This is an ambitious post. My goal is to make this post a very concise summary of my experiences over the last 8 years and answer some of the most common questions I receive via email, as well as an update on my future plans.
Before dental school
Recruiters
If you have even the slightest inclination that you might want to pursue the Air Force HPSP (Health Professions Scholarship Program) for dental school, contact a recruiter. There is a link on the right side of my blog, or you can find it HERE and select "Healthcare Student or Professional".
Unfortunately, the recruiting system gets a bad rap for being unresponsive and often unhelpful, so if you're having trouble getting in contact with a recruiter in your area, start looking outside your area and contact one of those instead. They can probably help you get in touch with your actual recruiter who isn't returning your calls and emails.
Application process
Everything flows through the recruiter. You need to be in decent shape, have excellent grades and DAT, and nail your interview.
For the interview, focus on all the generic questions (strengths, weaknesses, etc), but be prepared for additional questions like: Why do you want to be in the Air Force? Why do you think you would make a good Air Force officer? What leadership experience do you have?
You're an officer candidate, not just a potential Air Force dentist.
Choosing a school
Go to the school in the area with the cheapest cost of living! Your stipend does not change based on where you live, and you'll devour the stipend if you're living in Los Angeles vs living in Oklahoma. I spoke about this on the Choose FI podcast, episode 99R at minute 57:40.
During dental school
Money!
You get paid about $2,000/month during school, and the Air Force will pay all your other required bills directly. Some things (scrubs, loupes, books) will be on you to buy, and then you will submit some reimbursement paperwork to the Air Force. You should have some information of some contacts at AFIT that can help you out.
Military obligations
You don't have any! Yay!
After dental school/AEGD-1
COT
The timing of COT depends on your school summer schedule and when you commission, but most dentists go after dental school. You may find the COT Survival Guide helpful, but keep in mind that it was written in 2014. Also, check out the newest Air Force PT Test Score Charts to get an idea of where you'll land and start training for this test during dental school! Here's a good pushup and situp video to help you out, but remember, the official Air Force guidance on fitness is found here at A5.3 and A5.4.
AEGD-1
Unfortunately, my AEGD-1 experience was not all that great, but most students love their experience. Having said that, despite my misgivings about the training I received, the year itself was very formative for me personally and the experience was one that I count as one of the most pivotal in my life. I certainly must recommend the AEGD-1 for the sheer fact that it's going to be difficult to operate as an Air Force dentist without this advanced training, since the Air Force has their own system to "allow" you to do certain procedures (called "credentialing"). Even if you did a procedure in dental school, a residency may be required to do it in the Air Force (restoring implants, for example).
You are required to apply for, and accept, an AEGD-1 now. Not everyone will be accepted by the Air Force, but there's enough spots for most applicants. Plan on going.
As far as what base you get, you'll fill out a preference sheet just before your 4th year of dental school, but they could send you to any of the 12 or so AEGD bases. I don't really have any insight as to why they send people where they do.
Specializing
I get asked this question a lot, and it's a bit of a moving target. Some specialties do allow you to apply right out of dental school, while others want you to have a few years of experience (or an AEGD-1) under your belt first. Your AFIT contacts should have this information.
After residency/Being a dentist in the Air Force
Where will they send me?
Assuming you do an AEGD-1 like most Air Force dentists, you'll get a list of bases (in February-ish of your AEGD year) that need dentists and you'll get to rank them based on where you want to go. Unfortunately, while you do get a say, you're not guaranteed a top choice. I got my 16th choice, but it ended up being the best thing for me and my career.
I got to go to a small and remote base that was in dire need of organization and streamlining, as we were updating and planning for the arrival of a new F-35 squadron in the coming years. Previous officers hadn't systematized the clinic functions, but instead just relied on the people to run the place. When those people left, so did their ideas and processes, and the clinic was constantly starting over on processes when people would leave! I stepped into some roles that most young Captains don't get to experience, and got to hone my organizational and systematizing skills that would ultimately prove very valuable for my life and career.
What's a normal day like?
It depends on what base you go to, but a fresh Captain out of residency will usually be doing dentistry about 80% of the week. The rest of the time is set aside for training, PT time, or lunch. Expect to do a lot of restorative, with some single unit crowns sprinkled in as the mission permits and requires, and exams. If you did an AEGD and have the training, you'll probably be doing some IV sedation and restoring implants as well! Elective procedures (anterior crowns, veneers) will depend a lot on what the mission of your base is, and how well staffed the clinic is to suit your desires. I did almost no esthetic work at my first assignment, but a dentist at my new base is doing lots of anterior crowns and veneers because the mission is much less strenuous here.
What's the best part about being an Air Force dentist?
This depends on how you look at it. The normal answer is that you get to do dentistry without being pressured to produce a certain level of $, while having a nice slow pace to the day and getting lots of vacation time (as compared to a typical civilian corporate job). I think the "bad" things are actually good, and I detailed them a bit more in this post.
As far as vacation days go, you get 30 days per year that accumulate at a rate of 2.5 per month. It depends on the base's specific rules, but this 30 days usually does count the weekend.
If you leave on a Friday and come back Monday, that's 4 days you have to take off. Monday-Thursday would also be 4 days. Your "leave" days start and end in your local area. The definition of "local area" depends on your base's rules.
What's the worst part about being an Air Force dentist?
Again, this is going to be very personal, but I think the worst part is the slow pace and the lack of incentive to produce. However, there are lots of dentists that love this part of the job and would consider this a benefit, since they can take their time on their dental work and typically don't have to work any harder than they want to. You just need to know what Air Force dentistry is like and weigh your personality against it.
(If you didn't notice, I cheated here by using the same answer -- no pressure to produce -- for best and worst part, which leads me to...)
How is Air Force dentistry difference than civilian/private practice?
*These are my opinions from having worked in 2 civilian practices during my time as an Air Force dentist*
-Quality of work - I believe the Air Force tends to have higher work quality than most civilian providers. We don't have time pressures or too many cost pressures, so we typically get to spend as much time as we need to get things done the right way. Also, most of our dentists are a few years removed from a 1 year AEGD, which lends to even higher quality knowledge and care.
-Patient experience - I'll give the edge to private practice. I think most Air Force bases do not put enough emphasis on customer service, and our outdated charting system results in far too many records errors. However, there's a host of different ways this is managed on the civilian side, but at least on the civilian side, a dissatisfied patient can choose to take their business elsewhere. This is where the Air Force slips behind: our patients don't have options so we aren't incentivized to give them a good experience and we too frequently miss the mark.
-Clinic organizational structure - Unbelievably, I give the edge to private practice here, and it's not even close. One of the most surprising things to me about Air Force dentistry is how disorganized the organizational and accountability structure is at the clinic level. There's usually some holes in accountability and organization at some level that lets a litany of small problems leak through constantly. There's very little focus on creating good systems. Instead, most clinics rely on strong-willed individuals to run large portions of the clinic that end up suffering mightily when they depart for a new base. It seems there's no real training on "systems thinking" that would alleviate so much of the constant stress and little mistakes that occur daily in military dentistry. Everything I've learned about how to lead people, implement systems, and build/design a clinic has come almost exclusively from books I've chosen to read on my own. The military doesn't teach you this.
The biggest problem here is that, contrary to popular belief, there's just no incentive to be organized in the military because our patients are walking through the door and our appointment books are filled no matter what we do. Most are content to do "enough" and never really get to the point of optimizing and organizing things so they actually run as smoothly as possible. Things run satisfactorily, and that's all that matters to most.
For example, both bases I've been at didn't even have a consistent system to ensure the same items were reordered properly each time something ran out! There aren't even consistent locations for some items to be stored, so if they're out, it's impossible to know what was there without consulting someone who had the room memorized. (This is one area I've worked on at both of my bases to eliminate waste and confusion. It's usually just as simple as placing the order number and item name on standard containers and ensuring that 100% of items coming into the clinic have a permanent location, that everyone agrees on 1 method for altering the Logistics person that an item is low, and items don't just get tossed on a shelf or into a room.) If a certain person out for the week, good luck.
Often, an item would run out and there would be no accountability until the clinic was in an "emergency shortage" and had to rush order the item to the clinic. Fortunately, we have all the time in the world to do dentistry so typically these errors just result in rescheduling the patient or doing some less efficient procedure to get the job done. The minimal consequences of being disorganized tend to perpetuate the "good enough" mindset.
*Caveat: Most military clinics are far larger than civilian clinics, and the disorganization is far more obvious the bigger you get. Small civilian clinics can often survive (and typically do) just on the personality of the lead dentist, with little regard for attempting to imagine the business as a prototype model for a franchise (a la "The E-Myth"), but this fails in a military setting because there's always more than 1 dentist. Large civilian clinics that are poorly organized simply can't maintain their business structure and end up closing or restructuring. Large military clinics, on the other hand, stay open no matter what. In my experience, the larger the civilian clinic (if it's been open for a few years), the more organized it is vs a smaller 1-doctor civilian clinic.
-Employees - This is a touchy subject, so I'll tread lightly. I'm calling this one a tie. Here's why.
In the military, we sometimes get people that just flat out don't want to be in the dental field. Some have personalities and skillsets that are more well suited for some non-medical field. These kinds of people probably wouldn't last long in private dentistry (but to be fair, they would have never wanted to work there in the first place!). But, in the civilian world, you have an outrageous 60% (or more) of dentists that will be subject to embezzlement at some point in their career. That sucks! Civilian employees are no more saints than the military employees that don't care about their job but at least the military ones aren't stealing money from you.
Here's a huge positive with the military side: sometimes you get outstanding coworkers that have big dreams and aspirations and they understand that their performance in whatever job they have is an important stepping stone to the life they want. These are true gems and a total win for the military. Many civilians aren't thinking about the next thing, but in the military, some are constantly focused on learning and growing and getting to the next step, and it makes them valuable assets to your clinic.
In the end, people are people, including dentists. If you don't want to worry about hiring and firing, but also can't cultivate the team you want, the military is the way to go. If you're able to have those hard conversations, listen to your employees, facilitate their personal growth, and have studied and practice leadership and management, private practice is the way to go because you can create the office culture you want with the people you hire vs using the people you're given that may not want to be there. It's up to YOU as the dentist (and the officer) to create the culture you want and use the strong ones as your pillars while you build a new culture (military) or team (civilian).
Are you going to stay in the military? Why/why not?
I'm not staying in. I have a lot of personal reasons for this, but here are the top 3:
1. I believe that my experiences and skills can better serve humanity in a civilian setting
The Air Force is great, but it has its limitations. I can't run a clinic how I want to, I can't hire and fire, and I can't do the dentistry I want to do. Promotions happen in a stepwise manner, and your leadership skills don't really have any bearing on how quickly you can get into a command position. It has to do with your rank, which has to do with your time in service. I'm not a huge fan of the "wait and get promoted" style that the military uses to choose their leaders. Even if I could get into a command position, I don't get to choose who works at the clinic, and that can be a big hindrance to the development and progression of a clinical mission.
At the end of the day, I have a strong will and lots of leadership experience that is just going to take me far too long to manifest in the military setting. The limitations of the military also come with a lot of safety nets that suit many dentists very well, but not me. If they would make me commander of a clinic and double my pay, I'd think about it ;)
2. More time freedom
Notice how I did not say "more money". That's not a typo. I don't necessarily want more money, but what I want is more choices.
