October 2013 • Volume 4, Issue 2
Inside This Issue UCSF Humanitarian Trip in Ensenada
page 1
Message From Your District 11 Trustee
page 2
California’s Dental Albert Schweitzer Fellows
page 3
Stress and Dental School: Would You Know What to Do?
page 5
ASDA District 11: Featured Members
page 6
Using Social Media to Advertise Your
page 8
Ethics
page 9
UCSF Humanitarian Trip in Ensenada
Practice
Upcoming Events ASDA District 11 Meeting Irvine, CA / UCLA October 12-13, 2013
ASDA SoCal International Dental Student BBQ Los Angeles, CA October 20, 2013
Care Harbor Free Clinic
Los Angeles Sports Arena October 31 - November 3, 2013
ASDA National Leadership Conference Chicago, IL November 15-17, 2013
ASDA Annual Session
Anaheim, CA February 26 - March 1, 2013
Editors Jared Kenney
UCLA School of Dentistry ‘14 jaredkenney@gmail.com
Stephanie Ting
Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC ‘16 stephajt@usc.edu
T
By Jolie Goodman, UCSF ‘15
his summer, eleven UCSF dental students, accompanied by a dedicated faculty member, packed their cars and headed south. The long journey down Interstate 5 brought them to a small community in Ensenada, Mexico where year after year, UCSF dental students have been joining forces with the Golden Gate Community Church to provide services to the community. Dr. Bassam Michiel is a UCSF graduate from Fresno who went on the trip during his time at UCSF and continuously returns to serve this community. Despite the cost associated with closing his practice, Dr. Michiel is committed to the community and the week he spends in Ensenada each year. Another important member of this mission trip is Pastor Don Creasman from the Golden Gate Foundation. For over twenty years, Pastor Creasman has been organizing this trip, which not only meets the dental needs of the residents but also builds homes to provide shelter to the community. Dr. Paul Hsiao, who graduated in 2013, was also instrumental in obtaining supplies and organization of the trip. The UCSF team, along with local and native Mexican dentists, spent a busy week providing free dental services to the community. Each day, the teams worked to serve a different community, traveling hours each day to reach distant sites outside of the city. Patients lined up to receive services such as cleanings, extractions, and basic restorations. Oral hygiene instruction (OHI) was a big success as well. Over the five days of services, a total of 202 patients were treated. For all patients seen, the native Mexican dentists are available for follow-up care. The community welcomed the teams with festivities and graciously housed the volunteers in a church, where quarters were tight (10 people bunked per room!). The trip was a humbling experience for many and the students were able to experience first hand the poverty and need of the global community, something that they don’t often experience at home. Many of the students on board had limited Spanish skills when they arrived. After a few days, they were capable of communicating with patients in Spanish about their dental needs and teaching OHI in Spanish as well. This trip was a two-way street: the community
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
UCSF Humanitarian Trip in Ensenada, continued from p. 1 received valuable services, while the dental team received valuable lessons. Wendy Nickish ‘15 says ”I learned about the importance of patient oral hygiene education and I hope they will floss to protect their teeth.” WIth yet another successful year behind them, UCSF dental students and faculty look forward to preparing for their return to Ensenada next year when they will serve the community again. Special thanks to Henry Schein, Patterson Dental, Johnson and Johnson and Shofu Dental for their generous donations.
