What you should know about the ADAT in 2018

The ADA launched the Advanced Dental Admission Test (ADAT) in April 2016 targeting third- and fourth-year dental students as well as practicing dentists who are interested in postgraduate training. The exam provides advanced dental education programs with a means to assess applicants’ potential for success in a postgraduate program. With the third year of the ADAT test cycle approaching, let’s take a look at the 2017 ADAT results and some changes that are taking place for 2018.

How dental anxiety affects your patients

This article originally appeared as the lead news story in the May 2014 issue of ASDA News. To read more from ASDA’s print publication, Contour, click here.

A fearful patient can pose a considerable treatment challenge, especially for dental students who may unintentionally miss signals that their patient is uncomfortable.

Dr. Peter Milgrom, professor of oral health sciences at the University of Washington and founder and former director of its Dental Fears Research Clinic, believes that students lacking clinical experience “tend to completely focus on technical procedures” or “feel under pressure to perform at a certain rate” because of clinic time constrictions or limited rest breaks.

How it’s made: CAD/CAM dentistry

With more and more industries moving away from physical information, many are looking at technology as a more efficient means of capturing, translating and delivering that information. While CAD/CAM (Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) dentistry has been around for a few decades, the technology itself has matured to the point where it is more accessible in terms of cost and usability. Whether it’s used to digitally send an impression to a lab or to provide a patient with a same-day crown, CAD/CAM technology is quickly being integrated into the field of dentistry.

With that being said, this video is a very basic introduction to the general workflow for a CAD/CAM crown. While this video uses a specific system, the concepts discussed are general and relevant to most systems.

Finding your superheroes

drwehking
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton
My interest in organized dentistry began during my undergraduate years at the University of Central Florida where a local dentist, Dr. Pete Lemieux, took special interest in my pre-dental club. As a nerdy science major, that dentist was a superhero in my eyes. I remember being absolutely star-struck when he invited our club to an event to socialize with real life dentists. That night I shared a glass of wine with that dentist who spoke so openly about his journey through dental school and his trials with different associateships. I remember thinking, “Wow, I can actually do this.”