One "benefit" of the military is getting 30 days paid vacation every year plus a lot of federal holidays. But you know what? I still have to come to work 5 days per week, do a lot of non-dental stuff, and generally spend a lot of time doing dental work at a slow pace that I could accomplish in half the time. Lots of dentists in the military do less dentistry than me (and many do more), but we all still have the same schedule.
I could walk out right now and work 3 days a week and easily make the same amount of money. Or, I could work 5 days/week and make 2x as much as I'm making now. So what's the big deal about all these "days off" in the military? It's a logical fallacy in my opinion.
Which one is better -- making more money or working less? It's personal. It's about having the options.
Right now, my plan is to leave, buy a practice, implement my vision and systems, maximize productivity and systematize an outstanding patient experience using new technology and beautiful office esthetics, serve my community well, and have the freedom to work far less than I do right now.
Time is the currency of life. Don't let someone in the military use the "days off" argument as a way to convince you that you have more time freedom as a military dentist, because it's not true. Your skills have an extremely high value in the civilian world that, when leveraged properly, is far more valuable than what the military can offer you.
It takes more work to be a leader in the civilian sector than the military sector, but it's worth it. Read some leadership books, work on your management and leadership skills, and build a practice that lets you build a life of your choosing and take off half the year if you want to. We can't get our time back.
3. Self-actualization
I've read about 100 books in the last 2 years. I firmly believe that knowledge without action is worthless, so I've put a lot of action behind what I've learned. I've completely changed my diet, my workout routine, my morning routine, my habits, my beliefs about myself, and the way I handle stress (among many other things). I've also come to the realization that the life I envision for myself is not possible in the military.
Despite my emphatic shouts of "you must do the military for dental school", I firmly believe that a 3-4 year commitment, when utilized properly, is plenty of time to wrap your head around what it is you want for your life, your family, and your legacy on this planet.
This is getting a bit philosophical, but I mean it wholeheartedly. I have big plans and visions for my life, and I personally feel I would be doing a disservice to myself and those around me if I stayed in the military at this point. What I want for my life can't be accomplished in a military setting, and I feel it's time to break free and start to build that new life.
I must admit, when I graduated from my AEGD-1 residency, I was lost. I hadn't read more than a couple books that year, I was not confident in my dental or leadership skills, I had failed part of a PT test (and had it wiped from my record on a technicality), and I was generally confused about my future and what I had to offer.
But, over the course of the last 2-3 years, I started following and listening to leaders from all walks of life and came across a common theme: leaders are readers. So I started reading again.
It became an obsession that has continued to this day. I don't recognize the lost, confused, and complacent version of myself from 2014 and 2015. I'm a new person and I have books to thank for it. Those that know me from back then would be shocked at this statement, because I've always been driven, but I had lost my personal identity on what, exactly, I was driving towards.
I can't unread what I've read, or unthink the thoughts these authors have given me. I have a new confidence in my life and in my future, and I'm excited for the next step of my journey.
It is with no bitterness or resentment that I will wave goodbye to the Air Force, but instead, give it a warm farewell for a phase of life that broke me down, reshaped me, and sent me on my way with the confidence to design a life well lived.
--
As always, feel free to email me with any questions!
Showing posts with label AEGD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AEGD. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Sunday, September 3, 2017
3 Benefits of Being a Military Dentist You've Never Heard Before (Companion Post to Dentistry Uncensored Interview)
[A couple of days ago, I was fortunate enough to record an episode of Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran (#888), a popular podcast where Howard interviews all sorts of interesting people from the wide world of dentistry (and beyond!). My interview should be up in about two months. Be sure to check it out!]
Coming into my decision to pursue dentistry with the Air Force, I had heard all the typical lines about why I should (or shouldn't) do the HPSP to pay for dental school. I made the decision to join the Air Force prior to even starting dental school, so basically I had to hope that the benefits outweighed the risks like I imagined.
This post explores three themes from the book Uncomplicate Business, by Howard Farran. He mentions people, time, and money as three pivotal factors in controlling your destiny as a dentist. Don't miss how much you can learn about these 3 things while serving in the military! They are often forgotten points of learning by new and seasoned Air Force dentists alike.
These three benefits of being a military dentist are:
1. Not Enough People
If you have any desire to leave the Air Force after your commitment is over, this one point is huge. I've heard Air Force dentists complain extensively about the difficulty in managing and dealing with co-workers, many of whom either did not want to be in dentistry at all or did not want to be stationed where they are stationed. They blow this off as one of the downsides of being in the military. WRONG! This is, in my mind, one of the overwhelming benefits!
When in your career would you be able to work to motivate and collaborate with a group of people from all areas of life, from all over the country, who may or may not even want to be doing what they're doing? Working through this problem, rather than blowing it off, allows you to hone your leadership and people management skills in ways that your civilian dentist counterparts will likely never experience.
The other factor is that you cannot simply re-hire to fill vacancies. Staffing decisions are made at a higher level than your local clinic level, so clinics are frequently understaffed for all the needed positions. The biggest area I see this is in how many dental assistants there are. In a typical private practice, you usually have more dental assistants than dentists. In the Air Force, it's typically a 1 to 1 ratio, meaning there are several 10-15 min breaks during the day where the assistant is breaking down a room or setting up a room and you're in your office working on notes or other things. Realizing you have the capacity to work 2 or 3 times as much as you are can be discouraging, but just use that opportunity to get treatment done quickly so you can have free time to do other things.
2. Not Enough Time
I ended the previous section talking about how much free time you have in a given day, so you're right to be skeptical for a moment. The problem (or as I'll argue, the benefit) is that on a larger scale, your time is not under your control.
You should always be striving to do more, and time is our most valuable currency. In the military, or any government job, the concept of working overtime isn't really feasible from a dentist's perspective. Being in a non-commander role, it's not really up to me to rally the herd and stay open an extra hour each week, or shut down on a Friday and fly everyone to Anchorage for a teamwork seminar.
Time is always against you, but in the military, this is especially pronounced. Like I said in the previous paragraph, your time flexibility on a scale from 0 to 10 is somewhere closer to that 0. Having to squeeze 10 unexpected patients into an afternoon that was set aside for military training so that the base can send those people to Guam by next week, are the kinds of time constraint issues you run into. You exist to keep the Air Force running smoothly. Your time is the military's time. And if you can figure out ways to creatively control your schedule to continue improving your skills in this environment, you'll see huge benefits when you step out and finally get to control your own time.
Fortunately on a day to day basis, you do have control over the lengths of procedures, just not on the actual work week or overall schedule itself.
3. Not Enough Money
Imagine you're out and about on a Saturday when suddenly the craving for hamburger hits. You and your spouse drive to a nice place to have lunch and then come home. Does this seem like a money-intensive process? Probably not. Why not? It costs money to put fuel in your car, it costs money for the wear and tear on the car, you need to have purchased car insurance and have a license to drive the car, not to mention the cost of the meal when you arrive. Did you consider all that?
Ok, now imagine you're 16 years old again and you want to have lunch with some friends. You don't own a car and you don't have gas money because you rely on your parents for an allowance and you spent it all on a video game last week. So your friend (who is 17 and has a job) decides to help you out. They come pick you up and buy your meal for you. It's a little annoying but they don't mind.
Being in the military is like being 16 years old again. You have almost no control over the amount of your "allowance" that comes in each month and you foot the bill for your own dental license and often for your own CE courses. You hope the "allowance" comes into the clinic on time so you can buy what you need and if it doesn't, you're going to have to choose between gas and food.
This sounds a little extreme, but it does happen. The government has situations where they can't promise money to a medical clinic or dental clinic, and so your clinic may be forced to operate on a drastically reduced budget. So what's the benefit in that?
Learning how to operate a clinic for 5 months on a budget roughly 35% of its normal size when you're in charge of ordering supplies for the clinic, forces you into all kinds of new and uncharted territories. Finding out which items are crucial to not only keep the clinic open, but to maximize the potential to meet the specific mission of your base, is no easy task. Saying "no" when people ask if you can buy this or that, or completely reorganizing every treatment room to streamline your supplies so that absolutely nothing goes to waste, are two delicate but vital strategies. Some day you'll leave the Air Force and be a grown up dentist, not reliant on the Air Force's "allowance" anymore. But those important financial pivot points will already be part of your natural decision making process. Lucky you!
Not having money obviously means not having what you want. But often times the standardization of the clinic will trump your preferences. The benefit here is flexibility. You'll need to learn to work with other doctors (and even your assistants) to come up with supplies you can all agree on. It may not be your favorite bonding agent, for example, but it's cheaper and more efficient and the expiration dates are 2 years out, so it fits well within your clinic's goals.
These are the type of weird supply decisions that have to be made when there are people moving in and out of your clinic every few months. We are fortunate enough to have such a tight-nit group of doctors at Eielson that agreeing on standardized supplies is rarely a problem. Again, knowing the clinic's main mission helps clarify and point us in the right direction.
Here are questions we have had to ask ourselves at Eielson when considering changes in supplies:
Should we focus on getting every doctor exactly what they want, or take into consideration that assistants will get confused if every treatment room is set up differently?
Do we buy burs for $0.98/each and put the sterilization burden on someone to package all of these burs for us, or do we order burs that come sterilized from the factory for $1.01/each?
If diamond burs are not consistently cleaned properly, or sometimes get dull without the next doctor knowing, is it worth it to re-process these or should we move to single-use diamonds?
The list goes on and on. The supply game is a hard one to play, especially in light of the money game! But learning how to make compromises and think of the clinic mission every time you make a supply decision will lead to huge benefits in how you eventually think about your own practice some day.
I hope this post was helpful. My goal here was to pick out 3 topics (people, time, and money) that are most often cited as downsides to military dentistry and show you how, when looked at from a different angle, are actually 3 of the biggest benefits. As always, email me (see right side of blog) if you ever have any questions!
Coming into my decision to pursue dentistry with the Air Force, I had heard all the typical lines about why I should (or shouldn't) do the HPSP to pay for dental school. I made the decision to join the Air Force prior to even starting dental school, so basically I had to hope that the benefits outweighed the risks like I imagined.
This post explores three themes from the book Uncomplicate Business, by Howard Farran. He mentions people, time, and money as three pivotal factors in controlling your destiny as a dentist. Don't miss how much you can learn about these 3 things while serving in the military! They are often forgotten points of learning by new and seasoned Air Force dentists alike.
These three benefits of being a military dentist are:
1. Not Enough People
If you have any desire to leave the Air Force after your commitment is over, this one point is huge. I've heard Air Force dentists complain extensively about the difficulty in managing and dealing with co-workers, many of whom either did not want to be in dentistry at all or did not want to be stationed where they are stationed. They blow this off as one of the downsides of being in the military. WRONG! This is, in my mind, one of the overwhelming benefits!
When in your career would you be able to work to motivate and collaborate with a group of people from all areas of life, from all over the country, who may or may not even want to be doing what they're doing? Working through this problem, rather than blowing it off, allows you to hone your leadership and people management skills in ways that your civilian dentist counterparts will likely never experience.
The other factor is that you cannot simply re-hire to fill vacancies. Staffing decisions are made at a higher level than your local clinic level, so clinics are frequently understaffed for all the needed positions. The biggest area I see this is in how many dental assistants there are. In a typical private practice, you usually have more dental assistants than dentists. In the Air Force, it's typically a 1 to 1 ratio, meaning there are several 10-15 min breaks during the day where the assistant is breaking down a room or setting up a room and you're in your office working on notes or other things. Realizing you have the capacity to work 2 or 3 times as much as you are can be discouraging, but just use that opportunity to get treatment done quickly so you can have free time to do other things.
