A truly historic and special weekend in Chicago happened to fall on the same weekend of ASDA’s National Leadership Conference this year. With the Cubs winning it all and the Ireland v. New Zealand rugby matchup the next day, the city was alive and buzzing. The energy of the city undoubtedly seeped its way into the already hyped up leadership conference. Opening the conference was keynote speaker Adam Kreek, an Olympic gold medal rower who took us through his journey rowing across the Atlantic Ocean and his subsequent trials and tribulations. His message on achieving happiness was simple and consisted of the fantastic four: health, relationships, community involvement, and self-awareness. Happiness is not, however, achieved through money, fame, and beauty.

The carefully selected speakers and quality content are what make the NLC one of the best dental student conferences in the country. Every year, Colorado ASDA sends our members to build a network with 600 other dental students while growing and developing as leaders. Although there is nothing like being present at the conference, it is worth sharing some of the gems and takeaways from the breakout sessions. Here are some of my notes from a couple of sessions:

Building Your Personal Brand

By Dr. Ryan Dulde

• A personal brand is a true story about who you are and why you matter. If you don’t know, there is no way anyone else does.
• Brands are not invented. Find something real. Make it intentional.
• Brands set expectations, start relationships, and make you unique.
• Futuredontics conducted a survey to figure out why people go to the dentist. Here are some of the results: 70% go for ratings, 70% education background, 70% location and availability, 80% insurance, 86% scope of services.
• Would you go back to the dentist? Here’s what people are concerned about: 87% say it’s important that the dentists is cost sensitive, 91% want cleanliness, 91% want upfront costs, 93% want options well explained, and 95% want quality work.
• Without a brand you are just a commodity.
• A great brand does not leave its story to chance.

How Not to Fail Miserably in Private Practice

By Dr. Chris Salierno (Chief Editor for Dental Economics)

• It is important to take the pulse of your practice.
• Take a look at your practice daily, monthly, and quarterly to assess how you are doing.
• Daily: How much did you produce? How much did you collect?
• Monthly: Productions, collections, and new patients.
• Quarterly: Income statement, profit and loss statement.
• The overhead monster: the national average for dental office overhead is 75%.
• Goals for overhead by specialty:
• 59% for GP
• 42% for Endo
• 49% for Ortho
• 49% for Pedo
• 50% for OMFS
• 51% for Perio
• 64% for Prost
• Overhead breakdown for GP practice:
• Staff = 25%, Lab = 10%, Rent = 5%, Supplies = 5%, Misc. = 14%, this leaves you with a 41% Net Income.
• Patients don’t care about what you do in their mouth unless it hurts, turns black, or falls out.
• The patient experience starts before you meet them.

This is just a snapshot into the 20+ breakout sessions that were offered over the weekend. Other topics included were mindfulness, non-traditional post graduate options, and effective communication. CE credit was given for each session attended and can be used towards an Academy of General Dentistry Fellowship Award after graduation. The closing session was a story told by Doc Hendley, the founder of Wine to Water, and described his journey through Sudan in an attempt to bring clean water to those in need. Side note: A surefire way to make your dental school problems feel small is to do a little research on the water crisis.

The National Leadership Conference attracts students who are excited about dentistry, want to make a difference, and strive to be better leaders. Valuable breakout sessions, CE credit, and epic five star social events in the evenings are all part of the experience. If you are interested in attending a National Leadership Conference in the future, be sure to ask how you can get involved!

Various professions, trades, and groups of individuals with similar interests have so-called annual “conferences”. Many of these are similarly structured in that they have a “kick-off” session, an inspiring keynote speaker, and various breakout sessions with a myriad of topics. On the surface, the American Dental Association (ADA) annual meeting seems no different. However, any attendees can tell you that attending the ADA Annual Session results in a deeper, more meaningful connection to the dental profession than imaginable.

This year, as a student at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, I was fortunate that the ADA chose Denver as the host for the annual meeting. As supporters of organized dentistry and continual learning, the school administration also chose to close our school to allow enthusiastic students and faculty to attend the conference.

