One hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment was adopted. Women were finally given the right to vote, which was a centerpiece of the first women’s rights movement. Today, this milestone is commemorated as Women’s Equality Day, celebrated every year on Aug. 26 since 1971.
The appalling death of George Floyd put a national and international spotlight on the racial injustices rampant throughout the United States. Millions of protesters all over the world have come out on the streets and online to support the Black Lives Matter movement in the months since.
Becoming a dentist is a journey. We spend years learning how to prevent, diagnose and treat oral diseases, in addition to how to meet the continuously changing dental needs and demands of our patients and the public. Dental education is essential because it allows us to gain the necessary knowledge and technical skills to care for our patients. But is it really enough?
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other Americans of gender and sexual minority status (collectively referred to as “LGBTQ+” or “queer” henceforth) have faced a rocky and imperfect road in their fight for equality.
During my undergraduate years, I would dwell on my grades. Getting an 89% on an exam would leave me feeling defeated and frustrated — I was so close to an “A,” after all! Now that I am a third-year attending a pass/fail dental school, I feel as though I’m able to perform at the best of my intellectual abilities with minimal academic stress.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared that the United States is amidst the worst measles outbreak since 1992, although the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. As one of the most developed countries in the world, this is an alarming stat that all health care professionals should be concerned with, including dentists.
The May issue of The Atlantic included an article about dentistry. The author Ferris Jabr discussed “the truth” about the profession, that “it’s much less scientific — and more prone to gratuitous procedures — than you may think,” as the headline of the online version of the article stated.
