It was the last day of October in Chicago, and coming from sunny California, I was captivated by the city’s snow-sheathed streetlights and wispy winds. The city lights illuminated the “Bean’s” location nestled in Millennium Park. Eating deep dish pizza at a restaurant just minutes away would warm my frozen fingers and give my body ample energy for the days to come.
We spend a lot of our time reading, whether it’s PowerPoint slides, research articles or textbooks. The conceptual knowledge we gain in our first two years of dental school positively impacts our procedural knowledge in clinic. However, there are other aspects of clinical practice that aren’t taught as thoroughly in school, including effective leadership and communication. These four books are great resources for enhancing these skills.
Earlier this year, we joined Kobe Bryant in bidding farewell to a successful twenty-year professional basketball career with the Los Angeles Lakers. His retirement letter (written as a poem and published by the Players’ Tribune), aptly titled “Dear Basketball,” brought us back to his humble beginnings, shed light on his difficult choice to retire and highlighted his incredible legacy.
Kobe’s journey to retirement holds important lessons for all of us. As future dental professionals, there will come a time when we also have to make the difficult choice to retire. Using Kobe’s journey as an example, here are some key factors that will help direct us to a successful and happy departure from our day jobs.
Imagine if all the patient information you record could be seen with interactive charts. Do you think patients would be better educated about their disease progression if they could see computer renderings of their bone receding over time? Could interpreting pocket depth measurements graphically help with diagnosis or patient education?
Dentists are meticulous, analyzing and recording patient information and perfecting our preparations to the millimeter. Yet there is a general lack of awareness regarding dental informatics, a spectrum of dentistry dedicated to data collection, analysis and interpretation of what we practice regularly.
After my fiancé got down on one knee and placed the ring on my finger, there was about a 24 hour time lapse before I felt the world closing in on me. I had already over-committed to extracurricular activities and I had both my NBDE and clinical entrance exams to prepare for this year. How was I going to manage planning my dream wedding on top of that?
First year dental students at Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (CDM) will now have the opportunity to experience gross anatomy lab in a whole new way – through virtual technology. At the newly created J and K Virtual Reality Learning Center (VRLC), CDM students will be able to dissect the human body through four virtual modalities.
A great way to add quality material to your ASDA chapter website is to interview your very own members! They can be local leaders, members who have gone on international dental trips, or just a fellow classmate with an interesting story to share about their road to dentistry. Maybe you have an amazing professor you’d love to interview. The options are endless. Here are some tips designed to help you film, edit and produce awesome interview videos.