2. Not Enough Time
I ended the previous section talking about how much free time you have in a given day, so you're right to be skeptical for a moment. The problem (or as I'll argue, the benefit) is that on a larger scale, your time is not under your control.
You should always be striving to do more, and time is our most valuable currency. In the military, or any government job, the concept of working overtime isn't really feasible from a dentist's perspective. Being in a non-commander role, it's not really up to me to rally the herd and stay open an extra hour each week, or shut down on a Friday and fly everyone to Anchorage for a teamwork seminar.
Time is always against you, but in the military, this is especially pronounced. Like I said in the previous paragraph, your time flexibility on a scale from 0 to 10 is somewhere closer to that 0. Having to squeeze 10 unexpected patients into an afternoon that was set aside for military training so that the base can send those people to Guam by next week, are the kinds of time constraint issues you run into. You exist to keep the Air Force running smoothly. Your time is the military's time. And if you can figure out ways to creatively control your schedule to continue improving your skills in this environment, you'll see huge benefits when you step out and finally get to control your own time.
Fortunately on a day to day basis, you do have control over the lengths of procedures, just not on the actual work week or overall schedule itself.
3. Not Enough Money
Imagine you're out and about on a Saturday when suddenly the craving for hamburger hits. You and your spouse drive to a nice place to have lunch and then come home. Does this seem like a money-intensive process? Probably not. Why not? It costs money to put fuel in your car, it costs money for the wear and tear on the car, you need to have purchased car insurance and have a license to drive the car, not to mention the cost of the meal when you arrive. Did you consider all that?
Ok, now imagine you're 16 years old again and you want to have lunch with some friends. You don't own a car and you don't have gas money because you rely on your parents for an allowance and you spent it all on a video game last week. So your friend (who is 17 and has a job) decides to help you out. They come pick you up and buy your meal for you. It's a little annoying but they don't mind.
Being in the military is like being 16 years old again. You have almost no control over the amount of your "allowance" that comes in each month and you foot the bill for your own dental license and often for your own CE courses. You hope the "allowance" comes into the clinic on time so you can buy what you need and if it doesn't, you're going to have to choose between gas and food.
This sounds a little extreme, but it does happen. The government has situations where they can't promise money to a medical clinic or dental clinic, and so your clinic may be forced to operate on a drastically reduced budget. So what's the benefit in that?
Learning how to operate a clinic for 5 months on a budget roughly 35% of its normal size when you're in charge of ordering supplies for the clinic, forces you into all kinds of new and uncharted territories. Finding out which items are crucial to not only keep the clinic open, but to maximize the potential to meet the specific mission of your base, is no easy task. Saying "no" when people ask if you can buy this or that, or completely reorganizing every treatment room to streamline your supplies so that absolutely nothing goes to waste, are two delicate but vital strategies. Some day you'll leave the Air Force and be a grown up dentist, not reliant on the Air Force's "allowance" anymore. But those important financial pivot points will already be part of your natural decision making process. Lucky you!
Not having money obviously means not having what you want. But often times the standardization of the clinic will trump your preferences. The benefit here is flexibility. You'll need to learn to work with other doctors (and even your assistants) to come up with supplies you can all agree on. It may not be your favorite bonding agent, for example, but it's cheaper and more efficient and the expiration dates are 2 years out, so it fits well within your clinic's goals.
These are the type of weird supply decisions that have to be made when there are people moving in and out of your clinic every few months. We are fortunate enough to have such a tight-nit group of doctors at Eielson that agreeing on standardized supplies is rarely a problem. Again, knowing the clinic's main mission helps clarify and point us in the right direction.
Here are questions we have had to ask ourselves at Eielson when considering changes in supplies:
Should we focus on getting every doctor exactly what they want, or take into consideration that assistants will get confused if every treatment room is set up differently?
Do we buy burs for $0.98/each and put the sterilization burden on someone to package all of these burs for us, or do we order burs that come sterilized from the factory for $1.01/each?
If diamond burs are not consistently cleaned properly, or sometimes get dull without the next doctor knowing, is it worth it to re-process these or should we move to single-use diamonds?
The list goes on and on. The supply game is a hard one to play, especially in light of the money game! But learning how to make compromises and think of the clinic mission every time you make a supply decision will lead to huge benefits in how you eventually think about your own practice some day.
I hope this post was helpful. My goal here was to pick out 3 topics (people, time, and money) that are most often cited as downsides to military dentistry and show you how, when looked at from a different angle, are actually 3 of the biggest benefits. As always, email me (see right side of blog) if you ever have any questions!
Monday, July 10, 2017
Graduating Soon? How to Rank AEGD Bases.
Sometimes in life, patterns pop up to give us hints. In this case, I've gotten almost the same email 3 times in the last 4 days! So... I think it might be time to visit this topic in its own post.
1. Location, location, location.
This is, in my opinion, the overwhelming and... essentially... only factor you should consider when ranking your AEGD bases. AEGD experiences vary significantly based on who the faculty is at your AEGD, and location has almost nothing at all to do with this. Pick a base that's located where you want to be and don't give it a second thought. If you just can't help yourself and want to give it a second thought, keep reading.
2. Faculty.
This is very hard to pin down. Faculty members are coming and going all the time, making it nearly impossible to make a judgement call on an AEGD base on this. However, if you must, you can consider emailing the residency directors at each base and requesting to get in contact with some of the current residents. You can pick their brain about who might be there and what experiences they have been offered as far as number of crowns, implant experience, etc.
3. Other stuff.
Travis AFB has an Oral Surgery program. Theoretically, this will limit the number of cases flowing to the AEGD program. However, it's well known that AEGD residents are expected to do wisdom teeth cases, so it's not as if you're going to run dry on them. I wouldn't put a ton of weight into this.
Your AEGD base of choice has virtually no bearing on what base you might get after your AEGD.
That's about it! In summary... location. Go where you want to go and don't worry about the other details. It's a lot to track down to rank bases that are really just telling the Air Force what you want and aren't a guarantee anyway.
1. Location, location, location.
This is, in my opinion, the overwhelming and... essentially... only factor you should consider when ranking your AEGD bases. AEGD experiences vary significantly based on who the faculty is at your AEGD, and location has almost nothing at all to do with this. Pick a base that's located where you want to be and don't give it a second thought. If you just can't help yourself and want to give it a second thought, keep reading.
2. Faculty.
This is very hard to pin down. Faculty members are coming and going all the time, making it nearly impossible to make a judgement call on an AEGD base on this. However, if you must, you can consider emailing the residency directors at each base and requesting to get in contact with some of the current residents. You can pick their brain about who might be there and what experiences they have been offered as far as number of crowns, implant experience, etc.
3. Other stuff.
Travis AFB has an Oral Surgery program. Theoretically, this will limit the number of cases flowing to the AEGD program. However, it's well known that AEGD residents are expected to do wisdom teeth cases, so it's not as if you're going to run dry on them. I wouldn't put a ton of weight into this.
Your AEGD base of choice has virtually no bearing on what base you might get after your AEGD.
That's about it! In summary... location. Go where you want to go and don't worry about the other details. It's a lot to track down to rank bases that are really just telling the Air Force what you want and aren't a guarantee anyway.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Overseas
We got Alaska.
So it's been a while since my last post and I wanted to let the dust settle, per se, before I posted again. My residency is over and we have been at Eielson AFB for almost 2 months now. I started seeing patients a few weeks ago. Eielson is considered overseas for somethings and not others, so it's a weird mix of both! My assignment is only 3 years like an OCONUS assignment, not 4, but I'm not actually overseas in a foreign country (for example).
First off, I'll talk about the AEGD now that I have some perspective.
Not a lot more I have to say that I haven't already, to be honest. I will say that the personnel at your location can make or break the experience in a given specialty and you really have no way to know what each base is going to offer. People are moving all the time! Having said that, I don't see how you could survive as a brand new Air Force dentist without doing a residency. There so much "Air Force" stuff to learn that it would be really hard to learn on the job if you came straight out of dental school. With that being said, if you absolutely do not want to do a residency then think twice about the HPSP at all! You are now required to not only apply for, but also accept, a spot in an AEGD residency. That's right, no longer optional!
My AEGD was good, and the location was incredible. The Academy was a beautiful place to be! However, there were aspects of the residency that were less than ideal while other aspects were very well executed. It certainly wasn't a traditional educational environment like dental school but more of a "learn by doing" situation but the faculty all see their own patients most of the time. It had a tendency to feel somewhat disorganized at times with lectures being fit in where they could be and not a real over arching theme or long terms goals, except when outlined by each specialist as they saw fit. Syllabuses for different specialties either didn't exist or were usually incomplete, and there was a tendency for contradiction in lectures or between faculty that made things frustrating at times as someone trying to learn. It's something you have to embrace as part of the unavoidable nature of the constant movement of parts and pieces in a very large Air Force system. As someone who really likes to make their own way and be as proactive as possible, I encountered a surprising amount of opposition to that style and found it more beneficial to "go with the flow" most of the time.
On a positive note, I got to do quite a few IV sedations and 3rd molar surgeries as well as perio surgeries. I got to do far more root canals than I did in dental school, and I got fairly proficient in whats known as a "cuspal coverage amalgam", something you have to see to believe! I felt like I was adequately exposed to all the specialties enough to help me decide if they were something worth exploring further as a specialty. The general feel of the residency all seemed geared towards serving the Air Force population, and many of the skills I learned will serve me very well at my new base, even though I won't use many of them if I choose to leave the Air Force some day.
Second, Alaska!
Being on my own is really nice. It was weird at first, and still very much is, but you'll be amazed how much faster you can work when you're doing 1 or 2 fillings and there's an hour set aside to do it without faculty looking over your shoulder. You just sit down and crank it out. For me, it hasn't been all that difficult of a transition for me. I've always worked pretty fast so this doesn't seem that bad! I do feel a little rushed sometimes but considering this is my first experience out of an educational setting, I'm really pleased with it so far. This is a small clinic and was designed for a couple more dentists, so we have a lot of room. Having an office is nice too! I'm not sure what to put in it quite yet other than trail mix and extra paper. Very official.
Eielson AFB is not a very desirable location but to be honest, I really like it here so far. The people are very nice and for being a smaller city, they have a lot! Amazon still delivers here so I think we'll survive after all. We had to get our cars "winterized" but so far, we've only had 2 snow storms! It was actually quite nice out today and my wife and I went on a walk with our dog.
That's all for now! I'd love for some comments or emails with some ideas about what I should start posting about now! This is kind of the end of the road in terms of my journey from the end of dental school when I started this blog. I'm here, I'm done with dental school, done with my residency, and now a full blown real life Air Force dentist!
So let me know what YOU want to hear about and I will gladly, within the limitations of what I'm allowed to talk about, let you know!
So it's been a while since my last post and I wanted to let the dust settle, per se, before I posted again. My residency is over and we have been at Eielson AFB for almost 2 months now. I started seeing patients a few weeks ago. Eielson is considered overseas for somethings and not others, so it's a weird mix of both! My assignment is only 3 years like an OCONUS assignment, not 4, but I'm not actually overseas in a foreign country (for example).
First off, I'll talk about the AEGD now that I have some perspective.
