My New Job, and a Glimpse into Esthetic Dentistry

In the past month, I started working at a dental lab where dental work - crowns, implants, veneers, bridges, etc. - is fabricated so dentists can place them in patient's mouths.

I'm not doing any of the CDT (ceramic dental technician) stuff just yet (though I get to start wax-ups next week! hooray!!), but I've been helping my boss work on a presentation for these big esthetic dentistry conferences in Germany and Poland. It's great, because I get to help design his presentation and the yearbook nerd in me is certainly rejoicing. I've been using (and trying to get better at) Photoshop and Illustrator.. Now if I could just figure out Lightroom..

As I've been helping him prep, I've begun to learn a lot about the ideas behind esthetic dentistry as well (I'll be spelling esthetic with an "e", so if that bothers you, I'm sorry.. lol). Dental students always tell me that school whizzes by you in a flash, and that when they get out of school, they barely feel ready to take on real patients, in a real practice. I've always wondered if there's enough time to develop a trained hand for the detailed work in dental school, and whether the curriculum trains your eye for esthetically pleasing work. Since my boss is a CDT, he focuses heavily on the artistic component of dentistry, and tells me that often times, dentists aren't even aware when there's an esthetic issue with the labwork because they haven't learned how to see these problems yet.

Interview Tips

For the 2012-2013 cycle, I got 9 interview invites and attended 5 of them (UoP, Michigan, NYU, UPenn, UCLA).

Now that interviews are completely, 100%, glorifyingly over, I'm proud to say I was 5 for 5 interviews, aka I got accepted anywhere I interviewed! woot.

I would attribute my success to three factors, and I'll list them for you below (Interview Prep Checklist below as well!).

1. Being genuine.

• On my UCLA interview, they asked me what I'd been doing over my gap year. I started listing being like, "It's been a pretty busy year.. I have several part time jobs as a dental assistant, teacher, tutor...and a waitress.. to make rent by the end of the month.. haha" At that, both my interviewers jumped at my sheepish last response, and said "Being a server is probably one of the most valuable experiences you coulda gotten out of all the jobs you listed. Being in a service position blah blah blah" etc. They knew that being a server doesn't sound fancy, but the life experience is invaluable. 

How to Survive the Interviewer from Hell

Before my NYU interview (this was around.. late November?) I obviously prepared through SDN, read up on the school, and gathered info from friends who had interviewed before me. What did I size up the NYU monster to be?

• Gigantic class size of like.. 300+ (more seats = more acceptances)
• Interviews are generally 15-30 minutes long and very casual (or so I thought..)
• NYU is $$$ from my pocket. 
• Still worth it to go to an interview because it was a pre-Dec. interview, and I wanted to maximize chances of getting into any dental school by the first deadline. Plus, its NY - who wouldn't love the chance to check out NY?! 

So, I ventured on, bought plane tickets (for you CA people, don't make the mistake that I did for my first interview and buy tix on Southwest.. Check priceline and then Yapta to get good prices for flights, that are hopefully direct. Transfers are the worst.), reserved a spot on super shuttle (I WILL NOT POST THEIR LINK BECAUSE I HATE SUPER SHUTTLE), and made sure I had warm clothes. 

Okay, now to the good part. I get to the admissions office 15 minutes early, to find 8 other applicants already waiting. I sign in at the desk, and get assigned the number 9 - turns out they conducted interviews in order of who showed up first. Filled out some paperwork, and before I knew it, my interviewer called me to the room. 

Enter, the Interviewer from Hell (IFH)..

How I Studied for the DAT

This is just what I did to prepare for the DAT. I had a not-pretty GPA (both science and overall), and figured the DAT was my one chance to prove to adcoms that I'm actually very smart! lol. Some encouragement - I had a low GPA but a pretty high DAT and received enough interview invites to choose a school that really fits me. In my experience, a high DAT can open doors that were previously closed. Moral of the story? If you study hard, this score can really make or break you. 

Also, I started out being HORRIBLE at OChem, pretty good at Gchem, and pretty decent at bio (I'm a bio major). That in mind, these resources served me very well. 

RESOURCES

• Kathleen and Annie. Seriously, study buddies make life sooo much better. All three of us will tell you that our summer studying for our MCAT/DAT/OAT was actually really fun.. It sounds so nerdy, but being with your friends, asking each other questions, and encouraging each other will really help you through studying that could otherwise be extremely dull/stressful. 
• DAT Destroyer (I swear, worth its weight in GOLD. I literally learned ochem from the ground up using this book.)
• Crack DAT PAT 
• TopScore tests (8 tests, but you need windows for this I think)
• Kaplan class - Kaplan online materials (5 tests, math review, online class support, Kaplan Blue Book)
• Kaplan Blue Book
• Princeton Review MCAT Biological Sciences Review Book
• My college bio book
• Freelanceteach on youtube (love this guy! so cute and nerdy)
• Sample DAT from ADA website
• **Resources I didn't use, but people liked: Chad's videos, Cliff Notes AP Biology, DAT Achiever, this link (seems to have lots of helpful stuff.. but it's kind of weird ahha)

Do You Fit? Factors to Consider at Interviews

factors to consider when you go to your interviews:

here are some things to look out for, or ask about at your interviews. 

