Trials and Tribulations of Past, Present, and Future Dentists

Kristen Spencer ENC 1102 Matthew Bryan

The Beginning of the Rest of your life; Starts Here

The journey was long but I finally did it. I made it through the four long years of high school and now I was off, on my own, to the University of Central Florida for freshman orientation. It was summer 2011 when I drove up the winding road that is Central Florida Blvd and my eyes were opened to new beginnings as I entered campus. I circled campus in awe of what was in front of me, imagining the new and exciting life that I would create in Orlando. I pulled into garage B and followed the signs to the check in center at the Libra Dorms. I was escorted to the room I was staying, placed my bags down, and jumped on the bed that was up against the white brick wall. I took a look around the cold white room and a sea of emotions rushed at me like a tidal wave. Sitting in that room by myself was the first time that everything became real for me; in a month in a half I would be on my own, making my own decisions, and taking on new responsibilities. With these new realizations in tow, I prepared myself for the long weekend I had waiting for me when the sun rose in the morning. I met up with my friend in the morning and we made our way over to the Student Union for the welcome meeting. Front and center, we watched the O-Teamers perform their dance to get the incoming freshman excited that they chose UCF as their school. After a few presentations we were split off into groups and given a tour around campus stopping at various landmarks on our way. After a long day of stop and go, we came back to the Student Union. We were then split into groups again, but this time it was according to our major. I sat timidly in the back row of Sand Key 220 and I paid close attention as Anna Maria Schwindt started to talk. Anna Maria is one of the advisors for Biomedical Science majors at UCF; her job is to scare you into doing your work so you can get into professional school, and let me tell you, she did. As she talked I could feel my eyes widening and my heart racing. Am I cut out for this? I thought. Do I have what it takes? And at that moment of panic, a calming force came into the room; The Pre-Professional Medical Society (PPMS). As I would find out, The Pre-Professional Medical Society is a club at UCF that caters to all pre-health students. At the time the president was Leslie and the Vice-President was Shay and as they gave their presentation there was an odd calm in the room. How could the thought of joining a club make everyone seem so at ease? The answer is simple. Even though the club pertains the future of students, it is where you can meet new people and have fun while still doing something to benefit your future. I joined PPMS my freshman year and became an honors member and my sophomore year I became a director for the volunteer coordinator. Going into my junior year, I was elected president of PPMS; it is exciting to see how the club has grown and how I have grown with the club. Before a student endeavors into a career in dentistry I feel that it is important to understand past literacies that evolved into what we study today.

History of Dentistry
Dentistry, defined by the American Dental Association, is the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment (nonsurgical, surgical, or related procedures) of diseases, disorders and/or conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and/or the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body; provided by a dentist, within the scope of his/her education, training and experience, in accordance with the ethics of the profession and applicable law (ADA 1997). This definition was adopted in 1997 but dentistry has been a practicing art since the early Egyptians (Slavkin 28-35). The first dentist in ancient Egypt was Hesi-Re (Slavkin 28-35). He used gold wire to bind replacement teeth together; dated back to 3000 BC (Slavkin 28-35). Later evidence of dentistry was discovered in Rome dating back to 700 BC (Slavkin 28-35). The Romans used bones, eggshells, and oyster shells mixed with oils to clean teeth (Slavkin 28-35). Jumping to 1530, we find the first textbook published about dentistry; originally written in German and later translated to English (Woodmansey 1052-61). Dentistry wasnt always an educated profession; dentists were trained by apprenticeship with experienced practitioners (Woodmansey 1052-61). It wasnt until 1839 that the first dental school, The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, was opened (Woodmansey 1052-61). Dentists

were now educated with literacies passed on from generations before and discovering new ones throughout their academic journey. With the development of dental schools sweeping the nation, new and profound dental literacies were also evolving. The first dental journal, American Journal of Dental Science, was published on June 1, 1839 (Woodmansey 1052-61). Spawning from this journal came many others containing articles on new treatment plans, disease prevention research, new techniques and other similar topics. In todays world there are approximately 7,000 new scientific articles written every day pertaining to dentistry (Woodmansey 1052-61). Dentistry has evolved tremendously from the ancient Egyptians and has been a popular career choice for many undergraduate students to pursue. It is a rigorous field to get into and because of that the undergraduate work is extensive and can be intimidating to some. By using research that I have done and interviews that I conducted, I will explain the different literacies associated with the different aspects of pursuing dentistry as a career. The overall goal: create a guide that inexperienced undergraduate students can use to help them on their predental journey by using personal experiences from my interviewees.

