Cover Feature
Rebecca Fine DMD 2021 During our second year, in the Simulation Learning Center (SLC), we spent a lot of time working with the CEREC machines and grading our work. That helped me really look at the quality of my work, and see all the little nitpicky things that, to the naked eye you don’t really see. Now when I am starting to treat patients, I know where I need to practice more, how I can achieve better margins, etc.—which I don’t think I would be able to do if I hadn’t had so much time in the SLC practicing with the CEREC machines. For example, I was really struggling with the “taper” concept, and how to hold your bur and your handpiece to the tooth. But the CEREC machine showed me—to the degree—how far off I was from the perfect taper, which helped me really visualize where around the tooth my preparation was lacking. I was able to learn that it tends to be on my distal lingual, that I’m a little under reduced, so I would position my bur differently. I think without the digital dentistry and that CEREC machine, I would have struggled a lot more. But to visually see it and get percentages of where you’re lacking and how you can improve, has made me feel more confident to go into the patient treatment center and care for my patients.
Kathleen Parr DMD 2023 GSDM really stood out from a lot of the schools that I interviewed at, which didn’t talk about digital dentistry, and it got me thinking about digital dentistry and how it would affect patient care. I feel I’m very lucky that I will be able to utilize the technology that we have and be able to make mistakes and learn from them. So many dentists today who haven’t had the opportunity to learn the technology, they have to learn it in the field. So they’re either making mistakes in real life, or taking up time to learn about those technologies. I’m very lucky that we have the opportunity to use it, learn from it, make mistakes while in the preclinical Simulation Learning Center in school. BU also teaches you a lot of the fundamental things that you need in a practice as well: conventional care, along with the technology. I feel like I will be able to integrate into any practice and be successful. The field of dentistry is always advancing, and BU is keeping us at the forefront of all things new in dentistry.
12
IMPRESSIONS FALL 2019