Kayla Cindric

   Internship Experience                      Assignment

 

            During STEMersion of 2015, I had the opportunity to accomplish an internship where I followed my mentor daily for ten days as he completed tasks he usually does for a living. Dr. Michael W. McConnell was my mentor, and his contact information is:

4380 Buckeye Lane

Beavercreek, OH 45440.

(937- ) 912-0101

The name of the organization I worked at is M.W. McConnell D.D.S.

The dates and times that I worked were:

            Tuesday, May 26, 2015—11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

            Wednesday, May 27, 2015—8:15 AM to 5:00 PM

            Thursday, May 28, 2015— 8:15 AM to 3:00 PM

            Friday, May 29, 2015—8:15 AM to 4:00 PM

            Monday, June 1, 2015— 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM

            Tuesday, June 2, 2015— 12PM to 6:00 PM

            Wednesday, June 3, 2015— 8:15 AM to 5:00 PM

            Thursday, June 4, 2015— 8:15 AM to 3:00 PM

            Friday, June 5, 2015— 8:15 AM to 4:00 PM

            Monday, June 8, 2015— 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM

 

A challenging obstacle that I encountered during my internship was that since I did not get my Hepatitis shot, I was not able to help handle the utensils or help clean up after each patient. It was really hard to not do anything because the equipment was so cool and interesting and the feeling of being helpless was a struggle. When you see how they take X-rays or see how they do fillings, it is amazing to see how much technology has advanced. But I could not really help. I actually never overcame this challenge. I did the best I could do without jeopardizing the safety and health of myself and the patients, but I was able to throw certain things away, bring patients to their room and back to the lobby, hand a few utensils or tools to the dentists, unload boxes, and work the reception desk. It was so much fun to interact with the patients and dentists to see what was going on and learn how to solve the issues.

Another challenge that I faced was greeting the patients and leading them to the rooms that they will be in. I don’t like to talk to people sometimes. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome two years ago and so it is really hard to step out of my comfort zone to be able to talk to strangers. This was a great experience to step outside that zone and gain up courage to talk to the patients and greet them. It was really good practice for me in the future when I do become a dentist and have to what I was doing at my internship and more. I overcame this challenge by telling myself that I will have to greet and talk to the patients in the future and that if I practice, I will become used to it. By the end of the day, I felt really great, I loved greeting the patients and bringing them in the back rooms, and it definitely helped with the feeling I mentioned earlier of not being able to do anything because it gave me something that was interactively engaging. I absolutely had a great time at trying to overcome this challenge. 

What I learned from this experience is that not to be late to your appointments. I did not realize how much it affects the dentists when you come late. They have such a busy schedule that they can’t risk messing it up when one or more patients are late. I developed a lot of compassion towards the dentists because I have seen their schedules and see how much it hurts their later schedules and the time they get to go home because people were late to their appointment.  I also learned about the different terms for the five surfaces of a tooth. I also learned how to fill out a Dentist Treatment Plan sheet to show what teeth need what done to them and where (composite filling, crown, etc.) In the pictures below is a sample of the sheet and how it is filled out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teeth have grooves in them which are the dented areas on the occlusal side. The front six teeth on the bottom and top row of teeth are called anterior teeth and the teeth that are in the back of the mouth are called posterior teeth.  Teeth #1, #16, #32, #17 are your wisdom teeth which more than 90% of people get them taken out. Teeth #31, #30, #19, and #18 are your molars. In the chart below is the Dentist Treatment Plan sheet. You write down the date that the patient came, the tooth number (each tooth is labeled a number from 1 to 32 to know what tooth needs treatment), the surface of the tooth (which are shortened to the first letter of the words: D is to show that there is a cavity on the tooth’s distal, etc.), and the treatment that tooth needs. A composite filling is where they have to fill in a cavity due to people not flossing very well).  A crown is a fake tooth that is placed over a tooth that is damaged or decayed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I did during my internship was observe a root canal, several fillings, several crowns and partials put in, a patient using ZOOM! (Picture and explanation below), a patient snapping her dentures onto the transplants in her mouth, and braces being changed. I really wanted to see the process in which is taken to put the transplants in the mouth and see how they put them in the gums of the patient, but unfortunately, there was not one to see during my internship. I loved seeing how they made dentures and impressions and seeing how they wax the fake teeth out. My favorite device they used was the ZOOM! (Picture below), a device used on patients’ teeth to whiten them. The patient sits with the device to their mouth for four 15 minute sessions and each time, their teeth become whiter than they were before. It was super cool. They have to cover all the gums, and they have to bleach the teeth. In the pictures below, it shows what tools were needed and how to use the ZOOM!                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another thing I did was greet patients and led them to their room and back to the wating room. I would call their name and greet them. I told them that I was interning and that the dentist who was going to see them will be seeing them in a certain room and would see them shortly. This helped the dentists a lot because while I was setting the patients in the rooms, it gave more time to the dentists to get things ready or help other dentists.

I was also able to see how they created retainers. To not be to able to do really anything such as performing on a patient due to not have gone to dentistry school or got my Hepatitis shot, I still helped to the best of my abilitiy and witnessed many interesting things and learned how the office worked and where things do which helps me if I ever want to work there, I’ll know what to do and where things go.

My favorite thing about this experience was learning about and seeing the transplants that people get to snap their dentures on to prevent them from falling off. Also, seeing the ZOOM! Machine in action was also my favorite and seeing the difference between the before and after results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the before and after teeth colors of using the ZOOM! The patient has to wear a mouth piece to keep his/her from closing and preventing the bleach from getting on their lips. They wear special glasses to prevent temporary blinding because of the bright blue light. They use the cotton rolls to cover the inside of the cheeks and inside of the upper and lower lips. They, then, apply a white substance on the gums and any “pink” (cheek or gums) to prevent any bleach on the anything other than the teeth and then put the Ultraviolet light on it to harden it (instrument used also when performing fillings). Then, they hooked the ZOOM! to the mouth piece and started it and the timer.  After every 15 minutes, they cleaned of the bleach and applied more bleach on. This process occurred four times and took about an hour and thirty minutes. Another fun experience from this is that during my internship there was literally a tornado 500 feet away (across the street), and we did not even know because we were working away. We did not find out until three hours later.

In the pictures below are the mentors I followed daily and the rooms where the dentists work. This was such a fun experience that opened my eyes to what dentists do, how busy their schedule is, and what their daily routine is. 

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Below is the link to my College Exploration Report that I completed in 11th grade Technical Reading and Writing. In this report, shows my research on colleges and potential careers that I would like to go into.  Click on the icon to download the file.