While I knew that over 20,000 individuals with some connection to dentistry attended the conference, along with hundreds of exhibitors, I never anticipated the invigorating effect attending the conference would have on me indefinitely.

As President of Colorado ASDA, I was honored to have a small role in the Opening Session. During the rehearsal, I spoke with several presenters for the Opening Session---all dentists who had overcome adversity in some way to become successful dentists and role models. Their relentless pursuit of dentistry demonstrated to me that our profession is a special one—a profession that people pursue despite numerous financial and personal roadblocks.

After the Opening Session, admittedly, I was overwhelmed with my breakout session choices. The ADA had dozens of interesting breakout sessions, ranging from the use of dental photography and botox for cosmetic cases to the status of global oral healthcare and how to better market yourself. No matter your interest, the ADA had a breakout session with a distinguished speaker for you!

Additionally, throughout the conference, the Exhibit Hall was open where one could learn about the various dental-related products and services available. This too was an educational experience, since all dentists must be thoroughly knowledgeable about the products they are using, the professionals they use for other needs, and the organizations that can help them.

Often, other dental-related groups hold meetings or corollary events during the annual meeting, since so many dentists will be congregated in one place. Our Colorado ASDA chapter also took advantage of this by hosting a private session with Dr. Gordon Christensen (along with the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, the LDS Academy and the Metro Denver Dental Society). Dr. Christensen is a pioneer in dental education and world icon in dentistry. We were honored to have him speak to our students and local new dentists. As with other distinguished speakers, he was also in Denver for the ADA Annual Session.

Another highlight for me, as with many others, would be the keynote speaker, Nobel-laureate Malala Yousafzai. As you may know, Malala is a global icon for vocalizing the importance of seeking an education.

At first glance, it may not seem like her cause is directly related to dentistry. But it is. As dentists and future dentists, we are automatically leaders. We are leaders of dental teams. And as professionals who must abide by a code of ethics and seek to do what is in the best interests of the people whom we serve, we are leaders in society.

As leaders, it is our duty to stay engaged in discourse about the status quo and continuously use our influence and respected position to make positive change—not just regarding dentistry, but any other injustice we see fit. As educated, and therefore, privileged individuals, we should never hold back. Instead, we should continuously be proactive to challenge our communities and ourselves.

Attending the annual session is just one way for dental professionals to stay connected with each other, reaffirm their commitment to the profession, and continuously evolve as professionals and people.

I was never much of a coffee drinker when I was younger, but this quickly changed once I got into dental school. Starting with the occasional cup on early mornings, it eventually progressed into a daily routine around Boards studying. I would set the coffee maker to brew the next morning at 6:45am so I could come upstairs to the smell of fresh-brewed, dark roast coffee. Most people—including myself—associate frequent coffee consumption with somewhat of a negative effect – especially esthetically. Staining of teeth and restorations are a common side effect of consistent coffee indulgence. Caffeine is an addictive substance, and can be responsible for withdrawals, producing symptoms such as fatigue and irritability. A person’s circadian rhythm can be affected, which can result in sleep disturbances. What I didn’t realize until reading an article last month in the Journal of the Academy of General Dentistry is that coffee has an incredible number of benefits, summarized as follows:

Liver: Coffee consumption is shown to be inversely related to the development of liver fibrosis. A European study done on over 500,000 men and women over the course of 11 years drew the conclusion that people who consume significant amounts of coffee (3+ cups per day) as opposed to very little (less than 1/2 cup per day) were 72% less likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma.

Metabolism: Many studies have shown that people who consume coffee on a regular basis are 15-30% less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.

Mind: The development of Parkinson disease is nearly 25% less likely in males who drink 4 cups of coffee per day, and 40% less likely in women who drink the same amount.

Cancer risk: The presence of chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant that repairs DNA, is likely to explain coffee’s protective effect against numerous cancers.

Heart health & strokes: A negative association has been discovered between coffee consumption and mortality due to heart disease and stroke. This is contradictory to coffee’s short-term side effects of increased heart rate and blood pressure, which is most likely due to the presence of chlorogenic acids and polyphenols.

