Another day with my mentor February 15, 2014

It was a tiring but fun day again with my mentor. It was the same as last week's observation. Patients should go to their dentist, every six months, to have their teeth cleaned. That’s why my mentor always says to his patients “see you in 6 months”. I encountered a patient who has very disarranged teeth. I got to take a picture of his teeth x-ray. He has this kind of teeth because he didn’t go to his dental appointments. He has a lot of holes and cavities as well. He really needs to get braces, but the my mentor told him that he needs to get fillings and root canal first before braces. This is going to be expensive. The curing light, my mentor uses this tool when he's doing a filling on a patient's tooth. It is a blue light, he told me not to look directly at it because it's the same as looking directly to the sun. It’s bad for the eyes. My mentor also told me that dentistry involves physics. So I had second thoughts, because I really don’t like physics. I kept on thinking the whole time, but then I realized that physics won’t stop me from taking dentistry if really want to be a dentist. Today I’ve learned that going to dental appointments is really important if you don’t want to wear dentures. Not only about that, but also don’t let your weaknesses stop you from aiming want you want to be.

Time logged for this session: 8 hours

Total time logged: 18 hours

Here is the picture of the patient's x-ray who has very crooked teeth.

First day observing other patients February 1, 2014

I went to the clinic at 9 am. My mom just brought me food for lunch. What I observed from the dentists was they were just waiting for their patients to come. Their work is kind of a boring work, cause they just sit and wait. I learned that before the dentists check the teeth, they are going to check the jaw first if there is any popping jaw. The first patient, what they did was just cleaning. After he cleaned the teeth he said to me that cleaning is boring. I did not know what to say, so I just laughed. I also encountered a man who did not have his teeth cleaned for 13 years. I was so shocked, cause he has a lot of cavities. My mentor showed me what cavities look like. These are the brown stains, and when you do not get rid of these, these will ruin your teeth. My mentor said that he always say to his patients to floss everyday. Flossing can lessen your teeth from having cavities. I also encountered patients who need fillings on their teeth and patients who need braces. When there were no patients, I just read magazines and pamphlet about teeth and gums. Again, I had fun watching and learning about dentistry. As I watch every patient, I realized that brushing your teeth twice daily is very important. I observed that being a dentist is not simple. It takes patience and knowledge to know how to solve the teeth problems of the patients. Also, I observed hat dentists are very friendly to their patients, because when a dentist is friendly their patients are also going to be friendly. This day was awesome! I felt like a dentist, thinking and observing. My mom picked me up at 5pm.

Time logged for this session: 8 hours
Total time logged: 10 hours

Pamphlets that I read.

Met my new mentor January 25, 2014

My mom, my little brother and I went to our dentist, because my brother was having a toothache. 

When we got to the clinic, I talked to my dentist if he could be my mentor. I explained to him that I need to finish at least 25 hours in the clinic to learn about dentistry. It was successful because he agreed and he signed the mentor form right away. My mentor's name is Eric Wong. He works at South San Francisco Dental Care. He let me observe when he was checking my brother's teeth. It was fun watching him and his assistant work. I felt like I was a dentist too. He saw that my brother has cavities that cause toothache, and it got to the nerve. So what they did was, they drilled some part of the tooth and they removed the nerve. They didn't remove the remove the tooth because he said that it is going to come out for like 4 to 5 years. After removing the nerve, they put a filling into the hole that they drilled and put a crown on it. I had fun observing them. I was imagining myself doing their work in the future. 

Time logged for this session: 2 hours
Total time logged: 2 hours

Here is a picture of my brother.