Dentists help refugees during hard times

Displaced refugeesWe often refer to our world as the “dental school bubble.” Our world consists of all things dentistry – exams, schedules, lab work, deadlines, and, of course, the latest gossip. Somehow this list often does not include anything external to school. My brother often jokes that at the end of each semester he’d like to have a video made for me called “Things you missed this year.” However, it is hard to miss the recent news of the terrorist attack on Paris and the Syrian refugee crisis. As headlines splash across social media, newspapers and news channels, we are faced with the harsh reality that the world is not limited to our more trivial concerns.

While being pushed to our limits with school, it is easy to forget how lucky we are to be here. We have the freedom to pursue our dreams and live our lives as we please. We watch horrific events on the news. We read about equally-terrible but less-covered tragedies in news articles. These events shock you back to reality, they give you pause, and offer a perspective that we are most unfortunate to gain. Just for today, let’s try to take a look at what some of the good people are doing. It is no surprise to see that dentists are out there doing what they can, to shed some light on these dark times.