Not a lot more I have to say that I haven't already, to be honest. I will say that the personnel at your location can make or break the experience in a given specialty and you really have no way to know what each base is going to offer. People are moving all the time! Having said that, I don't see how you could survive as a brand new Air Force dentist without doing a residency. There so much "Air Force" stuff to learn that it would be really hard to learn on the job if you came straight out of dental school. With that being said, if you absolutely do not want to do a residency then think twice about the HPSP at all! You are now required to not only apply for, but also accept, a spot in an AEGD residency. That's right, no longer optional!
My AEGD was good, and the location was incredible. The Academy was a beautiful place to be! However, there were aspects of the residency that were less than ideal while other aspects were very well executed. It certainly wasn't a traditional educational environment like dental school but more of a "learn by doing" situation but the faculty all see their own patients most of the time. It had a tendency to feel somewhat disorganized at times with lectures being fit in where they could be and not a real over arching theme or long terms goals, except when outlined by each specialist as they saw fit. Syllabuses for different specialties either didn't exist or were usually incomplete, and there was a tendency for contradiction in lectures or between faculty that made things frustrating at times as someone trying to learn. It's something you have to embrace as part of the unavoidable nature of the constant movement of parts and pieces in a very large Air Force system. As someone who really likes to make their own way and be as proactive as possible, I encountered a surprising amount of opposition to that style and found it more beneficial to "go with the flow" most of the time.
On a positive note, I got to do quite a few IV sedations and 3rd molar surgeries as well as perio surgeries. I got to do far more root canals than I did in dental school, and I got fairly proficient in whats known as a "cuspal coverage amalgam", something you have to see to believe! I felt like I was adequately exposed to all the specialties enough to help me decide if they were something worth exploring further as a specialty. The general feel of the residency all seemed geared towards serving the Air Force population, and many of the skills I learned will serve me very well at my new base, even though I won't use many of them if I choose to leave the Air Force some day.
Second, Alaska!
Being on my own is really nice. It was weird at first, and still very much is, but you'll be amazed how much faster you can work when you're doing 1 or 2 fillings and there's an hour set aside to do it without faculty looking over your shoulder. You just sit down and crank it out. For me, it hasn't been all that difficult of a transition for me. I've always worked pretty fast so this doesn't seem that bad! I do feel a little rushed sometimes but considering this is my first experience out of an educational setting, I'm really pleased with it so far. This is a small clinic and was designed for a couple more dentists, so we have a lot of room. Having an office is nice too! I'm not sure what to put in it quite yet other than trail mix and extra paper. Very official.
Eielson AFB is not a very desirable location but to be honest, I really like it here so far. The people are very nice and for being a smaller city, they have a lot! Amazon still delivers here so I think we'll survive after all. We had to get our cars "winterized" but so far, we've only had 2 snow storms! It was actually quite nice out today and my wife and I went on a walk with our dog.
That's all for now! I'd love for some comments or emails with some ideas about what I should start posting about now! This is kind of the end of the road in terms of my journey from the end of dental school when I started this blog. I'm here, I'm done with dental school, done with my residency, and now a full blown real life Air Force dentist!
So let me know what YOU want to hear about and I will gladly, within the limitations of what I'm allowed to talk about, let you know!
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Off We Go
The first 3 words of the Air Force song pretty much sum up the last 5 months of my life. I've severely neglected to post as frequently as I intended but that was partly due to the lack of particularly interesting things to talk about since January.
Not anymore.
The residency is coming to an end in a couple short months and the last 5 months have gone by about as fast as 1 month seemed to go back in the fall. Finally getting in the flow of clinic, understanding expectations a little better, having more freedom in clinic, a new oral surgery rotation schedule, Spring Break, some federal holidays, better weather, and some fun courses have all contributed to the increase in moral and the perceived increase in speed of the residency.
My wife and I were able to hit the ski slopes for the first time in March (I seemed to be on-call for most of the prime opportunities in the fall) and we took a road trip through a good majority of the state of Colorado for our 5 day spring break. It was the trip of a lifetime and I highly recommend it to anyone! Email me if you want information on where we went; it was incredible.
If you follow my on twitter, or read the tweets off to the side on my blog, you'll know that we got our base list not long after my previous post with all the bases that had openings. We had lots of great options but we were disappointed to find many of the bases we wanted were not available. However, we were still able to put bases on our "dream sheet" that were not on "the list" just in case an opening popped up. Surprisingly, it seems that many AEGD residents from around the country put bases high on their list that were not available (apparently) but ended up going there. To be honest, I have no clue what the list we got was all about because it seems like people went to lots of bases that weren't on "the list". So who knows! Maybe they just make their best guess at which bases will be open, I have no idea.
We got our #15 choice and I'll reveal what base that is once we get there. There's been a pretty heavy crackdown on information and things lately in the military as a whole so I'm going to try to walk the line of being transparent and safe with this information. For comparison, 2 of my classmates volunteered for their assignments, another got their #1 and another their #9 (I think). So overall, very good!
A month or so ago we had a meet up with all the AEGD residents across the country at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. It's something they want to try to do every year and it was a really fun experience to meet everyone and talk about some Air Force stuff. Every base was off the entire week (except us) so most of you doing an AEGD will get to be out of clinic for a week and hang out in San Antonio with all the other residents. We did go out a couple nights and it was a pretty fun time.
One thing that going to San Antonio helped me realize were the stark differences in each AEGD program. Some bases are set up poorly for certain things while others are set up well. I think my base is set up well for oral surgery because we have so many young cadets, but this very thing also puts us at a disadvantage for prosthodontics. I also assumed each resident would get similar levels of training but it seems that a lot of that depends on the faculty that are at the different locations as to how much freedom the residents will have to do certain things. Some seemed more intent on taking it slowly getting into clinic while others emphasize clinical experience as the main mode of education. If you're interested or concerned about these things, I would try to figure out a way to contact a resident at each of the bases. It sounds like a lot of work but it might help you figure out which program fits your personality better.
Two words of advice for everyone that does an AEGD. First, try to understand very clearly the expectations. I've run into trouble lately with not understanding expectations from faculty both academically and clinically for various reasons. Sometimes it's getting vague information or mixed information from different faculty members on the exact same topic. So get clarification when you need it and never assume a low level of effort will be enough. The Air Force is a little different than a normal AEGD program because people are coming and going all the time. So often the faculty aren't on the same page about what a resident should know or do in a particular situation so don't be afraid to ask.
Second, don't be shy to let your directors know that you want to do more of a certain procedure, or that you would prefer NOT to do a certain procedure when you leave. If you're performing well in all areas, but don't particularly like some of it, you could get stuck going to a base that needs the skills you do well, but don't like. So help the Air Force help you and be clear about what you hope to do when you leave the residency.
I hope to summarize my feelings about doing an AEGD once my AEGD is over and perhaps after I've been at my new base a few months and can truly appreciate what I've learned.
***FYI; I've heard from applicants and current HPSP students that the AEGD will be mandatory if you are accepted. I can confirm that I've heard this from higher ups as well. You are no longer permitted to apply and decline an AEGD in the Air Force.
Not anymore.
The residency is coming to an end in a couple short months and the last 5 months have gone by about as fast as 1 month seemed to go back in the fall. Finally getting in the flow of clinic, understanding expectations a little better, having more freedom in clinic, a new oral surgery rotation schedule, Spring Break, some federal holidays, better weather, and some fun courses have all contributed to the increase in moral and the perceived increase in speed of the residency.
My wife and I were able to hit the ski slopes for the first time in March (I seemed to be on-call for most of the prime opportunities in the fall) and we took a road trip through a good majority of the state of Colorado for our 5 day spring break. It was the trip of a lifetime and I highly recommend it to anyone! Email me if you want information on where we went; it was incredible.
If you follow my on twitter, or read the tweets off to the side on my blog, you'll know that we got our base list not long after my previous post with all the bases that had openings. We had lots of great options but we were disappointed to find many of the bases we wanted were not available. However, we were still able to put bases on our "dream sheet" that were not on "the list" just in case an opening popped up. Surprisingly, it seems that many AEGD residents from around the country put bases high on their list that were not available (apparently) but ended up going there. To be honest, I have no clue what the list we got was all about because it seems like people went to lots of bases that weren't on "the list". So who knows! Maybe they just make their best guess at which bases will be open, I have no idea.
We got our #15 choice and I'll reveal what base that is once we get there. There's been a pretty heavy crackdown on information and things lately in the military as a whole so I'm going to try to walk the line of being transparent and safe with this information. For comparison, 2 of my classmates volunteered for their assignments, another got their #1 and another their #9 (I think). So overall, very good!
A month or so ago we had a meet up with all the AEGD residents across the country at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. It's something they want to try to do every year and it was a really fun experience to meet everyone and talk about some Air Force stuff. Every base was off the entire week (except us) so most of you doing an AEGD will get to be out of clinic for a week and hang out in San Antonio with all the other residents. We did go out a couple nights and it was a pretty fun time.
One thing that going to San Antonio helped me realize were the stark differences in each AEGD program. Some bases are set up poorly for certain things while others are set up well. I think my base is set up well for oral surgery because we have so many young cadets, but this very thing also puts us at a disadvantage for prosthodontics. I also assumed each resident would get similar levels of training but it seems that a lot of that depends on the faculty that are at the different locations as to how much freedom the residents will have to do certain things. Some seemed more intent on taking it slowly getting into clinic while others emphasize clinical experience as the main mode of education. If you're interested or concerned about these things, I would try to figure out a way to contact a resident at each of the bases. It sounds like a lot of work but it might help you figure out which program fits your personality better.
Two words of advice for everyone that does an AEGD. First, try to understand very clearly the expectations. I've run into trouble lately with not understanding expectations from faculty both academically and clinically for various reasons. Sometimes it's getting vague information or mixed information from different faculty members on the exact same topic. So get clarification when you need it and never assume a low level of effort will be enough. The Air Force is a little different than a normal AEGD program because people are coming and going all the time. So often the faculty aren't on the same page about what a resident should know or do in a particular situation so don't be afraid to ask.
Second, don't be shy to let your directors know that you want to do more of a certain procedure, or that you would prefer NOT to do a certain procedure when you leave. If you're performing well in all areas, but don't particularly like some of it, you could get stuck going to a base that needs the skills you do well, but don't like. So help the Air Force help you and be clear about what you hope to do when you leave the residency.
I hope to summarize my feelings about doing an AEGD once my AEGD is over and perhaps after I've been at my new base a few months and can truly appreciate what I've learned.
***FYI; I've heard from applicants and current HPSP students that the AEGD will be mandatory if you are accepted. I can confirm that I've heard this from higher ups as well. You are no longer permitted to apply and decline an AEGD in the Air Force.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
When Stress is Stressful (aka: The Longest Post Ever)
I'll get to the dental stuff in a second but first I want to talk about stress. This is not a scientific or philosophical discussion but simply some thoughts from my own brain about stress as it relates to where I currently am in my life.
Stress
I moved away from home ("home" here means anything within a 50 mile radius of where I was born) for the first time this summer and at first it wasn't too bad. Then for some reason around November things got difficult. The sun started going down sooner (sunlight always makes me happier!), the holidays were around the corner, and I started to get homesick. It's a funny thing when you miss people because typically nothing has changed really but you can no longer just go see them whenever you want. Even knowing that your family is suddenly 600 miles away just feels weird.
Then, of course, there's the residency. To be quite honest, the first couple months of the residency weren't half as stressful as the worst times in dental school. Dental school was a real drag a lot of the time and there was a ton of stress associated with graduating on time and actually making it out. With a residency, the worst that can happen (seriously) is that they kick you out. Really, that's it. You're still a dentist and though your pride might be shot, your life would not be severely altered in any measurable way unless the residency was an integral part of your future plans.