Defining Literacies
When asked about literacy sponsors pertaining to dentistry, one may not think that there are none. However, I can think of several literacy sponsors that have guided me to pursue a career in dentistry. First, let me define a literacy sponsor with the help of Deborah Brandt. Brandt defines a literacy sponsor as a person, place, or idea that has influenced the student; the influence can be positive or negative (Brandt 1-24). She describes literacy sponsorship and the ideas that they are teaching as a snowball effect in which the student can develop (Brandt 1-24). When I was four, I went to the dentist for the first time. I was nervous at first but my mom calmed me down by saying that Dr. Johnny was my aunts dentist when she was a little girl. When I was waiting in the office my mother asked me if I wanted her to come back with me, Dr. Johnny came out with a big smile on his face and a giraffe button on his lab coat and I bravely went back to get my teeth cleaned. I remember sitting in the huge green chairs asking question after question about what all the different tools were and what they were going to do next. From that day forward I always loved going to the dentist. I always prided myself on being the self-proclaimed best brusher and cavity free. I even dressed up as a dentist in second grade for Halloween. When I entered middle school it was time to go to the other side of the office, the orthodontics side. Eric Pleasants article Literacy Sponsors and Learning: An Ethnography of Punk Literacy in Mid-1980s Waco, describes the process of studying a subculture (Pleasant 137-144). He states, it is interesting to look at the origins of different behaviors, beliefs, terminology, and ultimately all of the different elements that define it. (Pleasant 137-144) My experiences can relate to Pleasant in many ways. When I was in sixth grade I got my braces on and I loved seeing the X-rays and the different charts they had showing my progress. I started to volunteer at the office in high school; this was when I was able to get a feel for what it was like working in a dental office. I learned how to set up trays and how to read patient charts. I was also able to get some experience with common procedures like bracket and wire changing and I knew that this was the career that I wanted to pursue. I have encountered other subcultures throughout my journey in becoming a dentist. Being in the PreProfessional Medical Society has opened many opportunities for me to volunteer at dental clinics and shadow dentists in my area. I agree with Pleasant one hundred percent that observing and experiencing subcultures is an important aspect in literacy sponsorship.

