Puppies are funny and cute. They are excited and curious, always ready to take on a challenge. When I think of the dental school experience, I think of dental students as puppies — excited to hold a handpiece and mirror for the first time, meeting patients and performing our first procedures.
The Entertainment Software Association estimated in 2018 that over 166 million adults in the United States play video games. The popularity of gaming is so vast that eSports, competitive, organized video gaming, reached $906 million in revenue worldwide in 2018, according to a global market report by Newzoo.
Volunteering in dental clinics is one of the most rewarding experiences predental students can have. The work can show you the clinical side of dentistry and also expose you to challenges you might face in practice.I started volunteering at a local dental clinic as a way to help low income and uninsured children. (The ADA wrote an article about the Kids’ Community Dental Clinic in 2014.) Volunteering here for more than a year taught me a lot about how to advance my career in dentistry. Here are some of the key concepts I learned:
Preparation, proper form and good hand skills – we must be talking about dentistry, right? Well, not quite: we’re talking about sports!
Sports and dentistry have more in common than you might think. If you’ve ever played high school or collegiate sports, you know that success on the field begins before the game even starts, with late-night practices, team huddles, proper coaching and of course, hard work. Similarly, as dental students, we know all too well how pre-clinical practice and adequate preparation before appointments are crucial components to being successful in clinic.