Kidneys: Protective effects of the kidney associated with the consumption of moderate amounts of coffee, including increased efficiency of kidney filtration. ¹ 

While I’m not advocating for people to start drinking exorbitant amounts of coffee, it is nice to know the great benefits that it offers. More importantly, this is valuable information that we can bestow upon inquisitive patients when asked whether significant coffee consumption can be harmful. Patients will be excited to learn that coffee does more good than harm. So spread the good word on coffee consumption, and go enjoy those pumpkin spice lattes this October!

1. Sideman, L. M., K. N. Eckenrode, I.T. Bloom, & N. Bashirelahi. (2016). What every dentist should know about coffee. Academy of General Dentistry, 64(4). Retrieved from   http://www.agd.org/mtools/imis/contactmanagement/sign_in.aspx?returnurl=/mtools/lqpredirect.aspx&agdredirect= http://www.agd.org/publications-media/publications/general-dentistry/general-dentistry-archives.aspx.

A few summers ago, my parents purchased a new German Shepherd puppy named Heidi. Heidi turned out to be a handful, as we soon learned that she was cleverer and more enthusiastic than any of our previous family dogs. For the next few months, we learned how to train a highly intelligent puppy to be obedient without being neurotic, to be playful without using her canine cuspids (ha, geddit?) to greet people, and to accept us into her “pack” (terminology used by the breeders themselves). As she grew, Heidi’s attention span doubled from about two seconds to four. In order to get Heidi to stay focused on learning how to sit, lay down, and heel, the breeders encouraged us to do two things: 1. Use little bits of hot dog as treats. 2. Keep the treats at our eye level and give Heidi the command, “EYES”, every time her attention slipped away to the endlessly more amusing pinecones in our backyard. The moments when Heidi successfully looked us in the eye before learning a new command, her success rate – and hot dog rewards – skyrocketed.

Having next to zero previous training working with patients, performing intraoral and extraoral exams, navigating Axium’s labyrinth, or staying afloat with lectures and lab work, second year of dental school is enough to make me feel uncannily like an untrained German Shepherd puppy. Dental school (the obedience training program) is meant to teach us dental pups how to be competent without overstepping our limitations, to be affable with patients without showing our frustrations, and eventually to be accepted into a highly respected and vital healthcare profession (our very own dental “pack”). As we graduate from first year to second year to third and fourth, our attention spans (hopefully) lengthen from about two hours to ten.

The analogy came full circle to me while listening to Dr. Sutton lecture: “Keep your eyes on me. That’s all you have to do. If you keep your eyes on mine, and your attention on what I’m doing, you will have no choice but to absorb at least eighty percent of what I’m saying. I just need your eyes.” At a time when everything we’re taught is new information and each tidbit could be beneficial for future success in clinic, I’ll gratefully take eighty percent of these dental school “hot dogs” – the skills that can lead to better patient care. While it’s easy to be distracted by fatigue, e-mails, Facebook (heaven forbid), and the Colorado Quickset blog during class, it’s just as easy to keep my eyes on the doctor standing at the front. The game gets easier still when I’m learning in the clinic setting -- undistracted by my shiny computer screen.

Whenever I find my focus slipping because I’ve been sitting in class for six straight hours, all I have to do is think of Heidi’s eyes looking up at me, eager to learn something new, and I am reminded how indispensable her attention is for her success. Attention is simple. If it works for a dog (who is undoubtedly smarter than I am), I trust that it can work for me too.

Dear Class of 2020,

Welcome to the big leagues! Now that you have weathered the long days and (hopefully) fun nights of Orientation Week, the real journey into dental school begins. I would like to offer a few bits of advice as you all navigate the starting blocks of first year.