Dr Maggie Interview
When I went back home to Tampa for the summer after freshman year I continued volunteering and shadowing at my orthodontist and pediatric dentist office. Going over to the pediatric side of the office I met a new face, Dr. Maggie Davis. She is a fairly new graduate of the University of Florida Dental School working at Dr. Johnnys office since he retired. Dr. Maggie and I had had an instant connection since she is a young dentist and she can relate to the hardships and successes that I am facing in my undergraduate journey. I wanted to discuss with her the literacies that she has had through her life and through her undergraduate and dental school years. Since Dr. Maggie is a young dentist, I thought that it would be a good idea to see what literacies she used as a guide through school. This is my interview experience with her: As I walk up the short sidewalk to the familiar dental office my heart flutters with mixed emotions of excitement and nervousness. I have been to this office countless times but never for this kind of reason. With notebook and tape recorder in tow I opened the door and approached the long receptionist desk, greeted all the friendly faces, and was escorted to the back where Dr. Maggies office is. I knocked quietly on the large wooden door and cracked open the door. I peeked my head through the crack and before I could say anything Dr. Maggie stood up and greeted me with a warm smile and a big hug. Hi Kristen! So good to see you! How is everything going? she said. I havent seen Dr. Maggie since the summer so it was nice to take a couple minutes out of the interview to catch up. When the casual chatter comes to an end I began to conduct my interview. I explained to Dr. Maggie what a literacy sponsor is and asked her to explain what or who she would consider her literacy sponsors. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts. Hmm. Let me think about that, she said. I have an easy answer to that. I guess it would be my mom kind of indirectly with her exposing us to a lot of books and articles at a young age. She was always reading to us. So indirectly it would be my mom but it would also be textbooks too. But it would be my mom encouraging literacy. I then asked her what she would consider her literacy sponsors in her college career and how she knew that she wanted to pursue dentistry as a profession. She stated, There was a dentist, Dr. Reyes. They were a pair of dentists and I shadowed in their office. They showed me what the life of a dentist was.Most of Dr. Maggies literacy sponsors that she can recall are all people. When she was in dental school there was a particular professor, Dr. Silva, who was more than just a teacher to her; she was a mentor. One of the biggest things that Dr. Silva taught Dr. Maggie was how to read research articles and distinguish between good science and bad science. Deborah Brandt, in her article The Sponsors of Literacy, tells the story of Raymond Branch, a successful freelance writer of software and software documentation and the sponsors that led to his success (Brandt 1-24). Dr. Maggies sponsor of Dr. Reyes is similar to Brachs top of the line teaching staff and well equipped laboratories that he credits as the sponsors that led to his success (Brandt 1-24). Dr. Maggie did not go in depth about how Dr. Silva said to read research journals so I decided to do some research and figure out the correct way of distinguishing between good and bad science. Through my research I found an exercise on how to read scientific research articles that was done at the University of Texas in 2009. Roxanne Bogucka and Emily Wood are the authors of this study; both are science instruction librarians who made the same observation. They observed that undergraduate students are generally unfamiliar with scientific literature and they attempt to read scientific journals straight through, like they would anything else (Bogucka, and Wood). However, this is not the way that students should tackle a scientific journal (Bogucka, and Wood). In this exercise, the librarians paired students up and then split up the sections of the scientific journal (Bogucka, and Wood). The students then had to read, take notes, and discuss with other members in order to understand and compare their understanding of the journal (Bogucka, and Wood). The overall focus of

this exercise was to reinforce the students critical evaluation skills by giving them a reading strategy that pertained to their particular section of the article (Bogucka, and Wood). From this exercise, students showed a better grasp of the material (Bogucka, and Wood). Students were able to read articles quicker and more efficiently and they felt confident in their abilities to distinguish good science from bad science (Bogucka, and Wood). The biggest question that I had was if she knew that she always wanted to be a pediatric dentist or if different specialties or fields interested her. She explains that in undergraduate school she shadowed doctors, dentists, and physical therapists trying to figure out what she wanted to do. After shadowing the dentists in Gainesville, she knew that she wanted to pursue dentistry as a career. When she was in dental school she had to decide what specialty piqued her interest the most. I think just about everything interested me when I started dental school she said. I took electives that would give me a boost into all of the specialties. And when I did that I loved all aspects of pediatric dentistry opposed to just a few like in the specialties. She recalls a mission trip that changed her whole mind set. Dr. Maggie said It wasnt until I was in dental school and I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and I worked with a lot of kids there. That was what solidified that I wanted to be a pediatric dentist.

Dont Worry, We have Tips!

I thought it would be useful to interview predental students to get their story about their journey and to have them be literacy sponsors for my audience. The first undergraduate student that I interviewed was Ross Ruder. He is a third year undergrad student here at the University of Central Florida majoring in Biology with a minor in Art. Ross is a very compassionate person; he is always looking to help whoever he can so it is no surprise to me that he chose dentistry as his future profession. He explains in a brief background about himself that as a kid he always wanted to help something but he wasnt sure what. I always dreamt of being a vet but as I got older my contact with animals got less and my contact with humans was greater. And I kind of like humans more, they are more interesting than pets he explained. I would be helping someone, contributing to society. Another personality trait of Ross is that he is competitive by nature. I play all different kinds of sports, soccer, basketball, volleyball. And I compete in all of them. His competitive nature is especially apparent when with his brother. My brother is going to be a dentist as well and is in dental school right now. So, if I become a dentist, I can compete with my brother which is my favorite competition. Having an art minor is another literacy sponsor that has helped Ross fulfill his dental school dreams. Ive been doing art since I was a little kid in different forms he says. Ive always flocked towards the three dimensional art like sculpting, 3D paper folding like origami. In theory, everyone is born with the same artistic ability; whether or not you take advantage of this ability will decide if it will follow you through adulthood (Shavell 1-15). The instinct of art cannot be taught; however with practice, it can be learned (Shavell 1-15). Expressing your true dental talents requires a keen eye