Message from Your District 11 Trustee Hello District 11, It is my pleasure to introduce the summer edition of The ASDA Bonding Agent! Our editors Stephanie Ting and Jared Kenney have done a great job putting together this publication and I hope you take some time to read through all of these wonderful articles. Throughout this past summer, ASDA members from across the country have been busy advocating for many issues such as licensure reform and lower interest rates on student loans. Through the implementation of ASDA’s new program Engage, advocating on issues important to us has never been easier, as you can Tweet your lawmaker or send your Congressman a Letter with a few simple clicks of your mouse. Our recent efforts to lower student loan rates have recently come to fruition, as President Obama signed a bill into law that ensures a cap on undergraduate and graduate loan interest rates. I hope that many of you have taken time to sign up and use Engage. If you haven’t, now is the time, as many key issues are being discussed and brought up in congress on a daily basis. As dental students, we are flooded with hours and hours of didactic and lab work, but we must remember that after these few short years we will be entering into an evolving profession. I would like to encourage each and every one of you to get involved in organized dentistry and ASDA, as the future of the dental profession is in our hands. In early June, a few leaders from UCLA, USC, Loma Linda, and Western University advocated on behalf of dental students to Representative Paul Gosar, a dentist turned Congressman from Arizona’s Fourth District. We were able to relay our message in regards to student debt and the increasing cost of attending dental school in California. We hope that through spreading our message to as many people as possible, we can garner support in Congress to help the current status and future of our profession. Lastly I would like to express my excitement for our upcoming District 11 Meeting, which will be held in Southern California on October 12-13, 2013. October 12th will be held in Irvine, CA and October 13th will be held at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. This two-day event promises to be a memorable one, as you will have the opportunity to enhance your leadership skills, network with other dental students from across District 11, and gain insight into the hot topic issues of the dental profession. This event features presentations from prominent members of the dental community, including ADA District 13 Trustee, Dr. Carol G. Summerhays and CDA President, Dr. Lindsey Robinson. Now is the time to mark your calendars and talk to your ASDA Leadership about attending this highly anticipated event. Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of the ASDA Bonding Agent and I hope to see you all in October! Best Regards,
Kris Mendoza District 11 ASDA Trustee UCLA ‘15 2.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Improving Health Through Service
Meet California’s Dental Albert Schweitzer Fellows
N
obel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer inspired millions with his lifetime work as a medical missionary in the jungles of Africa. He advocated a “reverence for life” and taught the philosophy that “life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.” In the spirit of Dr. Schweitzer, seven California dental students, as members of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship organization, teamed with their communities to improve the healthcare of the needy in their areas. Please feel free to contact these students if you are interested in volunteering with them.
Ryan Brennan (UCLA Class of 2014)
Email: r.brennan@ucla.edu Ryan leads UCLA dental students in a program which utilizes their skills in the service of others at two local dental clinics. Current UCLA dental students and faculty work at the Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) and Homeless Not Toothless Clinics on weekends, providing free dental care to the homeless and those below the poverty line. The main goal of this project is to provide affordable, quality dental care to those who cannot afford treatment, and the UCLA ASDA Chapter will continue the clinics indefinitely. While at the clinics, UCLA dental students provide preventive and restorative treatment to those in need.
Jolie Goodman (UCSF Class of 2015)
Email: Jolie.Goodman@ucsf.edu Jolie works with homeless youth in San Francisco to address their unmet dental needs. Specifically, her project aims to address oral health disparities among homeless and runaway youth that utilize Larkin Street Youth Services and Clinic through education, prevention services, and improved access to care. Oral hygiene education workshops, referral services, and case management will be provided to all youth served by the clinic. Larkin is an icon in San Francisco, serving 3,000 homeless and at-risk of being homeless youth ages 12-24 annually. Of these youth, most are at high risk for dental cavities and lack access to care. Through this project Jolie hopes to address the dental needs of these youth and prevent dental issues before they occur.
Emily Wineland (UCSF)
Email: emily.wineland@ucsf.edu Emily works with the Native American Health Center dental clinic in San Francisco to develop and deliver an education program focusing on oral health problems associated with diabetes. She will emphasize the relationship between blood glucose level, oral hygiene, and the severity of periodontitis, as well as the importance of maintaining periodontal health to manage the progression of diabetes. Emily will implement interventions such as hygiene instruction, nutrition counseling, blood glucose monitoring, and smoking cessation via chair-side sessions and group workshops. She also aims to create an oral health information guide that will meet the needs of this population.
