Professional School

Today was the first day of orientation at NYUCD. Dr. John Sexton and Dr. Bertolami talked about professional school. Professional school is different from undergrad. It just is. It is not solely about the self or achieving one's goals but rather it is about changing one self so that one is able to serve others in a respectable profession. It is about standing for something larger than yourself and making your life meaningful. To do so, like before-mentioned, incoming students undergo a metamorphosis; they change. They morph into leaders in their community who make a dent in other people's lives. 

I can never forget how a simple procedure can change a patient's self confidence. Imagine if you tripped, fell, and chipped a tooth. Your self confidence would drop since our society connects status with the condition of your teeth. You don't smile with your teeth exposed, you avoid opening your mouth for others to see. But, however, when you get a veneer to fix the chipped tooth, you have renewed confidence. You can smile again without worry of judgement from others.That is the kind of impact a dentist can make. It takes minutes, but the effects inundate the fabric of time.

We can absorb all the information, learn all the facts by heart, then practice what we've learned on a mannequin, but even still we could be missing something:  the human aspect. We must not lose sight of how we are dealing with human beings who feel pain, and suffering, and have fears and concerns. Part of the excitement of being in professional school is that we, in a few years, are going to be depended upon for sound advice and technical excellence while treating the patient as a whole. And by whole I don't just mean in the biological sense, but also in the psychological, the subconscious. Dr. Bertolami says that a patient can go to a dentist and have their teeth fixed perfectly as if my automaton but even still, something would be missing. Something indescribable that only the patient can put a finger on.