and mind; artists have a way to perceptually process visual information that many people start to lose as they enter adulthood (Shavell 1-15). Because of this, many peoples artistic levels do not go beyond what they learned in grade school (Shavell 1-15). The right side of your brain controls the creative aspect of a person, thus a more artistic person will be more right brained (Shavel 1-15). Throughout life many people get the impression that it is more important to read and write than it is to draw or sculpt (Shavell 1-15). And as the saying goes; if you dont use it, you lose it. Ross has been practicing various forms of art since he was a kid. He has been exercising the right side of his brain and he is able to visualize shapes and objects more readily than the common person. Ross comes from a family of dentists. His father is a practicing dentist in Panama City, Florida, his brother is in his final year of dental school at the University Of Maryland School Of Dentistry, and his aunt works for the admissions board for a dental school. So you can say that he has had many literacy sponsors to help guide him along the way. He describes an experience he had at his fathers dental office where he worked on summer during high school. He explains, I was about 15 or 14 at the time, I cant remember, but I couldnt do much because I was pretty young and they didnt trust me with a lot of the big files; so I had a lot of downtime. Whenever I had downtime my dad would call me into the room where he was working on a patient and he would be like Ross, check this out. I was always really interested and it always seemed like a puzzle, it seemed like you were solving a puzzles. He took full advantage of the sources that he had right in front of him. While he was observing his father working on patients he would always ask a lot of questions. As he observed he started to ponder and he came to the realization that if he chose to be a dentist, It would incorporate all my interests he states. I would have competition with my brother, bring out my competitive spirit [and] I would be helping someone, contributing to society. The last big thing that is an important aspect for dentists is art, when you drill out a tooth and then you have to fill it and sculpt it to make it bite right. I really wanted to take advantage of the first hand experience Ross had with studying and taking the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). Again, the first thing that Ross did was he used one of his literacy sponsors for advice. He asked his brother what he needed to do to prepare himself and he did everything he said. He spent a whole summer preparing for the DAT; he read the Kaplan book and did the DAT Destroyer, which he considers the best source. For the perceptual ability section he used Crack the DAT. He would recommend the DAT destroyer over the Kaplan book. On a final note, Ross said, Definitely dont be doing other things while you are studying for it. You want to commit at least a month of heavy studying to it, preferably two months because they [dental school admission boards] really like the dental exam scores. In the DAT prep book, Barrons DAT: How to prepare for the Dental Admission Test, Barron gives readers 17 study and preparation strategies. I will not touch on all ten of the tips because I feel that some are self explanatory. However, I have picked the top three that I feel are the important and most relevant to the theme of this paper. Ross stressed the importance of the dental exam and so does Barron. Barron stresses not to study just the science, any single low score on any section could be the reason to not accept you, whereas a single high score will not greatly help your application. High scores across all sections is whats desired. (Lehman) One tip that Barron gave that I found interesting was to be knowledgeable about distracters. When he touches on the fact about distracters he doesnt mean distractions in your place of study or testing facility (Lehman). The wrong answer choice is purposely on the test to distract a student from the correct answer (Lehman). The wrong answers are meant to be similar to the correct one so the correct answer blends in with the others (Lehman). How they do this is, by putting answers that are partially correct but they are missing one important detail (Lehman). One last tip is to be aware of the all and none (Lehman). These two words are considered harsh so testing services uses words such as usually, often, and rare. (Lehman) When you see these harsh words avoid these answer choices because they will most likely be incorrect (Lehman).