3.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Meet California’s Dental Albert Schweitzer Fellows Nidhi Taneja (UCLA Class of 2014) Nidhi works with the Venice Family Clinic’s Simms/Mann Health & Wellness Center to improve the oral health of women, infants and children in Los Angeles. She volunteers at the clinic, educating low-income mothers of infants on caries prevention. Additionally, she screens these mothers and pairs them with dental students at UCLA, providing them with subsidized dental care. Nidhi regularly follows up with these families to reinforce preventive principles and examine their improvement in oral health.
Yun-Ju Yoo (USC Class of 2014) Yun-Ju works to improve the oral health of the geriatric community in Los Angeles. Her concern for the elderly stems from her experience serving them prior to dental school. After graduating from college, she worked as a dental assistant, visiting nursing homes and assisting her employer in providing dental care for the elderly. Now, Yun-Ju provides dental disease prevention education as well as screenings and cleanings for the geriatric population in Los Angeles.
Clark Knowlton (UCLA Class of 2016) Jared Kenney (UCLA Class of 2014)
Email: LifetimeofSmilesLA@gmail.com Clark and Jared work with First 5 LA and LA Universal Preschool to prevent Early Childhood Caries in Los Angeles by educating parents and teachers of preschool-age children on how to best care for their children’s teeth. Their project has included working with First 5 LA to develop their oral health informational pamphlets and brochures. They primarily teach short presentations to parents at preschools throughout Los Angeles emphasizing oral hygiene and a tooth-friendly diet.
4.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Stress and Dental School
Would You Know What to Do? By Debra Peterson, Western ‘16
S
everal years ago, my family took a day trip to Yosemite. We stopped by a familiar bend on the Tuolumne River to take advantage of the cold snow run-off and escape the summer heat. The spot had been a favorite over the years because it had a waterfall which emptied into a calm basin that was only about 30 yards wide and it provided kids and adults alike the perfect place to swim. My son waved at me from the top of the falls and jumped in. When he surfaced, I could tell something was very wrong. He was not screaming for help, in fact, he was not making any sound at all. I did not know at the time that he had hit a rock on the way down and the pain of his twisted ankle coupled with the frigid water had rendered him helpless and unable to swim. Arms outstretched, head thrown back and barely above the water line, my child was drowning in front of me and I just stood there. So what is the importance of this story? I believe that there is a direct correlation between my son’s near drowning and the stress we all encounter in dental school. My son knew how to swim yet when he was confronted with unforeseen complications, we almost lost him. We have all jumped off that cliff and into this great adventure called dental school because we knew we could swim. We find no reason that the success of our undergrad years will not continue throughout our post grad education. We are all “brilliant” by any measure with different strengths and talents. Unfortunately, when the stress of school starts to grind us down and we start to falter, often for the first time in our lives, we are often caught in a state of disbelief or denial. At the same time, we may be completely unaware that our lab partner, study buddy or best friend is also struggling. Dental school is stressful. Some people can be so overwhelmed by the stress and demands of school that they may be drowning in front of you. Would you recognize the danger signs and offer to help? Stress is a normal and a necessary part of life but chronic stress can be debilitating and lead to health issues, depression, sleep disturbances and contribute to relationship conflict. Dental school is rife with all sorts of stress, both external and internal. Examples of external stress, stress we have little or no control over, comes in the form of deadlines, personal conflicts and expectations from teachers and family members. While external stress is a reality, we have little influence over it other than our response to it. The most debilitating types of stress can be internal or self-induced; unrealistic expectations of self, perfectionism, dwelling on negative thoughts, stressing over things out of one’s control and over extending oneself are all forms of internal stress. Internal stress is difficult to alleviate because the stress is self- inflicted and the person does not recognize that they have a problem. Often it is a friend or classmate that reaches out and brings it to their attention that they are foundering and need help. The internal manifestations of stress are universal; blood pressure and heart rate increase and muscles tense but there are three basic ways people express their stress externally: anger, withdrawal or inactivity. We all have “bad” or “off” days, but when a normally social and sunny classmate suddenly starts to spend an inordinate amount of time by themselves or starts posting morose comments on social media sites, it may be worth a gentle inquiry. Some people just freeze into a state of inactivity when overwhelmed. This is a coping mechanism and should not be confused with apathy. The opposite reaction would be to rage at anything and everyone and we all recognize this reaction as one that warrants attention. The important take away message here is to be able to recognize all types of stress induced behavior and offer a hand or a sympathetic ear if needed. Ask them if everything is ok. Reaching out to a classmate will remind them that someone cares and that they are not alone. Many schools have counseling on campus that offer free or reduced session rates for stress management. Guide your classmate to these services. If your friend is showing signs of checking out or raging up, don’t ignore them, act! Offer to host a study/dinner night, take the dogs to the park, suggest a movie or buddyup for a work out. If they decline, be positive and gracious but don’t stop asking. It is better to ask and offer aid, even if it is not needed, then to pass over someone who is so overwhelmed they can’t call out for help. The next time you suspect someone is drowning of stress, would you know what to do?
