the two things below move your application further than refreshing your inbox does.
1. Fix your TOEFL score if it is anywhere near the line
The TOEFL iBT changed in 2026 and now reports on a 1 to 6 scale. Our recommendation, particularly for candidates applying from India, is to aim for 5.5 to 6, with 6 as the number you actually target. Programmes set a minimum before anybody reads your personal statement, so this is the one score that can disqualify you silently.
Our TOEFL iBT 2.0 course is a 45-day mentor-reviewed cycle built for the new format. If you would rather start on your own, these are free to read: how to score on Academic Discussion, five fixes for TOEFL speaking, listen and repeat, exactly, tips and tricks, and the Academic Discussion starter pack.
2. Get your name on a piece of research
In our experience, something like seventy to eighty per cent of the candidates who get into US dental programmes have credible research on their profile. It is one of the few parts of an application you can still add from where you are sitting, and unlike an observership it does not depend on a stranger saying yes to you.
You can now do research under the mentorship of Dr. T. The Research Gate Project is a guided collaboration with Dr. T and Dr. Kaur that ends in a peer-reviewed publication under your name: fifteen or more batches published, a four to five month publication timeline, and free to apply.
Apply free, and get a publication with your name on it
Submit your details and your CV. The team reviews your profile personally and comes back within about five to seven working days about an interview slot for the next batch. There is no fee to apply.
What stops the yes from coming
A three-paragraph life storyNobody reads it. Who you are, what you hope to learn, how little time you need. Five lines, then your name.
Writing to “Dear Doctor”It reads as a mass mail, because it usually is one. Use the name, and spell it right.
Asking for a letter in the first emailYou are asking a stranger to vouch for you. Ask to observe. Earn the letter later.
A CV attached to a cold emailAttachments from unknown senders are not opened. Offer to send one if they are interested.
Stopping after five emailsThe maths needs thirty, not five. Most of your list will never reply and that changes nothing.
Following up three timesOne reminder is persistence. Three is a problem, and it closes a door you might want later.
We have been doing this with students for years
Our students have gone on to advanced standing programmes across the United States, and the clinical exposure on their applications almost always started exactly like this: a list, a short email, and one dentist who said yes.
Inside the CAAPID programme we turn this into a system rather than a hopeful evening. We help you decide which clinics are worth approaching for your profile and your city, we review the message before you send it, and we keep you going through the silence, because the applicants who stop after one email are the ones who end up with nothing to write about.
The same faculty then use what you saw in the clinic where it counts: in the personal statement, in the recommendation strategy and in your interview answers. An observership that nobody writes about is a nice memory. An observership used properly is evidence.
The whole application cycle, with our faculty on it
Personal statement with multi-round faculty feedback, a US-format CV with your international experience reframed for US readers, a school list built around your profile, clinical exposure and observership strategy, and a direct line to Dr. T, Dr. Kaur and the faculty throughout the cycle.
If you are earlier in the journey, the exam comes first: our INBDE Premium Boards programme runs on a 99% first-attempt pass rate, and the full timeline shows where observerships fit against your exam dates.
Frequently asked questions
How many clinics should I email?
What exactly do I say in the first email?
Should I offer to pay for an observership?
Can I treat patients during an observership?
How long should an observership be?
Does an observership help my CAAPID application?
What if nobody replies at all?
What comes next
Send us your email before you send it to thirty dentists
Write your first message, paste it to us, and tell us which city you are in. Our Admin Team with Dr. T and Dr. Kaur will contact you over WhatsApp, read it, and tell you what to change before it goes out.
Written from Dr. T’s own guidance on observerships. Clinics set their own rules about observers, and some require paperwork, immunisation records or insurance before you attend, so follow whatever the practice asks of you. Observing is not clinical practice and does not permit treating patients.