Support and Involvement is Key

Donnie James Taylor is the second pre-dental student that I interviewed. Currently a junior majoring in Micro and Molecular biology with a Business minor, Donnie is a unique dental school applicant. Throughout

his undergraduate career he has managed a full course load while still being heavily involved with extracurricular activities and holing a part time job. When asked what literacy sponsors he feels have been the greatest influence in his life he responded similarly to my other interviewees. I would have to consider my parents to be the greatest literacy sponsors throughout my life, he said. They have always been there, they have never not supported me. An aspect about his parents that Donnie touched on that I feel is important to mention is that they were not afraid to tell him that he was doing poorly or not performing to the best of his abilities. I can call them up anytime and they are always there to give me advice or help me get through any problems I am trying to get through. I would consider Donnie to be one of my greatest literacy sponsors. Donnie and I became friends my freshman year through PPMS. Ever since then, he has taken me under his wing and is always there to help me succeed in whatever I do. When I was a shy freshman (and sophomore too), he brought me to events and introduced me to a lot of members in the club. I can honestly say that without his guidance and friendship I would not be where I am today. It is important for preprofessional students to have that person that they can go to that understands the stress that they are under so they can vent and relate with similar problems and experiences. That was the good thing about joining PPMS; I was able to find that person that I can go to and know that he will be there to listen to me complain and help me out in any way he can. This is one of the major reasons that I urge incoming freshmen to join some sort of pre-health club. In my interview with Donnie, I wanted to focus on the experiences that he has had as an undergrad student with his job and his participation in extracurricular activities. Ive been involved in an organization called the Pre-Professional Medical Society as a freshman. I started as an honors member and sophomore year I became a director under the vice president. As sophomore year went on, one of the officers dropped and I eventually became an officer called the Professional School Information Officer. And now junior year I became president of the organization. Even though he does not expect to hold any officer or director position next year, he still plans to be heavily involved in the club. Itll be cool to see how the club progressed from when I was just an honors member to now, after me being president. Donnie is a former supplement instruction (SI) leader for Biology I and Organic Chemistry I. SI leaders facilitate learning in a classroom setting outside of lectures. Not only did his tutoring help the students that were currently enrolled in the class it also was a refresher to him, That really helped me because it helped me relearn the material for when I have to take my standardized exam called the DAT coming up next summer when I apply to dental school. He explains that when he took Organic Chemistry there was no SI leader for his class, so he had to figure out a lot of things on his own. It was cool to pass on those things that I figured out to the students who were having trouble with the same things I did, he said. One of his favorite aspects about being an SI leader for Biology I was that he was targeting a younger audience so he was able to be a mentor for them, It was cool to be a role model for them, to guide them and give them advice on any insight that I had or questions they had. Donnie stressed the importance of time management in his interview. Definitely learn to budget your time as a freshman, do it young because youre going to have to take on a lot of endeavors, whether it be clubs or internships, research, shadowing, any of the above, he explained. Even though all of this sounds intimidating, it is doable if you are motivated. It is a lot; however, dont forget to enjoy your college experience. You definitely want to learn how to have fun because you cant just be all work, you have to have stay sane

somehow. Donnie urges. So, learn how to budget your time so you can have downtime to go out and enjoy yourself as well.

Bringing it all Together

After conducting many different forms of primary and secondary research, I can draw similar conclusions between them. Brandt and Pleasant both stress the importance of people and subcultures as literacy sponsors. Through my own experience with various dental professionals and pre-professional clubs I can agree with the importance of these sponsors. My three interviewees also stress the importance of having some sort of mentor and/or support system to guide them through their pre-dental career. Along with having a support system it is important to prepare yourself academically, like Raymond Branch in Brandts article. Along with having good teachers and teaching tools, it is also important to learn test taking skills to improve your performance on the standardized dental examination. Having good grades is one thing but you shouldnt stress yourself out too much. As Donnie said, enjoy your time in college and make sure you have downtime. Time management is key and if you can learn this skill early you will be better off in the long run. Throughout my two years in undergrad I have learned these skills with the help from my literacy sponsors. If you follow the advice from these sources who have experienced it already you will be well prepared for your future career.