5.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
ASDA District 11: Featured Members
Alex McMahon Hometown: Sonoma, CA Undergraduate Education: UC Davis, B.S. in Neurobiology,
Physiology & Behavior
Current Dental School: UCLA Dental School Plans after dental school: Upon graduation, I hope to enter into an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery program.
ASDA Positions held: I am the immediate past IT Communications chair for District
11 and just completed my term as UCLA’s Pre-Dental Co-Chair. I am currently the Vice President for UCLA’s ASDA chapter. Fun Fact: I am the first in my family to enter any health profession. Hobbies you enjoy outside of dental school: I really enjoy playing soccer and am a huge fan of the English Premier League and follow Chelsea FC religiously. It’s kind of a problem.
Why did you choose dentistry?
Unlike a lot of people in dental school I didn’t solidify my decision for dental school until late in my sophomore year in college. I always had a strong interest in science and the physiological sciences really solidified my decision to enter the health sciences. I chose to enter dentistry over medicine because of the unique patient-provider bonds dentists are able to develop with their patients. Why did you get involved in ASDA? The façade of dentistry is undergoing a growth spurt and I see ASDA as the organization that will make sure dental students, the life blood of the profession, are not ignored during these changes. Since my initial involvement I’ve seen how many different ways ASDA can help me develop my leadership skills. I’m so happy I decided to get involved during that first week of dental school because I’ve become a better clinician and advocate for the profession from everything that has cascaded out of that decision.
What interested you about the pre-dental position?
When I was a freshman at UC Davis I hardly knew anything about dental school let alone getting into dental school and it was the Pre-Dental Society there that really educated me on how to study for the DAT, how to interview well, what classes to take, etc. I see the Pre-Dental Society as an instrumental component to how I got where I am. Becoming the pre-dental chair is my way of paying it forward. I really wanted to reach out to as many students as possible to help motivate and educate them that their dreams can become a reality.
What did you enjoy most while being the Pre-Dental Chair?
I really liked hosting other universities at our Dental School. For most everyone that came, it was their first experience seeing what a dental school looks like, what our classes are like and what the students are like. The students were always so excited to be here and it was awesome to be a part of a memory they will never forget.
How did you use your position as the Pre-Dental Outreach Chair at UCLA to make an impact?
Traditionally, the chairs are responsible for being a liaison to UCLA’s undergraduate Pre-Dental Society. However, last year my co-chair, David Lindsey, and I changed the perspective of our chair position and instead of focusing on UCLA’s undergraduate chapter (which was already stellar), we decided to focus on outreaching to local Southern California universities to educate students about dental school as well as encourage them to endure the dental application process. We were largely successful and recruited a lot of pre-dental members for ASDA.