1. Embrace your variety. The people in your class come from a diverse background. You’ll have those who come from dental dynasties and those who are blazing a brand new trail. You’ll have those who are undergoing a career change and those who are fresh off the college campus. You’ll have those who can speak three languages and those with a killer topspin serve. Everyone in your class has something unique to offer. It may not be obvious this month or this semester, but pay attention and everyone will surprise you at some point over the next few years. That’s the awesome thing about having a small class; you will make friends that you’ll have for the rest of your life.

2. Stop planning for the future. I know this is a difficult one. It’s easy at the beginning to get so caught up in all of the things you have looming in the distant future…a seemingly scary amount of finals, seeing your first patients in clinic, graduation, life as a practicing dentist, etc. Stop it. Live in the present. That’s not to say you should ignore future events altogether, but don’t be consumed by them. Enjoy your time as first years. Even if at times things seem irrelevant or tedious. You will be much less stressed if you take each challenge of dental school one day at a time. (And for the love of all things dental, do not start asking about Boards until at least January…)

3. Take a day off. Memorizing endless anatomy will get stressful, and exams will pile up. You will get tired of burning yourself with wax. You will get frustrated with some of the people around you. When that time hits, give yourself a mental break. Go fishing. Go to a movie. Go adopt a puppy (just kidding, don’t do this on a whim). Take the time to disconnect from school and stress. It’s that reset that is the key to success—not how many sleepless nights you can spend making flashcards.

4. Trial-by-fire is an excellent way to learn. You’ll quickly realize that with dentistry, what is applicable in lecture is limited. You can learn only so much be listening and visualizing. At some point, you just have to do. This can be a frustrating transition, but it’s a transition that will force you to grow and become a better dental student. And this is not just limited to getting your hand skills in lab. Go assist some upperclassmen in clinic. You may not be in the driver seat, but you will learn some lessons that the classroom will never teach you.

5. This is much more than just “school” or the beginning of a “career.” This is the rest of your life. Be extraordinary.

Cheers!

Your ASDA Electronic Editor,

Luke A. Harden

(Shoutout to the nine from Costa Rica '15 for the sand molar...see, you can have fun in dental school)

Oral hygiene is important--no matter how furry you may be. Happy Summer Break to all! --Milo, the Samoyed 

ACTS… those four letters—that one word—marking light at the end of a very long tunnel we all know as dental school. I never thought I’d ever make it through all of the PowerPoints, Scantron exams, lab practicals, and perio lab cleanings before the school would trust me enough to send me off to get a taste of real world dentistry. For my first rotation, I was sent to Grand Junction—on Colorado’s western slope—where I spent three weeks working at the Marillac Clinic.

ACTS stands for Advanced Clinical Training and Service Program. Each student spends approximately 2-3 weeks in a dental clinic or practice (usually in areas that are considered underserved) in a location in just about every corner of the state of Colorado. The student then returns to the school clinics for 2 weeks, and then another 2-3 weeks in a different location. This cycle continues for the summer and fall of the fourth year of dental school.

There are a few things I learned about ACTS while I was away from school. First, there is a life beyond axiUm (the dreaded patient software) and the endless amount of faculty approvals needed to complete a new patient exam or even a simple restoration. Appointments weren’t spent stalking faculty for a “quick” check or swipe. There was so much freedom! The second thing I learned while on ACTS was that having an assistant is ah-mazing. To be truthful, my clinic didn’t have assistants dedicated to us students. But, there were days when one of the doctors wasn’t in and those assistants were all ours. Fourhanded dentistry, as Dr. DeLapp describes it, is a real thing and it’s something to look forward to. I found myself not having to de-glove every 10 minutes to get up and grab something. These small perks seem to make the strongest impressions. Lastly, we really are well prepared for life after dental school. Being that I was in the first group in my class to go on rotation, I thought I might be at a disadvantage because I was less experienced. For the first couple of days, I was a little unsure of my abilities and myself. As time went on, I gained more confidence and was able to get a patient in and out of the chair in an hour or less. That’s right, dental appointments don’t last two and a half hours on ACTS like they do at the dental school. Sure, we will never know everything there is to know about dentistry. Just know that you won’t be completely lost—even though some people try to tell you otherwise! Just make the most of the experience, and you’ll learn a lot!