For whatever reason, I started letting things get to me. In a recent book I read, the author commented on a concept of "thought attacks" where you let one tiny thing get under your skin and suddenly your mind just creates this totally fabricated scenario in which things go terribly wrong or you are far too upset about something you shouldn't be and it makes the whole situation seem powerful and urgent and it consumes you in a flash. These started for me once the little criticisms began in residency. I'd make one little mistake and beat myself up for it, or answer one question wrong and extrapolate the consequences in my head to a place they never would actually go. Even having more "things" to do just seemed stressful even if I had plenty of time to do them. In essence, I was letting tiny things get to me in a way that I hadn't in the first couple months of the residency.
Combine these three things, and the last two months have been the worst in the residency for me personally. We are still new but we are treated and expected to act like full blown Air Force dentists for the most part. For a couple weeks I knew this but couldn't figure out why this was so stressful. It's because I had never done that before! Many of my classmates are on their own, but I'm not. I'm still in an educational environment so I often expect someone to tell me how or what to do. It wasn't until just recently that I realized a lot of my stress was coming from this circle I was trapped in. It goes something like this.
I have a procedure to do, I get to clinic, I'm not 100% prepared, I'm stressed out because the faculty want me to be more prepared, they help me through the procedure, I finish the procedure and everything is fine, I'm stressed because I didn't know what to do, because I'm stressed, I worry about the next procedure with that doctor, the next procedure comes, I get to clinic, I'm not 100% prepared... etc...
Ok so I think get it now. This is my education, this is my miniature dental practice inside of the Air Force. If I was in private practice I was going to have to learn all of this on my own anyway. I was trying to walk the line between being an autonomous dentist and a student. In reality, I need to have the mindset of an autonomous dentist who happens to be surrounded by experts willing and ready to help should the need arise. I'm not 100% student or 100% autonomous dentist yet and so I assumed I should act a little like both. I've started to realize that I need to fully own this, as if no one is going to help me, and allow the education to flow naturally from the areas I'm weak in rather than the areas I'm not prepared.
So my stress was coming from unpreparedness. Also, stress in and of itself is just a response our body has to a certain situation. Whenever we are stressed, everything seems urgent and it's hard to do things well. November and December were hard months in the residency for me but they also went by quickly. I've seen my family twice now (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and I realize that the AEGD is under my control. I'm feeling refreshed and the residency itself is nearly halfway over.
Dental
Now on to the dental things. I've gotten lots of emails lately and December was the biggest month for my blog since I started it way back in 2010. I'm going to address 2 of the more general questions now and then go into more detail on the residency.
Understand as I answer these questions that they are from the perspective of an Air Force dental resident who has been doing dentistry in the Air Force for all of 4-5 months.
How do deployments work?
As far as I understand, deployments are quite rare. Not 0% rare, but usually they are filled by volunteers. This is also answered in the comment section of the "Got a Question?" page at the top.
Where can I be stationed?
The possibilities are far and wide! For the AEGD, there are only about 10-12 bases with the program. As far as being stationed after the AEGD (or right away if you pass on the AEGD), there are about 50 US bases and around 15 or so overseas bases. I hesitate to post a map for security reasons and I'm just not 100% sure that would be ok. You can find this information by searching for bases and then seeing if the have a dental clinic. Not every base will be an option, they need to have a vacancy for someone to go there. Your recruiter should have maps of the US and overseas bases.
Now for the AEGD. Here's my halfway-point summary.
You work in a block clinic (Monday morning is Endo, Friday morning is Operative, etc.) so it can be hard to schedule sometimes. Your patient's appointments will often be a month apart because there might be other activities or holidays that lock out certain days that you would normally have clinic.
The clinical experience depends on the faculty preferences at your location. I've spoken to other AEGD residents who had done as many as 10 single unit crowns by Thanksgiving. I think only 1 resident at my location had done 1 single unit by that time. As of now, I believe a total of 2-3 single units have been delivered (I've done 0). This is simply the preference of the specialist at that base in terms of how they want to deliver cases and the style and method of teaching the different aspects of their specialty. My guess is that those other bases probably had single units ready to go when the residents arrived where as we typically work the patient from start to finish so a lot of cases I'm doing now will be ready to deliver in a couple months.
I think the biggest benefit and downside to the residency is the variety of procedures. I don't really feel like I'm getting far better at my core skills (fillings, crown, etc.) but I'm learning new things I never expected to do or enjoy (perio surgeries, sedations, different endo obturation methods). On the one hand that's great if you want to broaden your skills but not ideal if you wanted to do a high volume of more of the core skills.
Is the residency worth it? I would say yes, but with a caveat. Yes because in order to do certain procedures in the Air Force you have to be "credentialed" by staff to do them. Simply doing them in dental school isn't usually enough but this partly depends on the base you go and what the leadership allow you to do out of the gate. If your goal is to broaden your experience and learn to have a better eye in all aspects of dentistry then the AEGD is worth the extra year. If your goal is to get your school loans paid and get out of the Air Force, and you have no interest in learning more about other specialities, then the AEGD might not be for you.
I hope this was an informative post and I wish you all a wonderful 2015!
Stress
I moved away from home ("home" here means anything within a 50 mile radius of where I was born) for the first time this summer and at first it wasn't too bad. Then for some reason around November things got difficult. The sun started going down sooner (sunlight always makes me happier!), the holidays were around the corner, and I started to get homesick. It's a funny thing when you miss people because typically nothing has changed really but you can no longer just go see them whenever you want. Even knowing that your family is suddenly 600 miles away just feels weird.
Then, of course, there's the residency. To be quite honest, the first couple months of the residency weren't half as stressful as the worst times in dental school. Dental school was a real drag a lot of the time and there was a ton of stress associated with graduating on time and actually making it out. With a residency, the worst that can happen (seriously) is that they kick you out. Really, that's it. You're still a dentist and though your pride might be shot, your life would not be severely altered in any measurable way unless the residency was an integral part of your future plans.
For whatever reason, I started letting things get to me. In a recent book I read, the author commented on a concept of "thought attacks" where you let one tiny thing get under your skin and suddenly your mind just creates this totally fabricated scenario in which things go terribly wrong or you are far too upset about something you shouldn't be and it makes the whole situation seem powerful and urgent and it consumes you in a flash. These started for me once the little criticisms began in residency. I'd make one little mistake and beat myself up for it, or answer one question wrong and extrapolate the consequences in my head to a place they never would actually go. Even having more "things" to do just seemed stressful even if I had plenty of time to do them. In essence, I was letting tiny things get to me in a way that I hadn't in the first couple months of the residency.
Combine these three things, and the last two months have been the worst in the residency for me personally. We are still new but we are treated and expected to act like full blown Air Force dentists for the most part. For a couple weeks I knew this but couldn't figure out why this was so stressful. It's because I had never done that before! Many of my classmates are on their own, but I'm not. I'm still in an educational environment so I often expect someone to tell me how or what to do. It wasn't until just recently that I realized a lot of my stress was coming from this circle I was trapped in. It goes something like this.
I have a procedure to do, I get to clinic, I'm not 100% prepared, I'm stressed out because the faculty want me to be more prepared, they help me through the procedure, I finish the procedure and everything is fine, I'm stressed because I didn't know what to do, because I'm stressed, I worry about the next procedure with that doctor, the next procedure comes, I get to clinic, I'm not 100% prepared... etc...
Ok so I think get it now. This is my education, this is my miniature dental practice inside of the Air Force. If I was in private practice I was going to have to learn all of this on my own anyway. I was trying to walk the line between being an autonomous dentist and a student. In reality, I need to have the mindset of an autonomous dentist who happens to be surrounded by experts willing and ready to help should the need arise. I'm not 100% student or 100% autonomous dentist yet and so I assumed I should act a little like both. I've started to realize that I need to fully own this, as if no one is going to help me, and allow the education to flow naturally from the areas I'm weak in rather than the areas I'm not prepared.
So my stress was coming from unpreparedness. Also, stress in and of itself is just a response our body has to a certain situation. Whenever we are stressed, everything seems urgent and it's hard to do things well. November and December were hard months in the residency for me but they also went by quickly. I've seen my family twice now (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and I realize that the AEGD is under my control. I'm feeling refreshed and the residency itself is nearly halfway over.
Dental
Now on to the dental things. I've gotten lots of emails lately and December was the biggest month for my blog since I started it way back in 2010. I'm going to address 2 of the more general questions now and then go into more detail on the residency.
Understand as I answer these questions that they are from the perspective of an Air Force dental resident who has been doing dentistry in the Air Force for all of 4-5 months.
How do deployments work?
As far as I understand, deployments are quite rare. Not 0% rare, but usually they are filled by volunteers. This is also answered in the comment section of the "Got a Question?" page at the top.
Where can I be stationed?
The possibilities are far and wide! For the AEGD, there are only about 10-12 bases with the program. As far as being stationed after the AEGD (or right away if you pass on the AEGD), there are about 50 US bases and around 15 or so overseas bases. I hesitate to post a map for security reasons and I'm just not 100% sure that would be ok. You can find this information by searching for bases and then seeing if the have a dental clinic. Not every base will be an option, they need to have a vacancy for someone to go there. Your recruiter should have maps of the US and overseas bases.
Now for the AEGD. Here's my halfway-point summary.
You work in a block clinic (Monday morning is Endo, Friday morning is Operative, etc.) so it can be hard to schedule sometimes. Your patient's appointments will often be a month apart because there might be other activities or holidays that lock out certain days that you would normally have clinic.
The clinical experience depends on the faculty preferences at your location. I've spoken to other AEGD residents who had done as many as 10 single unit crowns by Thanksgiving. I think only 1 resident at my location had done 1 single unit by that time. As of now, I believe a total of 2-3 single units have been delivered (I've done 0). This is simply the preference of the specialist at that base in terms of how they want to deliver cases and the style and method of teaching the different aspects of their specialty. My guess is that those other bases probably had single units ready to go when the residents arrived where as we typically work the patient from start to finish so a lot of cases I'm doing now will be ready to deliver in a couple months.
I think the biggest benefit and downside to the residency is the variety of procedures. I don't really feel like I'm getting far better at my core skills (fillings, crown, etc.) but I'm learning new things I never expected to do or enjoy (perio surgeries, sedations, different endo obturation methods). On the one hand that's great if you want to broaden your skills but not ideal if you wanted to do a high volume of more of the core skills.
Is the residency worth it? I would say yes, but with a caveat. Yes because in order to do certain procedures in the Air Force you have to be "credentialed" by staff to do them. Simply doing them in dental school isn't usually enough but this partly depends on the base you go and what the leadership allow you to do out of the gate. If your goal is to broaden your experience and learn to have a better eye in all aspects of dentistry then the AEGD is worth the extra year. If your goal is to get your school loans paid and get out of the Air Force, and you have no interest in learning more about other specialities, then the AEGD might not be for you.
I hope this was an informative post and I wish you all a wonderful 2015!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
When Learning Isn't Fun
I've got to say, one of the hardest things about being in school since I was 5 years old is getting up every morning and knowing only one thing for certain: that today I will learn something new. Unfortunately in the high-pressure environment of a dental residency, it's easy to forget that we (the other 4 residents and I) are learning and often we feel like punching bags where the fists are different tasks and questions that we aren't equipped to do or answer.
