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I recently contributed a piece to a newsletter that reflects my life as a dental student. I wanted to share with you the things my classmates and I are doing and changing in our community.
To all, I hope this finds you well.
I am an avid rock climber. In rock climbing, my teacher taught me this: it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey and how you get there, the ups and downs. The same can be said about my journey in dental school. I am a third year dental student. Part of my job every day is to remind myself to apply the way I climb to the way I lead my life. I want to share with you the opportunities I have seized as a dental student and what my journey through dental school translates to me.
As a daughter of Khmer expats, I have witnessed my mother’s poor oral health from lack of dental care under the Khmer Rouge, a regime led by the infamous dictator Pol Pot. Dentistry was obliterated between 1975 and 1979, and the dental school recommenced in 1985 with only 13 trained dentists. Applying and matriculating into dental school became a reality after following a childhood dream of wanting to provide a health smile to my mother and healthy smiles to communities with lack of access and availability to dental care.
So, public health and dentistry have grown to become my niche. My peers will tell this to you, too. Classmate Ali Sajadi and I advocated for the IU School of Dentistry to become the 6th dental school in the nation to conceive a student chapter of the Association of American Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). Since our official recognition in October 2009 as a student chapter, the AAPHD-IUSD Student Chapter has accomplished many great things in community dentistry and public health. The AAPHD-IUSD Student Chapter and dental students have contributed their time and granted their support and effort in worthy causes such as providing free dental screenings and giving information on low-cost clinics to the homeless at the Overflow Event. Students are making a difference and trying to provide care for the most number of people for the least amount of money.
AAPHD-IUSD members have started an initiative to determine the need for domestic violence resource cards in the comprehensive care clinics. Currently there are cardholders installed in every restroom throughout the school. Student members have been refilling the holders and monitoring the number of cards that are being taken. This data will help the school to decide if having the cards available in the comprehensive care clinics as well as the restrooms would be effective in helping students connect possible victims of domestic violence to appropriate resources.
Dental hygiene students and AAPHD-IUSD members partnered with Oral Health Solutions and the Hollis Adams Foundation in Indianapolis to promote oral health education and oral hygiene among adults with special needs at the Hollis Adams Adult Daily Living Program. This was a unique experience that granted students and me the opportunity to interact and communicate with adults with special needs.
Finally, our current project involves partnering with People’s Health Center on 10th Street and the Academy of American Pediatric Dentistry-IUSD Student Chapter to advocate for the first IUSD student outreach clinic. This student driven vision of a student run clinic has long been supported by the student body, and this would facilitate the opportunity for clinical application and understanding of concepts and ideas. Being a part of creating these opportunities in dental school for other students and for me is in a sense a selfish act sometimes because I believe that being a dental student means being an investigator in the community and a lifelong learner. To me, being a student means that learning is a faculty responsibility, but more importantly, learning is a student responsibility. This journey has taught me to ask questions in my own community, evaluate existing structures and programs, be the change and identify strategies, and cultivate lifelong! relationships in the community.
Learning never has an end. My future plan this year includes traveling to Cambodia in December as a dental student to volunteer at a dental clinic for orphans in Cambodia. While I am there I hope to partner with the University and encourage and support the manpower in Cambodia to evaluate oral health preventative programs in rural communities, where roughly 80 percent of the population is concentrated in rural communities along the Mekong River. We hope to examine risk factors, who is providing preventative care, how is it being provided and how dental nurse therapists are standardized in these communities.
My journey as a dental student has been very humbling. I am thankful every day for the unasked for tests, challenges, and opportunities. It is exciting to experience where this journey will carry me! Remember, whether you are a rock climber, a dancer, a student, or dreamer, it’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.
To all, I hope this finds you well.
I am an avid rock climber. In rock climbing, my teacher taught me this: it’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey and how you get there, the ups and downs. The same can be said about my journey in dental school. I am a third year dental student. Part of my job every day is to remind myself to apply the way I climb to the way I lead my life. I want to share with you the opportunities I have seized as a dental student and what my journey through dental school translates to me.
As a daughter of Khmer expats, I have witnessed my mother’s poor oral health from lack of dental care under the Khmer Rouge, a regime led by the infamous dictator Pol Pot. Dentistry was obliterated between 1975 and 1979, and the dental school recommenced in 1985 with only 13 trained dentists. Applying and matriculating into dental school became a reality after following a childhood dream of wanting to provide a health smile to my mother and healthy smiles to communities with lack of access and availability to dental care.
So, public health and dentistry have grown to become my niche. My peers will tell this to you, too. Classmate Ali Sajadi and I advocated for the IU School of Dentistry to become the 6th dental school in the nation to conceive a student chapter of the Association of American Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). Since our official recognition in October 2009 as a student chapter, the AAPHD-IUSD Student Chapter has accomplished many great things in community dentistry and public health. The AAPHD-IUSD Student Chapter and dental students have contributed their time and granted their support and effort in worthy causes such as providing free dental screenings and giving information on low-cost clinics to the homeless at the Overflow Event. Students are making a difference and trying to provide care for the most number of people for the least amount of money.
AAPHD-IUSD members have started an initiative to determine the need for domestic violence resource cards in the comprehensive care clinics. Currently there are cardholders installed in every restroom throughout the school. Student members have been refilling the holders and monitoring the number of cards that are being taken. This data will help the school to decide if having the cards available in the comprehensive care clinics as well as the restrooms would be effective in helping students connect possible victims of domestic violence to appropriate resources.
Dental hygiene students and AAPHD-IUSD members partnered with Oral Health Solutions and the Hollis Adams Foundation in Indianapolis to promote oral health education and oral hygiene among adults with special needs at the Hollis Adams Adult Daily Living Program. This was a unique experience that granted students and me the opportunity to interact and communicate with adults with special needs.
Finally, our current project involves partnering with People’s Health Center on 10th Street and the Academy of American Pediatric Dentistry-IUSD Student Chapter to advocate for the first IUSD student outreach clinic. This student driven vision of a student run clinic has long been supported by the student body, and this would facilitate the opportunity for clinical application and understanding of concepts and ideas. Being a part of creating these opportunities in dental school for other students and for me is in a sense a selfish act sometimes because I believe that being a dental student means being an investigator in the community and a lifelong learner. To me, being a student means that learning is a faculty responsibility, but more importantly, learning is a student responsibility. This journey has taught me to ask questions in my own community, evaluate existing structures and programs, be the change and identify strategies, and cultivate lifelong! relationships in the community.
Learning never has an end. My future plan this year includes traveling to Cambodia in December as a dental student to volunteer at a dental clinic for orphans in Cambodia. While I am there I hope to partner with the University and encourage and support the manpower in Cambodia to evaluate oral health preventative programs in rural communities, where roughly 80 percent of the population is concentrated in rural communities along the Mekong River. We hope to examine risk factors, who is providing preventative care, how is it being provided and how dental nurse therapists are standardized in these communities.
My journey as a dental student has been very humbling. I am thankful every day for the unasked for tests, challenges, and opportunities. It is exciting to experience where this journey will carry me! Remember, whether you are a rock climber, a dancer, a student, or dreamer, it’s not about the destination. It’s about the journey.
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