Here are some tips to make the most of your ACTS experience:

1. Be confident, but not cocky. Realize that you have some skills! You’ve been seeing patients since fall of second year. You’re a DS3.5 now, you know a little something. Just don’t try to be a hero, know your limits and when to stop and ask for help; that’s why these clinics have preceptors.
2. Don’t just sit around. Some clinics give students their own columns with their own patients and some don’t. If you have an opening in your schedule, look at the other doctor’s schedule and ask if you can see his or her patient for that appointment.
3. The doctors aren’t the only ones providing you with some education. Work with your assistant. They’ll teach you how to do dentistry with another person other than your patient. We get so used to working alone at school or using our patients as assistants to hold the suction. Take advantage of the fact that you have an extra set of hands.
4. Remember, you’re not in Aurora anymore. If you get sent to a distance site, don’t whine about how far you are from home. Instead, adventure out and see what your new town has to offer. Go hiking, fishing, camping, tour a microbrewery, eat at a new restaurant, or something else super Colorado-y.

Good luck!

Up to this point in dental school, I have had the perfect patient for every crown and restoration I’ve ever done. They’ve stayed perfectly still, let me put them in any number of ridiculous positions in order to get direct vision, and let me stretch their cheeks out over their ears if that’s what I needed. Their teeth all had perfect anatomy, their tongue never got in the way, and even if I sent a bur through their cheek, they never complained.

That’s because until this summer, I have only ever done restorative dentistry on a rubber mannequin I refer to as Plaquesico Burress. That all changes now that I have a few class II restorations planned on a living, biting, enamel-wielding patient. The transition into the real clinic is an extremely intimidating and stressful experience for all of us DS2’s, even though we know we’ll get the hang of it. Our class has been told time and time again that we are leaps ahead of where the graduating class was at this point in their second year, but we can’t help feeling like we really have no idea what’s going on.

This short article will give you all of the tips you need to seamlessly transition to the second floor clinic in the second week of May during your second year of dental school. Except that it won’t. (I am just as lost as the rest of you). What it might do is help us realize that even though we don’t know how to do everything yet, we do know how to talk to the right people to help us figure it out. After all, Dr. Woolum hates to see us cry.

So, use the faculty. Even though we’ve all seen some of them sneaking around the school as 5 o’clock approaches, avoiding eye contact so they can sneak out undisturbed to the life they apparently have outside the school, for the most part they just want to help. Remember that they had to jump through all of the same hoops at some point in their lives and I think it’s fair to say most of them want to make it easier on us. You may even surprise yourself and do everything correctly, leading to that awkward moment when all the faculty says to your question is “looks good,” so you leave even more afraid than when you came in.

Next, talk to your coordinator. Frequently. They are all very good at their jobs, but we need to realize they are in charge of managing dozens of students and hundreds of patients. If we need a patient or have an issue with a patient, it is up to us to ask them for help. They can’t make everyone happy all the time, but if you talk to them face to face you’ll usually get what you're looking for.

My third tip is to learn Axium. Thoroughly. That’s about all I can say about it. Hopefully when I reread this article I’ll find it convincing enough that I'll actually sit down for an hour or two myself and make sure I can do everything we need to on that lovely program. After all, it holds the key to us graduating on time.

Finally, practice what you’ve learned in the sim clinic. We all like to think that since we passed our direct restorative lab last summer we’ll be able to fill anything our coordinator throws our way. But maybe we need to go back and see if we even remember how to tighten down a Tofflemire retainer first. The truth is, many of us haven’t practiced those restorations much since then because we’ve been searching for the mythical undercut or figuring out if acrylic provisionals are just a joke the faculty is playing on us. We all love ISTR by the way. So yeah, practice. All parties involved will be very glad you did. Go into your appointments with more confidence, and both your patient and faculty will be more relaxed and cooperative.

So take it from me, someone who has literally no more experience or knowledge on the subject than you do, the transition to the clinic will go smoothly and will actually be fun. After all, this is what we’re really here for right?