It's easy for you, the reader, to tell from that statement that an AEGD, or any residency for that matter, can feel like a beat-down at times. As I sit here and write this, I know for a fact that I'm going to feel very dumb and silly multiple times this week for either not knowing or forgetting something that someone expects me to know. However, once you come to this realization and strip away the stress that comes with chronic unpreparedness, you can start learning.
I had to figure this all out again in the last few months and coming to terms with this has been refreshing. I must do the best I can each day without sacrificing my personal health and wellbeing to perform at a high level. It's not just for me but for the future of the Air Force and I owe it to each of my faculty members and patients to constantly give my best effort. I will often fall short and I will often fail, but once you can realize that that is part of the way we must learn, it isn't so bad.
I know this is a little different than my other posts but I write it to point something out. When things seem hard, take a step back and try to understand why they seem hard. Often it's just that, they seem hard but really aren't. Perhaps it's our perspective that makes them hard. If I know ahead of time that the way they are teaching me is by asking me questions I may not know and having me do difficult procedures, then I can be totally 100% comfortable with not knowing things and failing! Because if I believe that the intentions of the residency are pure, to make me a better dentist, then I have to believe the methods are pure as well and that's ok.
It's been a hard month as we've transitioned into more clinic but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I can see improvements already and I know what the different faculty members expect. Best of all, I'm learning why they expect what they do. It isn't for their own self-pleasure or to make sure we all have a crappy time, but to improve our thinking skills and our hand skills to perform at a level that will allow us to exit in August 2015 and be able to handle far more cases with great confidence that we have never possessed before.
Because I trust the end is well intentioned, I can trust the process is well intentioned, too. And that in and of itself is why this next month will be better than the last.
It's easy for you, the reader, to tell from that statement that an AEGD, or any residency for that matter, can feel like a beat-down at times. As I sit here and write this, I know for a fact that I'm going to feel very dumb and silly multiple times this week for either not knowing or forgetting something that someone expects me to know. However, once you come to this realization and strip away the stress that comes with chronic unpreparedness, you can start learning.
I had to figure this all out again in the last few months and coming to terms with this has been refreshing. I must do the best I can each day without sacrificing my personal health and wellbeing to perform at a high level. It's not just for me but for the future of the Air Force and I owe it to each of my faculty members and patients to constantly give my best effort. I will often fall short and I will often fail, but once you can realize that that is part of the way we must learn, it isn't so bad.
I know this is a little different than my other posts but I write it to point something out. When things seem hard, take a step back and try to understand why they seem hard. Often it's just that, they seem hard but really aren't. Perhaps it's our perspective that makes them hard. If I know ahead of time that the way they are teaching me is by asking me questions I may not know and having me do difficult procedures, then I can be totally 100% comfortable with not knowing things and failing! Because if I believe that the intentions of the residency are pure, to make me a better dentist, then I have to believe the methods are pure as well and that's ok.
It's been a hard month as we've transitioned into more clinic but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I can see improvements already and I know what the different faculty members expect. Best of all, I'm learning why they expect what they do. It isn't for their own self-pleasure or to make sure we all have a crappy time, but to improve our thinking skills and our hand skills to perform at a level that will allow us to exit in August 2015 and be able to handle far more cases with great confidence that we have never possessed before.
Because I trust the end is well intentioned, I can trust the process is well intentioned, too. And that in and of itself is why this next month will be better than the last.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Steel on Target and Chemical Warfare
These last few weeks have absolutely flown by. I finally finished the COT guide and am seeing patients in my AEGD. Here are some thoughts so far about the experience.
If you don't want to be in the military, the HPSP is not for you. The "military" things die down a little after you finish in-processing to your base but you have to wear the uniform every day and operate in the understanding that you're doing dental work on members of the military to further the mission.
Air Force dentistry is awesome and frustrating at the same time. Having specialists and people who genuinely care deeply about the work they do is awesome. The paperwork can be confusing and redundant and sometimes you'll wish you could "experiment" a little more. By experiment I mean try some more cutting edge things. My base does have a CEREC machine but you won't see us throwing CAD-CAM crowns on any tooth we feel like. Everything the Air Force does is backed heavily with research because they have to do what is going to be the absolute best for airmen and soldiers in deployed situations. A posterior composite may work for a patient on a yearly recall, but amalgam has the better long term track record so you'll see much more of that on posterior teeth, for example.
The military community is special. People understand each other and get that the mission is crucial. There's an overarching feeling of teamwork that is really cool to feel every day. Some things about the Air Force are frustrating when it comes to dentistry but it's hard to ignore how important the dental work is.
Financially the Air Force isn't as lucrative as private practice but as a new clinician, I'm happy to be where I am to further my skills and training for free (and getting paid!). The compensation is more than enough without having student loans and you should be able to live comfortably if you are budgeting and planning correctly.
All in all, I'm really happy with my decision. I've had a few late nights but the weekends are always a welcome time to relax. I try to get absolutely everything done during the week so I don't have to come up and work on weekends. So far it's working out!
If you're about to head to COT, check out the COT guide on the Additional Resources page!
[The title of the post is somewhat of an inside joke but just know that they're very corny jokes about using burs to cut teeth (steel on target) and fluoride (chemical warfare)]
[The title of the post is somewhat of an inside joke but just know that they're very corny jokes about using burs to cut teeth (steel on target) and fluoride (chemical warfare)]
Sunday, August 24, 2014
And Now Everything is Different
In a few short months, seemingly everything in my life is different than it was. Here's a quick rundown of everything that's changed in the last few months:
May:
Graduated dental school
Set up my move to Colorado Springs
June:
Wife quit her job in Oklahoma City
Actually moved to Colorado Springs
I left for COT (at the tail end of June)
July:
Wife got a new job in Colorado Springs
I did the COT thing in Alabama for 5 weeks
August:
Flew home from COT
Wife actually started her new job
I started my new life as a resident at the AF Academy
Dang. That's a lot. It was a lot, still is a lot, and definitely feels like a lot. I'm not going to get super deep into any of these things in this post for a couple of reasons.
Reason 1: It would be a novel
Reason 2: I started a new tab called "Additional Resources"
In the "Additional Resources" tab, I'll be posting full documents of various experiences I've had. When I started this blog in 2010, I was chronicling my dental school and Air Force journey. As I've gotten older and time has moved along, some of these things have actually ended. That's awesome because that part of my life is now in the past and nothing about it can change again. This means I can post full documents detailing every little thing I want to talk about in a place that you can access and refer to without having to jump on my blog to read! For example, I'm almost done with my full writeup about COT which is a very common topic I receive questions about. I'm also planning to do one about dental school in general as well as one about what it's like to be a student on the HPSP scholarship. I'm technically active duty now so my HPSP days are over. I've also done a full move with the military so I can definitely give you some start to finish information on that as well.
Here are just a few thoughts I have about the last few months.
When change happens in life, embrace it. Understand that it is temporary but very necessary for us to move forward. Think of it like a rocket on the launchpad. It will never fly without a fast and abrupt change. The fuel must be ignited and that can be very scary. Eventually the rocket reaches outer space, does what it needs to do, and now a whole new thing has started because of that. Just like our life, we can't sit on the launchpad forever. Talking about doing something and doing it are very different actions and if you want something new, something has to change.
With that said, let me talk briefly about a few things that I'll dip into more detail on later:
Moving: This is really nice because the military will move all your stuff for you for free. You can move part of your things and that's totally fine. I would definitely take valuables with you in your own car (if you are driving). They are efficient up until you want them to deliver it. Expect delays of up to several weeks in the summer. Call the moving company and keep tabs on the progress of your move.
COT: This is not an easy month but it was worth it. You will learn fast and you don't have a choice. It's a 5 week flood of information and you'll feel like you're in some weird Air Force blender for 5 weeks while you sweat and march all over Maxwell Air Force Base. Be prepared to be sleepy on a daily basis but keep a good attitude. When you're being yelled at, ignore the volume and listen to the words. Keep a good perspective and it will go by quickly.
The Air Force: In-processing involves getting an ID card, making sure your pay is correct, doing computer training, etc. It's a long process but embrace it. The military is a massive system and it's a wonder they keep things as straight as they do. Respect those ranked above you and enjoy the process. If your mindset going in is "I can't wait to do my time and be out" you're going to hate it. Even if you are planning on getting out, you can't for a few years so make the best of it!
Time to run but hoping to keep the blog a little more consistent this year! Starting to see patients in a couple weeks at my AEGD so that should be a blast. Be sure to check out the "Additional Resources" tab in the coming weeks for a whole new set of awesome information!
May:
Graduated dental school
Set up my move to Colorado Springs
June:
Wife quit her job in Oklahoma City
Actually moved to Colorado Springs
I left for COT (at the tail end of June)
July:
Wife got a new job in Colorado Springs
I did the COT thing in Alabama for 5 weeks
August:
Flew home from COT
Wife actually started her new job
I started my new life as a resident at the AF Academy
Dang. That's a lot. It was a lot, still is a lot, and definitely feels like a lot. I'm not going to get super deep into any of these things in this post for a couple of reasons.
Reason 1: It would be a novel
Reason 2: I started a new tab called "Additional Resources"
In the "Additional Resources" tab, I'll be posting full documents of various experiences I've had. When I started this blog in 2010, I was chronicling my dental school and Air Force journey. As I've gotten older and time has moved along, some of these things have actually ended. That's awesome because that part of my life is now in the past and nothing about it can change again. This means I can post full documents detailing every little thing I want to talk about in a place that you can access and refer to without having to jump on my blog to read! For example, I'm almost done with my full writeup about COT which is a very common topic I receive questions about. I'm also planning to do one about dental school in general as well as one about what it's like to be a student on the HPSP scholarship. I'm technically active duty now so my HPSP days are over. I've also done a full move with the military so I can definitely give you some start to finish information on that as well.
Here are just a few thoughts I have about the last few months.
When change happens in life, embrace it. Understand that it is temporary but very necessary for us to move forward. Think of it like a rocket on the launchpad. It will never fly without a fast and abrupt change. The fuel must be ignited and that can be very scary. Eventually the rocket reaches outer space, does what it needs to do, and now a whole new thing has started because of that. Just like our life, we can't sit on the launchpad forever. Talking about doing something and doing it are very different actions and if you want something new, something has to change.
With that said, let me talk briefly about a few things that I'll dip into more detail on later:
Moving: This is really nice because the military will move all your stuff for you for free. You can move part of your things and that's totally fine. I would definitely take valuables with you in your own car (if you are driving). They are efficient up until you want them to deliver it. Expect delays of up to several weeks in the summer. Call the moving company and keep tabs on the progress of your move.
COT: This is not an easy month but it was worth it. You will learn fast and you don't have a choice. It's a 5 week flood of information and you'll feel like you're in some weird Air Force blender for 5 weeks while you sweat and march all over Maxwell Air Force Base. Be prepared to be sleepy on a daily basis but keep a good attitude. When you're being yelled at, ignore the volume and listen to the words. Keep a good perspective and it will go by quickly.
The Air Force: In-processing involves getting an ID card, making sure your pay is correct, doing computer training, etc. It's a long process but embrace it. The military is a massive system and it's a wonder they keep things as straight as they do. Respect those ranked above you and enjoy the process. If your mindset going in is "I can't wait to do my time and be out" you're going to hate it. Even if you are planning on getting out, you can't for a few years so make the best of it!
Time to run but hoping to keep the blog a little more consistent this year! Starting to see patients in a couple weeks at my AEGD so that should be a blast. Be sure to check out the "Additional Resources" tab in the coming weeks for a whole new set of awesome information!