• weather - dress appropriately. i went to university of michigan in a skirt instead of pants (i never thought to buy a pair.. -.-) and literally froze my ass off. it started raining and wind chill made it around 30 degrees outside. im a california girl, so this was not smart. 
• cost of tuition AND cost of living - some schools will wayyy underestimate COL, while others overestimate a bit. make sure your figures are right. in the end, dental school debt is daunting for everyone (unless you live in texas..)
• how much time do students spend in clinic? do D1's/D2's get phased into clinic slowly, or do you just go blind in your 3rd year? do you spend 4-5 days a week in clinic, or 2-3? 
• what are clinic requirements like? what do people dislike about them/find unrealistic?
• are the students happy? do they feel like they're learning things that are necessary?
• what's the board pass rate like?
• grading system? is the school P/F or H/P/F (fake P/F lol..) or graded?
• are students ranked?
• are there places to blow off steam nearby, aka yummy food, jack in the box, bars, clubs.
• do you want to live near your family? i think this is a big factor that people underestimate.. DS is stressful, it's good to unwind and go home every once in a while.

Why I Decided to Take a Gap Year

For Berkeley students, its pretty typical to take a gap year before plunging into a health professional school. I think its becoming more and more common, as people begin to realize the amount of debt they will be in as soon as they finish med/dental/opto/whatever school, and see that there's significantly less room for simply enjoying life. Plus, Berkeley kids are usually burned out from 4 years (or more) or camping out at the library, being constantly caffeinated, and just getting too little sleep.

So why take a gap year? Here were my reasons:

Sleep, play, and learn. 

A Case for Journals/ Personal Blogs

There are a lot of things I did wrong during college, but a couple of things I did right. 

Whether you're starting out as a wee freshman or embarking on your senior year,  keeping a journal or blog is important. Trust me, your memory will thank you for it a thousand times over once you're in the process of applying for dental school, organizations, or anything that requires some reflection on your end.

Need ideas for what to put in your journal/blog? Here's what I did. 

For some, it's rather intuitive - you just write what you're feeling. But for those of you who are new to journals/blogs, here's what I've kept in mine over the past couple of years.

1) A short explanation of current goals for the future. I included why I wanted to be a dentist, and paths I wanted to pursue to stay happy.

2) My current GPA, and classes I planned on taking to improve it.

3) Positive character traits, and examples of them in action.

4) Negative character traits, examples of them in action, and how I wanted to change.

5) Important events that happened and my reflection on them.

Research, and How to Make a Position Less Elusive

The problem is quite circular.

Labs want undergrads with research experience. Undergrads who are starting out don't have any, which is why they're looking for a position. BUT, don't give up! One of the best mentors I've had in college was my lab post doc, and working in a lab brought life to my major (as cheesy as that sounds). If research is something you want to explore, you gotta get that break somehow.

Several Approaches to Getting a Lab Position

How to Sneak Coffee Into a Library

DISCLAIMER: this post is not for those who intend to wildly splash their coffee on books in the library, or leave crumbs all over tables that are supposed to be used by others.

This post IS for people like myself, who are coffee-addicts, and need the caffeine to stay awake and really just need to study. I'm talking about those days when you walk alllll the way to the library from your apartment, only to realize you left your coffee thermos at home, and you're still running on only 4 hours of sleep. If this is you, this trick just may save your life, as it has mine ;)

Materials:

• 1 delicious cup of coffee (or a latte, or tea, or an americano, whatever floats your boat)
• 3 coffee lids (THREE, not two. You will not be happy if you only bring two)
• A backpack with side pockets or a jacket (a coffee hiding place)

Overview of Common Procedures for General Dental Assisting!

I remember the mixture of anxiety and excitement as I stepped into my orthodontist's office as a volunteer for the first time.

I had no idea what anything was, what anything did, and how I could help. It took a good 2-3 visits to finally get the hang of things, and actually start observing my orthodontist in action.

This was my first exposure to the dental field, but as you may know, dental schools ask for a minimum of 40 hours of general dentistry shadowing. Specialties are great for additional experience, but not necessary.

And so, I had the privilege to shadow an amazing general dentist in the Berkeley area, and even volunteer at a free clinic. Hopefully, you can peruse my notes and it will help you learn more quickly as you shadow/assist your dentist. This list is in no way exhaustive, just some of the things I've learned over the past year! I'll include a general overview of the procedure, the instruments necessary, and what you do as a dental assistant. I also italicized any instruments that are kind of unique/more important for the procedure.

Common Procedures and Instruments Needed

• General Exams/New Patient Exams
• Cleaning, Prophylaxis (Prophy)
• Scaling and Root Planing (SRP, also deep cleaning)
• Composite/Amalgam Fillings
• Extractions

These are the general procedures that you see most often while assisting, with the occasional crown prep/seat, implant, and a gum graft if you're lucky :)

Happy assisting!

:) rachel