Shadowing Dr.double-S, part deux

I got the opportunity to shadow Dr.double-S, who will be Dr. S for the rest of this entry. I was supposed to shadow Dr.K but her patients didn't show up and Dr. S came to the office and asked if I'd like to see an extraction, which was a coincidentally great opportunity for me. The patient was really eager to have be see his extraction and learn, pulling me closer with his hands and telling me to get a good look in his mouth and stuff. One of the best patients ever to shadow, even though he spoke very little English and had a translator there.

While I was watching, I saw a familiar little card in Dr. S's operating room, which I recognized a few seconds later was from me! It was nice to know that my thank you cards actually get to the dentists, I always wonder if they arrive and what happens to them when they do.

Oh, and I saw the handsome Dr. LM again. He was dressed up, not in the usual scrubs that everyone in the office wears. Dr. S said that I was missing out on the "handsome doctor AN" when I shadowed the first time because he was in Indiana doing some house searching, but I think otherwise after seeing Dr. AN today. And just before lunch, I saw Dr. LM and the attending dentist go somewhere, probably somewhere important.

Another super interesting thing I saw today was a woman that had an extra tooth, literally in the palette of her mouth behind her two front teeth. I asked Dr. S if it was just a tooth that had come in wrong or maybe a baby tooth, but no it was an extra tooth. CRAZY COOL, well not for the patient. And Dr. S definitely kept me on my feet quizzing me to see if I knew the routine of a new patient exam...Medical history, X-rays (if necessary), Hard tissue analysis, Perio analysis (gum tissue check and tooth mobility), and Prognosis/How to proceed from exam.

Note to self: Dr. S is going to endondontic school in St. Louis, Missouri after he completes his residency in late June.

Shadowing Dr.double-S

I completely forgot that I had this blog when I shadowed last Friday. This was a pretty awesome experience, shadowing dental residents who had all graduated within the last year. The group of five dentists was a pretty selective group and were undergoing some rigorous training in order to become the best dentists they could be. The group had come from all over the country, NYU, UOP, Creighton, and the U of M -- I was surprised by the variety.

Here, I saw a variety of cases yet again, but different from that of the community clinic. These cases were more specialized and specifically geared to face cases that were referred to by the hospital. The attending dentist told me that this was an initiative to have dentistry compliment physicians more and vice versa, since there had always been this lingering gap of care for patients. Upon the initiative of a few people, a program was started to have dental residents take on cases from the overseeing hospital and allowed them to have the credibility of having a vast variety of experience collected within a year of residency.

The dentist I shadowed, maybe because he understands what it's like to be a pre-dental student or that he's a recent grad who is extremely modest, but he and the other residents were extremely kind and generous of their time and sharing information. I was really grateful towards all of them. (Not to mention some were very handsome...*gushes*)

After shadowing on Friday, it is something I definitely would like to pursue, should I get into dental school over the next year.