Friday, May 16, 2014
"I'm a Dentist, Don't Get Too Excited"
"... and if someone has a heart attack you should still call 911."
For the movie people out there you'll recognize this line from The Hangover. It's a scene where Stu mentions something about being a doctor and his friend calls him out saying "he's a dentist, don't get too excited."
So here I am, finally done with school, and a dentist. But don't get too excited because for me this is really just the beginning. I've dreamed of this for a long time but really this is just my permission to being my career in a field that I find really fun and allows me to directly serve others. Toss in the Air Force gig and you've got the whole package. It really is a dream come true, I'm finally Dr. Matthew Lee!
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I haven't blogged in a solid 2 months and more happened in those 2 months than I can even wrap my head around right now. So let's rewind the tape:
1) WREB - Western Regional Examining Board
This was the regional exam I elected to take because I planned to get a license in Oklahoma and it was available at my school. Pretty easy decision. For the Air Force I can get a license anywhere but my home state is as easy as any. Details aside, I had to organize the back-up patient pool (since I was class president) and I'm glad I did because it really bailed a few people out. One of my patients was my brother and the other patient was not related to me but due to HIPAA, that's all I can really tell you. But he/she was wonderful. My endo section went very smoothly and I passed everything!
Here were my scores:
For the movie people out there you'll recognize this line from The Hangover. It's a scene where Stu mentions something about being a doctor and his friend calls him out saying "he's a dentist, don't get too excited."
So here I am, finally done with school, and a dentist. But don't get too excited because for me this is really just the beginning. I've dreamed of this for a long time but really this is just my permission to being my career in a field that I find really fun and allows me to directly serve others. Toss in the Air Force gig and you've got the whole package. It really is a dream come true, I'm finally Dr. Matthew Lee!
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I haven't blogged in a solid 2 months and more happened in those 2 months than I can even wrap my head around right now. So let's rewind the tape:
1) WREB - Western Regional Examining Board
This was the regional exam I elected to take because I planned to get a license in Oklahoma and it was available at my school. Pretty easy decision. For the Air Force I can get a license anywhere but my home state is as easy as any. Details aside, I had to organize the back-up patient pool (since I was class president) and I'm glad I did because it really bailed a few people out. One of my patients was my brother and the other patient was not related to me but due to HIPAA, that's all I can really tell you. But he/she was wonderful. My endo section went very smoothly and I passed everything!
Here were my scores:
Not too bad! Things went well and that was definitely the most stressful test of my life since the DAT.
2) Graduation requirements
This fell into place very nicely for me and I was fortunate that it did. I borrowed a crown prep from another student in case the 2 I had left fell through and I'm glad I did. I had just enough points to graduate and, in fact, both of the crowns in my patient family ended up falling through. Imagine that! Endo was a minor nightmare for many folks and I scrapped by with exactly how many I needed to graduate. It's a shame too because I actually found endodontics to be very fun and I'm really excited to learn some new methods to perform root canals in the future (Wave One?).
3) Speech! Speech! Speech!
So one of the cooler things I got to do as president was give a speech at our Senior Dinner. This is a few days before graduation and it's where our class along with their close family and our faculty get together and eat expensive food together and dress really nice. It's a blast (I had to help last year so I had been once before) and once of the best memories I'll have of dental school.
Back to the speech part. I had to give a speech (aka "reflection statements") and I found that very exciting. I'm usually quite introverted and typically don't assert myself unless it's requested of me. When it is requested of me, I go all out and try to do my best. I got a lot of compliments after the speech which was very nice to hear and a comment I heard a lot was "I had no idea you were so funny"! Well if you were class president for 3 years and constantly stressing out about not only yourself but everyone else, you'd be a pretty serious person, too. That was over and I could be myself and my true colors came out I suppose.
One of the coolest parts about the speech was when I promoted the hashtag #oucod2014 at the beginning. To do that I busted out my iPhone and took a panoramic x-ray picture of the audience and tweeted it to @oucod2014, our official class Twitter account. I encouraged people throughout the weekend to use #oucod2014 on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter so we could go back and search "#oucod2014" and pull up a bunch of posts and pictures from that night and the next few days, including graduation. We actually had pretty good participation and it was a lot of fun. Here's the pano I took on stage as well as a picture of me taking it:
 |
| It was more awkward for them than me, watching me slowly take a picture of everyone |
 |
| Photo by Shak Feroz |
 |
| Photo by Shak Feroz |
4) Email this paper and now you're a Captain
I have had tons of forms to fill out for the Air Force which I will definitely not go into (at least not here). One of them was my new Oath of Office. It doesn't actually have to be signed by someone in the military, just a Notary Public. I went that route since he had someone in that capacity at our school. I got the form from her in a PDF and sent it off to the proper Air Force authority. A couples hours later I got a replying saying I was "good to go" so I'm pretty sure that means I'm a captain now.
Cool!
We're moving to Colorado Springs at the end of June, I'm flying out to COT on June 30, back to Colorado Springs on Aug 1, and my AEGD starts on Aug 5. Whew!
That's all for now, sorry I've been such a bum about posting lately. I hope to ramp this up more soon and flesh out some of the static pages on this site as well to have more information available. I want to comb back through all the hundreds (seriously) of emails I've gotten from you guys and make sure all the relevant questions are addressed on the "Got a Question?" page.
Until I post again, email me if you have questions! And in the meantime, check out my official website at MatthewLeeDDS.com!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
I Can Almost Taste It
I'm officially in that weird stretch of school where things are almost done, and I feel a true sense of them being done, yet I still have a lingering stress of making sure everything actually does get done (follow that?).
I also feel like things really are starting to end as I bid farewell to some patients for the last time and reflect on all of the struggles my class in particular has had over the last 4 years with all the changes here at Oklahoma.
And finally, I'm starting to feel like this Air Force thing is real. That's where this post begins.
Just after my last post in October, I found out officially that I will be heading to the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO for my 1-year AEGD. It is scheduled to begin August 5th and presumably will end around that same time next year. Before that, however, I am slated to attend COT in the July class (June 30-Aug 1). Right now my wife and I are trying to decide if we should move to CO just before COT or try to squeeze it in right after. It's a tough decision and I'd rather move before, but it's probably going to come down to how comfortable we are financially.
Just before Christmas my wife and I actually went up to CO Springs to look around and we found two great apartment complexes just E of the Academy. My housing stipend will be about $1600/month so we are shooting for something in the $1000-1200 range to maximize how much we can save while still enjoying our time there. We plan to call the 2 complexes back in a month or so and whichever can offer us the better deal we will probably take. We like one of them a little more than the other but we'll see how it all shakes out.
I haven't received my official orders yet but they should be coming soon. That will allow me to schedule the AF to move my stuff and get that all sorted out. My wife is a NICU nurse and she'll be applying for a Colorado license soon so she can start looking for jobs out there. It's probably going to be a bit difficult considering she'll only be there for 1 year but I'm confident she'll find something, even if it's part time.
In terms of dental school, things are coming together nicely. I won't get into the details, but my class has taken the brunt of the changes here at Oklahoma the last few years and we are chronically behind in clinic compared to the classes before us and the upcoming classes behind us when we were them. Fortunately the faculty seem like they're going to be flexible with us because we are simply running out of time to get everything done. I think I'll actually be able to meet all of the requirements so I'm still working hard assuming that our requirements won't change (which they likely will).
So things are finally coming together and starting to seem real, but I'm still in the fog of school and working hard to finish up on time. As soon as I do, I'll have about a month and a half off (May 10 - June 30) to just hangout, which will be very nice. I'm such a high-gear person though that I think it's going to be kind of hard for me to have so much time off and I'm already trying to make arrangements to work part time or something for that short period that I'm waiting. We'll see!
Other than filling out tons of very similar forms for the Air Force that are emailed to me weekly (name, SSN, address... etc.), not much else has happened besides finding my AEGD spot and looking for a place to live. Things will heat up even more soon once I get my orders and buy my uniform (soon!) so stay tuned for more frequent postings as school comes to an end and my Air Force journey begins.
As always, email me if you have any questions!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
We've Got a Lot to Cover
Don't let the title fool you, this isn't an Apple product launch. But luckily, I do have lots of new and exciting things to discuss and cover. Here we go!
First off, the shutdown. It sucked for sure and I'm glad it ended relatively quickly. Yes, stipends were frozen and did not come in on Oct 15. But they will be getting refunded soon and pay should be normal on Nov 1. I was actually on my ADT starting Sept 1 so I was technically on active duty once the shutdown hit and my pay was actually not frozen and I got my normal pay on October 15. The government has gotten their act to together temporarily and hopefully we don't go through all of this again in January! It was a bit frightening and somewhat of a wake up call. It certainly had me second guessing a possible future in the Air Force because it's not fun imagining a future where I don't control my own destiny. Having said that, being on active duty seems to be a trump card in these government shutdown and budget issues so maybe the fear will be gone once I'm on active duty for good.
The key was that my wife and I have built up a decent emergency fund so realistically we could have survived for several months by just slashing some of the fluff we buy and going bare bones with our necessities using her income. This, my friends, is why you buy an umbrella before it rains.
Second, I was accepted to the 1-year AEGD program! There were almost 80 applicants for about 65 spots so the odds were great to begin with. I will find out my base in December and will certainly let you all know.
All for now! School remodel is in full swing and hopefully all the clinics will be done by January. Things look amazing and the OU College of Dentistry is finally launching into the 21st century!
As always, email me if you have questions.
First off, the shutdown. It sucked for sure and I'm glad it ended relatively quickly. Yes, stipends were frozen and did not come in on Oct 15. But they will be getting refunded soon and pay should be normal on Nov 1. I was actually on my ADT starting Sept 1 so I was technically on active duty once the shutdown hit and my pay was actually not frozen and I got my normal pay on October 15. The government has gotten their act to together temporarily and hopefully we don't go through all of this again in January! It was a bit frightening and somewhat of a wake up call. It certainly had me second guessing a possible future in the Air Force because it's not fun imagining a future where I don't control my own destiny. Having said that, being on active duty seems to be a trump card in these government shutdown and budget issues so maybe the fear will be gone once I'm on active duty for good.
The key was that my wife and I have built up a decent emergency fund so realistically we could have survived for several months by just slashing some of the fluff we buy and going bare bones with our necessities using her income. This, my friends, is why you buy an umbrella before it rains.
Second, I was accepted to the 1-year AEGD program! There were almost 80 applicants for about 65 spots so the odds were great to begin with. I will find out my base in December and will certainly let you all know.
All for now! School remodel is in full swing and hopefully all the clinics will be done by January. Things look amazing and the OU College of Dentistry is finally launching into the 21st century!
As always, email me if you have questions.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Is This Real Life?
I'm sure many of you have seen the YouTube video "David After Dentist". If not, please crawl out from under the rock you've been hiding under for the last 4 years and check it out. The moment of interest in the video is when David, who is delirious from the after effects of the medication he received at a recent dental appointment, yells to his father, "is this real life?".
That's a little bit how I feel right now. It's convenient that the whole dentist theme ties in, but I often wonder to myself these days if this is real life. I'm 2 semesters from graduating and at this moment I have no clue where I will be one year from now. I will find out soon enough, but this is a pretty neat moment in my life. Never before has the future been so unknown yet so exciting!