6.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Favorite ASDA Memory
Last year I was interviewed on the red carpet for prior to the Gold Crown Awards at Annual Session in Atlanta. The interview was going really well until the very end the interviewer asked, “Are you so excited that you’re exploding out of your pants tonight?” and naturally I reciprocated with the most awkward answer, “Yes! I am absolutely exploding out of my pants!” I was pretty embarrassed at the time but it has provided a lot of good laughs for my classmates and me after the fact.
ASDA District 11: Featured Members
Tiffany Giang Hometown: Palo Alto, CA Undergraduate Education: University of the Pacific Current Dental School: University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry Plans After Dental School
Tiffany is interested in possibly applying for a General Practice Residency. She believes it will provide a good transition to the pace of general dentistry private practice. ASDA Positions held: Tiffany is a pre-dental outreach coordinator. She strives to inform future dental applicants on the AADSAS application process, interviewing tips and advice on how to prepare for dental school.
Background Information
Tiffany’s family works in diverse fields of healthcare and she became interested in helping people early in her academic career. She shadowed her dentist and an oral surgeon and was fascinated by all aspects of dentistry.
Fun Facts
Tiffany enjoys making daily lists, down to the half hour, for each day. She enjoys the feeling of checking off each task. Tiffany can also speak Spanish and a small amount of Vietnamese. She once performed and explained the reasoning of an intraoral and extraoral examination on her roommate’s dog, prior to brushing its teeth.
Most Reaffirming Moment of Dental School
Tiffany’s most touching moment of dental school was volunteering at CDA Cares. She was a patient escort and walked patients to each designated area. She enjoyed hearing the stories from the patients. The sincere gratitude of these patient’s, for what seemed to be such a simple task, inspired her to continue community service in the dental field. Tiffany also remembers drilling for the very first time. This was another moment that solidified her decision to pursue dentistry.
Favorite ASDA Memory
Tiffany attended the 2013 ASDA Annual Session in Atlanta, which sparked interest to become more active in ASDA. Her favorite part was meeting other dental students from across the nation. She enjoyed hearing the different education styles of all the dental schools.
7.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Using Social Media to Advertise Your Practice The Future is Now!
By Alison Ozaki, UCLA ‘16 and Lance Peery, UCLA ‘16
I
n order to compete in a world ruled by technology, it has become necessary for businesses to take advantage of marketing and advertising through social media. As dentistry becomes more impacted, many dentists find the need to turn to social media such as Facebook and Twitter in order to build their practices, attract new patients, and maintain their current patient base. Dentistry has become a field where practitioners must actually compete for their patients. This brings to mind the important question of exactly how to use social media to advertise a practice. Information on the internet is so widespread that the small practice still has to be very careful about how it utilizes social media. A key component of successful marketing via social media is ensuring quality content. A website must be updated and monitored to ensure that relevant events, fundraisers, promotions, and information are current. It is important to have your website communicate what kind of practice you have and how your practice deals with its patients. Thus, it is crucial to listen to patient feedback and to encourage them to post reviews of their experiences on the websites that led them to your practice. A positive article radiating at the top of a Yelp page gives the first impression that you are a capable dentist. Regardless of the use of social media to promote your practice, it is still crucial for your success to be a healthcare provider of quality care and individual patient attention. Although you may attract new patients with your marketing, it is important to also maintain your patient base. Many of us have a relative who has not seen a dentist in years due to phobia, cost, or neglect. Marketing on Facebook or Twitter can help the patient realize that you are more than just the practitioner behind a pair of loupes. You are also the dentist who chooses to coach basketball on the weekends, have a dog that enjoys playing fetch with you, or go out to dinner with your spouse. A post a couple days a week on these sites can show patients that you are just like them, while also reminding them that it may have been a while since they had a cleaning, for example. These sites also allow you to advertise any deals that your practice may choose to have or educate your patients on the newest evidence regarding the safety of amalgam. Yet, it must be advised that these forms of marketing must still be used with extreme caution through quality control. So why use media to promote your practice? According to Sidekickmag.com, “[Facebook] has over 400 million users. It comes in a close second to Google as the most visited Web site in the world…. Almost 60% of the American population has a Facebook account.” This statement emphasizes the extent to which the public uses the internet to obtain information and participate in social networking. All traffic generated over social media or Google could potentially end on your practice’s website. Dentists who depend on “word of mouth,” but who have not yet had the chance to create a website, are therefore using social media since sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that are key forms of communication for many people. Social media is clearly becoming more and more prominent in personal and business lives, making it a crucial tool to be utilized. Society is increasingly becoming dependent on reviews and images created online via social media to make decisions. Social media opens the door to business-minded dentists for exposure and recognition to a broader spectrum of people. Although a dentist must keep in mind that nothing on the internet is “private”, it is clear that the internet and social media can be an effective and efficient marketing form. The future is now—whether it be a personal website, Yelp, or Facebook, it is becoming more necessary to market yourself and your practice to broad populations. What larger audience to market to than the internet?
