Educating Patients

Here's the thing.  We go to school and learn to become dentists.  How does this work?  Well, we sit in classrooms for hundreds of hours, then we practice on some fake teeth, then we start doing the real thing.

So what happens when it comes to treating patients? Well, we think back on our education and we make decisions for treatment based on what we know.  However, I truly believe that it's easy to put blinders on and forget to educate the patient on one basic question:

What can I do to prevent all this?

A strange question to think about because for the dentist, we essentially rely on the work of bacteria in the oral cavity to keep us working!  But our ultimate goal is to put the patient's oral cavity in such a position, and to educate the patient properly, that they can go home and maintain their oral health optimally for... ever!  We are humans so this often doesn't happen, but I want to emphasize patient education today.

I spend a lot of time on patient education.  I tell them how carcinogens in cigarette smoke can alter a cell's ability to properly duplicate itself; I tell them how small areas of demineralization on their tooth are in a fragile balance between repair and destruction; I tell them that calculus is a structure that a village of bacteria built as a way to protect itself so that it can go out and invade our mouths.

It's always exciting when new and highly applicable patient education materials arrive and I had the privilege of finding out about one just a week ago.  It really is a wonderful balance of talking on a level the patient understands without using fluffy words and bogus language that doesn't hit on the severity of the issue.

Here's a little word from Southcommon Dental on the sweet infographic they've created that you're free to use with your patients!

---Most people know that if you don't take care of your teeth, you will eventually get cavities and have to pay an extra visit or two to the dentist.  But what is actually going on in your mouth?  Why do cavities form when you stop taking care of your teeth?  Southcommon Dental has put together a dental infographic that delve into this topic and teaches you why not brushing and flossing ultimately leads to this problem.  Check it out!

HPSP Laptop Rental

My blog tends to be about me.  Stories about what I'm doing or what I'm going through.  I tie that in together with details about the Air Force (as much as I am allowed to divulge) and particularly the HPSP scholarship.

However, as a "regular" practicing Air Force dentist now, I don't have much more to say along the way other than updates about how things are going in clinic and information that can help you along your HPSP path, whether that means talking you into or out of the scholarship (which I've done many times both directions!) or giving you tips along the way.  My 5 year track record of being one of the only active HPSP student bloggers online and the many hundreds of emails I've received since this all began, gives me some unique insight into what HPSP students are doing and thinking about.  So what's my point?

One unknown aspect about the HPSP scholarship is this weird option in there to rent a laptop and have the military totally cover the rental.  These days, people aren't usually thinking about renting a laptop (vs buying) and the logistics of renting electronics is less and less appealing.  On the other hand, it would be nice to take advantage of this free offer from the military and be able to rent a high quality laptop for the few years you're in school.  This would prevent wear and tear on your own machine and your dollar would go further to buy your own laptop for yourself once school is over.

I think I've only heard of a few people actually utilizing the laptop rental reimbursement but that may change very soon.  A company called Laptops for Military Docs is getting straight to the point.  This company will give you step by step instructions on how to rent a high quality laptop from them hastle-fee.

Now I must admit, this company is very new and I have no personal or financial stake in this whatsoever.  Obviously with them being so new, I did not personally rent a laptop through them (or anyone, actually).  But every once in a while something comes along that I feel compelled to let my readers know about.  This is one of those times!  This company is clearly set up for specifically this reason and I have to believe that by focusing solely on HPSP students, they will be able to help you, too.

Technology is changing rapidly so consider a rental reimbursement during dental school to save yourself some money!  It's an option that's free to you as long as you're willing to do the legwork and Laptops for Military Docs is there to make it easy.

I'd love for some of you all to give this service a try and let me know how the process was for you!

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!