Maximize your happiness by practicing mindfulness

MindfulnessSince I started dental school, the biggest habit I picked up is being a chronic maximizer. As a first year, I was presented with so many new opportunities that I found myself overwhelmed with a desire to take on everything. But, when you’re trying to balance a personal life, academic obligations, extracurriculars and taking care of yourself, time becomes your most precious commodity. Efficiency became the name of the game and before I knew it, every little pocket of time was spent trying to tick off yet another item on my to-do list. Waiting in line at the supermarket? Perfect time to send out an email or two. Got out of class early? Time to call up those vendors for that event we’re planning next month.

Running a successful crowdfunding campaign

UCLA sparkFundraising for a student organization isn’t easy, but crowdfunding has recently emerged as a unique way to raise money from many individual donors. Websites such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe are popular choices to jump-start a campaign, but more recently, educational institutions have moved towards utilizing crowdfunding as well. UCLA embraced this opportunity to connect with Bruin students, faculty, alumni and its community when it launched UCLA Spark in 2014.

Read on to learn how UCLA ASDA raised more than $22,000 for their project.

Student research: Mitigating the risks of bisphosphonate treatment

laboratory equipmentIn treating many debilitating diseases, we are often faced with a difficult decision: how do we reconcile the potential benefits of treatment with the risks of adverse effects? Bisphosphonates (BPs) are widely used to treat bone cancers such as multiple myeloma and Paget’s disease of bone. Its role in inhibiting osteoclast activity has been shown to dramatically increase bone density and slow the course of aggressive bone malignancies. However, osteoclasts are needed for normal bone turnover and its inhibition by BP may lead to other devastating disorders such as osteonecrosis of the jaw.

Getting down with ‘dat ADAT

ADAT_residencyweekIf you are anything like me, the Dental Admission Test (DAT) brings back stressful memories of hours upon hours of studying. There were cubes and keyholes, phylums and double bonds, sine and cosine. They were all appearing to be an intellectual tangent to what we would actually need to know in dental school. Now that we have managed to suppress the memory of the DAT, it seems to be back with a vengeance, known as the Advanced Dental Admission Test (ADAT). So what is this Advanced DAT and how will it affect you? This brand new exam is meant for those applying to advanced dental education or residency programs. I have compiled a few simple facts to help you navigate this new test. (Deep breathe in… and out… Here we go!)

ASDA’s top 7 predental resources

Predental week webpageSo you’ve made up your mind that you want to be a dentist. Or you think you might want to be a dentist, but need to find out more about what that really entails. Where do you go to find answers to all these burning questions? Fortunately, the ASDA website contains a comprehensive collection of predental related material to help keep predental members well informed and on track to pursuing dentistry. While there are a myriad of resources that are all extremely helpful, the following resources are seven of ASDA’s most valuable ones (in my opinion, anyway.)

And the 2015 Gold Crown Award nominees are …

ASDANews-Jan15-hero-webOn behalf of ASDA’s Editorial Board, I’d like to thank all the authors and bloggers who contributed to ASDA in 2014. Thank you for your time, your ideas and your contribution to the organization. It’s because of volunteers like you that we are able to build a knowledge-base for dental students in the U.S. And it’s because of you that ASDA News was found to be members’ favorite ASDA publication in a 2014 readership survey!

ASDA’s Editorial Board sifted through all the articles and blog posts of 2014 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 2015 Gold Crown Awards for best articles and blog post …

Eight steps you can take to treat children with autism

boy with autismOne out of sixty-eight children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As such, many of your future patients will fall somewhere on this spectrum. Autism encompasses a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social impairment, communication difficulty and restrictive, repetitive stereotyped behavior. Here are 7 steps you can take to treat patients with autism…