If you've followed my blog and read every word on every page, you might have pieced together that this Air Force thing was somewhat of a childhood dream of mine. I longed to be an astronaut or a pilot and when I decided to attend Oklahoma instead of the Air Force Academy, I assumed those dreams were behind me, ever fleeting as I moved forward with my life, with more "practical" things.
In a twist that can only be described as incredible, I was introduced to the HPSP program during my sophomore year of undergrad at OU as a means to pay for dental school. I applied and was one of five students in the entire country selected. I was sworn in a few months before dental school began but until this week, neither my Air Force career nor my upcoming DDS degree seemed real. I've been working for so long that it's been easy to say "one day I'll be doing this, or that". But that day is coming. And for some reason, it's starting to sink in now.
I think this is due to a couple of reasons. I recently submitted my base ranking for the AEGD and recently drove down to Barksdale Air Force Base for an interview. I am currently on externship at a community clinic cranking out fillings and extractions like a dental robot. I've shocked myself at how much I've progressed as a dentist and as a person and it finally seems real.
My point in all of this is to say this. Cherish where you are in your life because in reality, no matter what our goals are, everything in life is just a journey. To ignore your everyday life and only focus on what is to come is to miss out on everyday beauty and excitement. Conduct yourself ethically and with integrity and your long term goals will fall in place. But don't forget to have fun! We will be learning our entire lives so enjoy the journey because really, that's all we have.
When my wife and I find out where I'll be going for my AEGD, I'll post again and show what my rankings where in comparison to the base I was given.
As always, email/tweet/comment if you have questions for me.
That's a little bit how I feel right now. It's convenient that the whole dentist theme ties in, but I often wonder to myself these days if this is real life. I'm 2 semesters from graduating and at this moment I have no clue where I will be one year from now. I will find out soon enough, but this is a pretty neat moment in my life. Never before has the future been so unknown yet so exciting!
If you've followed my blog and read every word on every page, you might have pieced together that this Air Force thing was somewhat of a childhood dream of mine. I longed to be an astronaut or a pilot and when I decided to attend Oklahoma instead of the Air Force Academy, I assumed those dreams were behind me, ever fleeting as I moved forward with my life, with more "practical" things.
In a twist that can only be described as incredible, I was introduced to the HPSP program during my sophomore year of undergrad at OU as a means to pay for dental school. I applied and was one of five students in the entire country selected. I was sworn in a few months before dental school began but until this week, neither my Air Force career nor my upcoming DDS degree seemed real. I've been working for so long that it's been easy to say "one day I'll be doing this, or that". But that day is coming. And for some reason, it's starting to sink in now.
I think this is due to a couple of reasons. I recently submitted my base ranking for the AEGD and recently drove down to Barksdale Air Force Base for an interview. I am currently on externship at a community clinic cranking out fillings and extractions like a dental robot. I've shocked myself at how much I've progressed as a dentist and as a person and it finally seems real.
My point in all of this is to say this. Cherish where you are in your life because in reality, no matter what our goals are, everything in life is just a journey. To ignore your everyday life and only focus on what is to come is to miss out on everyday beauty and excitement. Conduct yourself ethically and with integrity and your long term goals will fall in place. But don't forget to have fun! We will be learning our entire lives so enjoy the journey because really, that's all we have.
When my wife and I find out where I'll be going for my AEGD, I'll post again and show what my rankings where in comparison to the base I was given.
As always, email/tweet/comment if you have questions for me.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
The Home Stretch
It's official, my final year of dental school has begun!
Thinking back, it seems like I started dental school forever ago. But going off of feelings alone, it seems like just yesterday that this journey began. I can clearly remember different semesters specifically, but dental school has, overall, been one big massive blob of a journey that seems to alter and change as time goes on.
Looking back, it's almost comical how much I thought I knew and really didn't when I first started dental school. This helps me have that same perspective now when I think "Oh, I know exactly what I'm doing". That isn't to say I don't have full confidence in what I do because I do. But thinking I have it all together would be a terrible mistake to make at this point. This is really the start of a huge journey and the ending of a smaller one. Dental school has taught me a lot but if it's taught me anything above all else, it's taught me that I'm going to be learning for the rest of my life. It's more than just the tooth (and the supporting cortical bone!) but it's a patient. Even more than that, it's a life and a perspective on life that I'm treating each day. Each person comes from a different place in life with a different past, a different life view, a different outlook on the future, a different set of financial circumstances, a different set of wants, and a different set of needs. In the end, I've just got to constantly absorb as much as possible so that I can learn from each person and provide even better care the next time.
Last year, our school started the Comprehensive Care clinic. It's where 4th year students work with a general dentist on all procedures (except root canals and complex extractions) so we can do mulitple disciplines in 1 appointment. It is so awesome.
1 more year!!!
On the Air Force front, I finally have some exciting news! I got my AEGD application via email the other day so it's time to rank bases and get a plan together with my wife. Right now our top 3 are Travis, AF Academy, and Eglin. 4-10 aren't set in stone yet but seeing as we will likely not get a top selection (mostly because a lot of people want those bases) we want to make sure we put the rest in a good solid order that we are happy with. I was also informed that I would need to do an interview, either at an AEGD base or by phone. I want to try to make it out and do mine at the AF Academy (the closest to me) but I'll get in touch with the commander there soon and figure out exactly what I should do.
I hope to post more frequently over the next year because things are REALLY heating up. I should know in a couple months (Oct) where I'm headed, and then it will be time to find a place to live.
Keep reading! It's about to get more exciting than ever!
And don't forget to follow me on twitter (@usafdds)
P.S. I'm thrilled to announce that May was the most successful month in the history of this blog with just under 2,000 hits (about 65-70 per day!). I've had 35,000 hits since this began several years ago and have fielded hundreds of emails. Keep them coming!
Thinking back, it seems like I started dental school forever ago. But going off of feelings alone, it seems like just yesterday that this journey began. I can clearly remember different semesters specifically, but dental school has, overall, been one big massive blob of a journey that seems to alter and change as time goes on.
Looking back, it's almost comical how much I thought I knew and really didn't when I first started dental school. This helps me have that same perspective now when I think "Oh, I know exactly what I'm doing". That isn't to say I don't have full confidence in what I do because I do. But thinking I have it all together would be a terrible mistake to make at this point. This is really the start of a huge journey and the ending of a smaller one. Dental school has taught me a lot but if it's taught me anything above all else, it's taught me that I'm going to be learning for the rest of my life. It's more than just the tooth (and the supporting cortical bone!) but it's a patient. Even more than that, it's a life and a perspective on life that I'm treating each day. Each person comes from a different place in life with a different past, a different life view, a different outlook on the future, a different set of financial circumstances, a different set of wants, and a different set of needs. In the end, I've just got to constantly absorb as much as possible so that I can learn from each person and provide even better care the next time.
Last year, our school started the Comprehensive Care clinic. It's where 4th year students work with a general dentist on all procedures (except root canals and complex extractions) so we can do mulitple disciplines in 1 appointment. It is so awesome.
1 more year!!!
On the Air Force front, I finally have some exciting news! I got my AEGD application via email the other day so it's time to rank bases and get a plan together with my wife. Right now our top 3 are Travis, AF Academy, and Eglin. 4-10 aren't set in stone yet but seeing as we will likely not get a top selection (mostly because a lot of people want those bases) we want to make sure we put the rest in a good solid order that we are happy with. I was also informed that I would need to do an interview, either at an AEGD base or by phone. I want to try to make it out and do mine at the AF Academy (the closest to me) but I'll get in touch with the commander there soon and figure out exactly what I should do.
I hope to post more frequently over the next year because things are REALLY heating up. I should know in a couple months (Oct) where I'm headed, and then it will be time to find a place to live.
Keep reading! It's about to get more exciting than ever!
And don't forget to follow me on twitter (@usafdds)
P.S. I'm thrilled to announce that May was the most successful month in the history of this blog with just under 2,000 hits (about 65-70 per day!). I've had 35,000 hits since this began several years ago and have fielded hundreds of emails. Keep them coming!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
It's Official (almost)
First off, it's that time of year when students are getting their HPSP acceptances to congrats to you out there that got one! For those interested, it's never too early to find a recruiter!!! Check out the top of my blog for info on how to get in touch with a recruiter.
Now to the post...
In approximately 6 weeks, I will officially be a 4th year dental student! That means I will have trudged through 3 grueling years, or 2 grueling years and 1 not-so-grueling year, to make it this far. I can finally have a legitimate excuse not to study (senioritis of course) and I'll start thinking very seriously about life after dental school.
*Clinic slots are 3 hours long. AM = 9am-noon, PM = 1pm-4pm
Now to the post...
In approximately 6 weeks, I will officially be a 4th year dental student! That means I will have trudged through 3 grueling years, or 2 grueling years and 1 not-so-grueling year, to make it this far. I can finally have a legitimate excuse not to study (senioritis of course) and I'll start thinking very seriously about life after dental school.
Of course, my journey is unique, as many of you know. I'm on the HPSP scholarship, which means I have a secure future and a guaranteed income for the next 4 years (5 if you count AEGD) after I graduate in May of 2014. But nevertheless it's an exciting and scary time of transition and change when I slowly morph from a student to a doctor. It truly is a blessing that I've made it this far. Since about 2008, this is what I wanted to do with my life and I'm so fortunate that things have worked out the way they have. I got the AF HPSP, got into dental school on my first try, and here I am. I've "thought" about being a 4th year for so long that it seemed like it would never happen. Well, it is and it's coming very soon. My wife and I are both nervous and excited for what lies ahead!
In a way, my mind is already in the 4th year because yesterday we were sent out summer schedules. Here at OU, the transition between years takes place between spring and summer. Here's the breakdown of my summer schedule:
*Clinic slots are 3 hours long. AM = 9am-noon, PM = 1pm-4pm
Monday AM - Clinic
Monday PM - Clinic
Tuesday AM - Clinic
Tuesday PM - Clinic
Wednesday AM - Clinic
Wednesday PM - Clinic
Thursday 8-10am - Endo III, 10-12am - Restorative III
Thursday PM - Clinic
Friday AM - Clinic
Friday PM - Clinic
So... lots and lots and lots of clinic. Finally! This is what I signed up for! For those keeping score, clinic times are in 3 hour blocks. So that means I have 27 hours of clinic every single week. Not too bad. That's approaching a full time job! I'm very excited about this. I'm sure the Fall and Spring semesters coming up will be equal or greater than that.
If you've been keeping up with my older posts, our school is transitioning right now. Dedicated schedulers, re-imagined clinic structures and physical remodeling are transforming OU. My class is catching the brunt of the changes for better and for worse, but that's life. We are actually pretty far behind right now in general in terms of our clinical experience, but hopefully we can make it up this coming year.
I haven't yet received my AEGD packet to apply for that, but when I do I'll be sure to post about it. No other AF news right now. I am currently in the middle of my 45 day ADT. Pay bump, love it!
Also, I've found out we can take NBDE Part II at the end of our summer session (last week of July) and I'm probably going to take it as soon as I'm allowed. Which means I've already started studying... no!!! It's true, I'm slowly making my way through First Aid right now. A neat side note, I'm attempting to go all digital this time. Basically I won't use any pre-printed notes or books to study. I make jot my own notes down but I'm using digital versions of all textbooks, dental decks, and old exams to prepare. I have an iPad and use Dropbox regularly so that's going to be my main mode of study. It's part convenience and part experiment (and part me not wanting to buy anything). So I'll be posting about that and letting you all know how that goes.
That's all for now, as always, email me if you want to chat about dental school or the Air Force HPSP!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)