8.
ASDA BONDING AGENT • DISTRICT 11
Ethics
Examing the Ethical Implications of Exodontia and End-Stage Dental Treatment Conducted on Dental Humanitarian Service Missions By Christopher A. Fanelli, USC ‘15
W
ith the ever increasing incidence of dental humanitarian service missions conducted by American dental schools, undergraduate dental students currently enjoy abundant opportunity to impact the health of patient populations afflicted by limited access to care on a global scale. The obvious constructive ideals manifested by such excursions serve namely, to galvanize the clinical skill and confidence of the student; while also simultaneously cultivating an ethical stature enriched with: benevolence (“doing good”), autonomy (patient empowerment through health-education and decision making), justice (equitable access to care), and nonmaleficence (“do no harm”) through the service of disadvantaged patient demographics. Although these munificent acts underpin the very essence of what it means to be a “doctor,” it is imperative to appreciate that positively intended treatments can also foster situations of impaired or ambivalent ethical practice and treatment outcomes if not properly planned out. This rings especially true in-light of the increased risk and complications associated with exodontia and other end-stage care dental treatment (such as endodontic procedures) that are often warranted on humanitarian dental missions. Understandably, the advanced stages of dental disease, limited access to regular follow-up care, deficits of oralhealth knowledge, and remote locations routinely encountered on dental humanitarian excursions often necessitate exodontia to be performed on many patients. As a result, dental students are charged with the ethical responsibility to ensure that tooth extraction (or any other procedure) is in the best interest of the patient; both, to remedy their present acute condition and provide benefit for the duration of the patient’s lifetime. The level of diligence and judicious consideration of conservatism in this treatment planning should mimic the principles learned and utilized in training at their home institutions. This ethical responsibility also extends to resisting the common allure of preforming a new or invasive procedure to satisfy a student’s desire to “try something new” with the intention of rendering these disadvantaged patient populations as “practice.” This is not to say that student’s should be dissuaded from attempting new procedures or learning on such missions; however, the obligation of ethical responsibility warrants the student to ensure that such procedures are indicated, are in the best interest of the patient, and confirming that the patient will have the appropriate information or emergency health care services to assist with postoperative complications should they arise. Nevertheless, partaking in a dental humanitarian service mission represents one of the most noble and rewarding learning experiences one can have during dental school. The heart-warming encounters and insight gained from interacting with the patients treated on such excursions will endure for a life-time. This article is intended to serve as a reminder of the importance of ethically responsible treatment planning and procedure execution regarding exodontia and other common end-stage procedures commonly conducted on these missions. The value of pre-operative planning in the consideration of the possible consequences of treatment, assessing the potential for post-operative complications, ensuring accommodation if they should arise, and educating the patients served, cannot be emphasized enough when considering exodontic procedures. If the appropriate diligence and ethical responsibility is implemented on dental humanitarian service missions, treating student doctors can be rest-assured that they will be remembered not only for their compassionate intentions, but also for their professional, competent, and meticulous care delivered that will benefit their patients for a lifetime.
9.