The radiographs have been taken, probing depths measured and it is time to present the plan to your patient. Behind the scenes, you have studied the patient’s case and know the ideal treatment. You’ve gotten faculty input and you are ready to discuss options with the patient. After presenting your ideas, the patient disagrees with your proposed plan and seems noticeably aggravated. How do you communicate effectively to help the patient understand the risks and benefits of treatment?
When a computer becomes overrun with more information than its processor can handle, it crashes. The human brain responds much the same. Take me, for example. I recently wrapped up an ordinary day in the life of a third-year dental student. I had lectures in the morning and treated patients in the afternoon. On the ride home, something felt off. Everything I needed to get done was passing through my mind. I needed to study, finish lab work and prepare a treatment plan for tomorrow’s patient. Aside from school responsibilities, my wife needed me to get groceries. I got home, dropped my bag and knelt on the floor. All at once, those thoughts flooded my brain and I could not move. I just sat there, emotional and frozen.
As a second year dental student at the University of Minnesota, I embraced the chance to participate in the school’s summer research fellowship without any expectations (except the promised stipend). I chose to spend my last free summer working in a research lab instead of traveling like most of my classmates. I thought I would miss out on the chance to have fun during the summer, but I failed to recognize all of the opportunities that would be available to me as a student researcher. Involvement in research has allowed me to travel across the country to present my research, which provided me networking opportunities, public speaking experience and an orientation to research within the profession.
Each year, ASDA members publish more than 100 articles in ASDA News, more than 50 articles in Mouth and at least 156 posts to this blog. That’s a lot of content. Behind the scenes of these publications is ASDA’s Editorial Board–eight dental students who dedicate their time to planning, writing and editing your ASDA publications. It’s thanks to them that you read about millennials, creative diagnosis, and lasers this past year. They are also the folks that bring you Life Hacks Week and “just for fun” posts here on the blog.
ASDA’s Editorial Board sifted through all the articles and blog posts of 2015 to narrow down nominees for three Gold Crown Awards: Best News Article, Best Feature Article and Best Blog Post. Criteria included relevance, originality, research and presentation. For blog posts, number of visits, social shares and Facebook likes were also weighed in the decision. Here are the nominees for the 2016 Gold Crown Awards for best articles and blog post…
We all know that dental school is stressful. There is a constant barrage of exams, quizzes, lab practicals and deadlines, and it is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind. When we lose sight of what is most important, our health and mental well-being, it can be easy to forget to give our body the things it craves – healthy food, exercise, sleep and relaxation. It is so easy to skip a workout to study a little more, or grab a quick greasy meal to save time, or even put our emotions on the back burner all in order to get the grade. Our mission for ASDA’s Wellness Committee here at the University of Minnesota is simple: we want to help students maintain balance in their lives so that even during stressful times, they can remain grounded and physically and mentally healthy.
As fourth year dental students, we completed our clinical outreach requirements at the University of Bergen (UiB) in Norway through an international exchange program. We treated patients in the clinic, made many wonderful friendships and traveled the beautiful country of Norway. The combination of clinical practice, learning and working in an international health care setting led us to one of the most rewarding experiences in dental school. We strongly recommend that students take advantage of any opportunity to participate in dentistry in a novel setting as a way to expand your perspective and potentially practice dentistry abroad. The opportunity to explore various techniques and materials, and to improve patient communication skills, helped us to grow as health practitioners. Most importantly, we became more independent. For us, participating in this program changed our lives and our careers.
On January 26th, a flurry of Facebook posts popped up in my newsfeed from elated students announcing their match day results. For many, match day served as the end of a long application process to various specialty programs, general practice residencies (GPRs), and advanced education in general dentistry (AEGD) programs. For some, this served as a dress rehearsal in preparation for another attempt at matching next year. Regardless, going through the Match process takes some serious effort and persistence, but a little background knowledge will help you get through without breaking a sweat.
