1 Year Later

I saw my first patient out of my AEGD on September 21, 2015.  So now that we are in October 2016, I've been an official "non-resident" dentist for a whole year.  Here are my thoughts so far:

Easier than I expected:

--- Getting faster - I expected to slowly get faster but my speed was much better very soon.  Having a good assistant goes a long way, and not having someone check every little thing really speeds things up!

--- Additional duties - In the Air Force, you have "additional duties" which are programs or tasks assigned to you to take care of.  I got assigned a few but since our base is small, they are easy to manage.  Our AEGD faculty kind of scared everyone into thinking that small bases were a big extra workload but I haven't found that to be true.

--- Work - This is broad, but I do like my job a lot.  I don't love it every day, but I'm learning and I do really enjoy doing what I do.  It's fun!  Finally!  Isn't dentistry supposed to be fun?  You get to manage your schedule without the stress of producing so it allows you to book harder cases out a little if you need to.

--- Working with co-workers - At my last base, we had a ton of staff because there were so many dentists.  Here there is really just a small group of people doing everything.  But everyone pulls their weight and we have a lot of fun together.

--- Winter in Alaska - It's not even windy!  Come on!  Easy :)

Harder than I expected:

--- Not much else - So... most things really are easier, smoother, and more fun than I anticipated.  There are hiccups now and then and I don't mean to sound like things are easy... but most things are not as hard as some of the people at my AEGD made it sound.  I guess it depends a lot on your expectations.


So that's an overview, and here's a glimpse into a very typical day in my actual-real-life-...life.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
-Get to work around 0700
-First patient at 0730
-Do some fillings, maybe endo or a crown prep
-1 hour for lunch!
-4 more hours of a seeing patients!
-1 hour of PT time on Monday
-Some days we have a doctor assigned to ONLY do exams, recently we have been just squeezing them into the schedule when we can because of staffing issues.

Wednesday
-Get to work around 0700
-Do a 3rd molar sedation/surgery case at 0730
-See a couple more patients
-1 hour for lunch!
-Training day in the afternoon or catch up on things (usually no patients)
-1 hour of PT time

Here's how I would breakdown how I spend my time when I'm actually seeing patients:

Operative (fillings): 55%
Endo: 5%
Pros: 10%
Evals/Exams/etc: 20%
Surgery: 5%
Other admin stuff: 5%

You get to work your own schedule a bit and put things were you like them.  I prefer to do "big" cases right after lunch or leading into the end of the day (endo and pros).

Each base is different, and if you're at a large base you may not do any endo or oral surgery and very little pros.  Depends on the specialists and the need at your base (AND your desire to do whatever it is).

Hope this was helpful!  A little "day in the life" for you guys.

Educating Patients 2

Another awesome infographic from our friends at Southcommon Dental.  One of the most concise pieces of information for patients that I've ever seen.  Thanks guys!

--- Everyone wants a healthy and beautiful smile that will last a lifetime.  The dentists at Southcommon Dental in Mississauga have designed an infographic showing how brushing, flossing, avoiding certain substances and visiting the dentist regularly will lead to a lifetime of good oral hygiene and a beautiful set of teeth.

A New Voice

My whole life so far has been a push to get to the next thing.  To achieve the next goal.  I've been pushing and working to be right where I am (maybe not Alaska specifically, but you get the idea) since I decided to become a dentist back in 2007.  But that was during college, a place I wouldn't have been without good grades and the solid work ethic I developed in High School.  Which was obviously a carryover from that high-energy Middle School kid I was before that.  Don't forget the little me who was always fascinated by science and helping others!

Ok, so I guess... theoretically... I've reached the place I've been pushing for my whole life.  But what does that mean?

To me, it means this.  It's time to decide what's next.  I have thoughts and ideas about what I want to do, who I want to be, etc., but there's no carrot sitting out there for me to chase anymore.  Not an obvious one, anyway.  In some ways I feel like I'm "done" with what I wanted to accomplish.  And in a purely goal-oriented sense, I guess I am.  I didn't plan any further than this.  I wanted to be a dentist.  Poof.  Done.

Now What?

I thrive on structure and planning.  It's in my blood (all my blood cells are in perfect lines and neatly flow through their respective vessels).  Until now, most of that structure has been structured for me.  And you'd think that in the Air Force it would still be there.  It is to an extent, but I'm undecided on if the Air Force is going to be my long term plan so even that structure may not apply to me.

From birth to the end of my AEGD residency, there were goals to hit and tasks to hit them.  Now the goal is... whatever I want it to be!  It's freeing and a little scary at the same time.  My life has always revolved around some sort of curriculum or syllabus and has been divided into 9-week and 2-semester intervals.  No more!  It's summer time and for the first time ever, I don't really have a "summer break".  I worked a lot when I was younger during high school and college (even dental school) and I'm so thankful I did.  It showed me life outside of the academic bubble, and I'm fully immersed in that now.

The last few months in Alaska has sort of been me kicking up my feet and not feeling the pressure of performance from outside sources for the first time in my life.  But as those voices from the outside fall away into the past, a new voice has emerged to push me.

Mine.

Ok, weird dude. What's that about?  So without professors and instructors and mentors saying "don't do that" or "let me show you"... even "nice job!" and "good work!", I have to be that for myself now.  It's made me thankful for the training I've received because I have an internal compass of what I want to do and what I want to be.  I have to look at a filling and say "wow that's great!" or look at an impression and say "I really need to take this again", no one is doing that for me.

And it's slowly coalescing into a new vision for my life, one that's still pretty blurry (but getting clearer) right now.  As a believer in Christ, I am constantly pulled towards things and ideas that allow me to give to others more than I take.

Just an introspective post for you guys.  Remember that all the training you're going through is helping you develop your voice.

Specific questions can be sent to my email.  Comments are moderated so they take a couple weeks sometimes for me to check up on.  Have a great summer!