The Probe

THE PROBE

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear

VCU

School of

Dentistry, The Probe is the ASDA Newsletter of VCU School of Dentistry.

Our goal for The Probe is to share experiences and ideas from your fellow classmates, faculty, and staff.

Thank you to everyone who contributed, and we hope you enjoy reading this next edition!

Sincerely,

Chief Editor: Lyda Sypawka

Co-Editors: Ariana Madan, Kate Parker, Wendy Yu

VCU ENDODONTICS

What are we all about?

Root Canals! As dental students that is what most of you probably think defines our specialty and our department. And while most of that is true, VCU Endodontics is so much more than simply doing root canals. First and foremost, we have a great group of faculty that are here for YOUR education. Generally the only alternatives to completing root canal therapy for our patients are either having the tooth extracted or living with the constant symptoms of pulpal or periapical pathology associated with that tooth. Well done endodontic treatment can result in a very happy person and potentially a life-long patient for your practice. The VCU endodontic faculty are here for you to develop your endodontic skills.

Second, we have great residents! We take 4 residents per year (for a total of eight at any one time) and they will also play a role in your education. The residents help teach in the preclinical lab course for endodontics as well as covering students in the pre-doctoral clinic while the students get their early exposure to providing endodontic care. And when the residents are seeing patients of their own, students are always welcome to come assist and/or observe these procedures. Our current residents are: 2nd year residents Joe Vaughn, Colton Fischer, Jing Ye and Jake DeGracie and 1st year residents Banks Lee, Ryan Hediger, Will Rudnicki and Aziz Mallik. And for those of you who worked with our recent endodontic graduates – Brian Hone is now practicing in Idaho, Christina is in Virginia Beach and Abdullah Alawadhi is back in his home country of Kuwait, and all are doing well.

And thirdly, we have great staff! When you leave the safe haven of the dental school, you will really come to appreciate and enjoy a productive and happy staff. VCU endodontics is blessed to have Charity Hunter, Michelle Rideout, Stephanie Chin, Vivian Kong, Ian Kerr, Ryan Brown and Haisten Bonner as each of them add a smile and service to every encounter they have.

L to R: Dr’s Ather, Andrada, Gluskin, Zweig and Myers at Legacy Day

Louis the River Otter after his root canal

There are many aspects to endodontics that some of you may not be aware of. There are the traditional non-surgical root canal procedures, there are surgical approaches to treating endodontic disease, we manage a lot of traumatic dental injuries along with a variety of resorptive lesions of teeth and at times we might even be able to do a little veterinary endodontics (check out the photo of Louis the River Otter). As endodontists and endodontic residents, we are always seeking out continuing education for ourselves as well as providing CE courses for students and outside practitioners. We just recently held our annual Endodontic Legacy Day on Saturday, March 25th and it was a great opportunity to spend time with colleagues and add to our own individual knowledge bases. And next year in the Spring of 2024, VCU Endodontics will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the VCU Graduate Endodontic Program! Plans are already in the works as to how we should recognize this milestone for VCU Endodontics. So as you can see, practicing endodontics as a specialist or as a general practitioner can be very rewarding in many ways. But we all need to have a little fun too. VCU Endodontics is here for students, residents and faculty alike. You are all welcome to our little neck of the woods!

WRITTEN BY: DR. GARRY MYERS

VCU residents with an Axe throwing exercise –Look out Dr. Myers!

Competitive Bowling – an afternoon of intensity.

And yes, we do get some work done. Dr. Fischer working in the grad clinic.

Endo staff members Michelle Rideout and Charity Hunter

ROTATION EXPLORATION

In our third year we have two separate oral surgery rotations. The first being one week in the first semester, followed by a two-week endeavor during our second semester. The first rotation is definitely nerve wracking to say the least. Extracting teeth is one of the few things we do in clinic that we don’t get to practice in our pre-doc labs. Thankfully, we are paired up with a fourth-year student who walks us through the steps as we assist them with the first patient of the day, then the roles are reversed for the second patient which was very helpful way to learn. This rotation takes place in our emergency clinic, where patients who are not active patients at the school go when they are in pain and need a tooth extracted that day. This is a great way to get proficient at extractions while also giving patients the immediate care that they need. These circumstances are also great for learning to do quick limited exams, working through extensive health and dental histories efficiently to check for contraindications to dental treatment, learning different anesthesia techniques, and learning suturing techniques. This clinic is filled with great surgeons and residents that approach each case uniquely and help give us advice on more difficult cases.

During our Radiology rotation, we are lucky enough to be taught by two great radiologists, Dr. Aniket Jadhav and Dr. Anusha Vaddi. This is a rotation that you really learn to appreciate after it is over. We go over different pathologies that you may see in panoramic, bitewing, periapical, or CBCT images. Dr. Jadhav and Dr. Vaddi do a great job teaching us efficient ways to look through these images, and how to quickly recognize and come up with differential diagnoses for abnormalities. These skills really help us when we do our radiographic exams of patients, so we can efficiently make diagnoses and make proper referrals if needed.

Our Pediatric rotation is one of the most tiring but rewarding rotations we do in our third year. For third years, this allows us to dip our toes into treating kids.The extent of our care includes exams, radiographs, prophies, and sealants. What makes this tiring is we see five patients a day, one every hour, as apposed to the two we usually see a day in our general practice clinics.This really helps us work on our efficiency and always keeps us moving. What makes this rewarding is we get to set kids up with healthy dentition that they can maintain as they grow up. We teach each one and their parents proper oral hygiene habits that they can continue for their whole lives, while also giving them a good experience at the dentist so they are more willing to come back as they grow up.

GENERAL PRACTICE?

The Orthodontic rotation is a unique rotation at VCU. The rotation takes place once per week for eight weeks. It consists of lectures every week where we get to dive into cases the residents are actively treating or just finished. While there is less hands on work in this rotation compared to others, I found this very helpful for knowing when to refer patients for Orthodontic care, and to help give the patients a general idea of what to expect as far as timeline of and outcomes of care.

Our Periodontic rotation is different from all others but is very applicable to our day to day work in our general practice clinics. In this rotation we assist the Periodontal residents in whatever treatment they may be doing that day. This is great for us to see because while we do our own periodontal exams, initial therapy (scaling and root planing), and periodontal maintenances, sometimes patients need more aggressive treatments. Assisting the residents in these procedures helps us give our patients with Periodontitis an idea of what the next steps would be for treatment if they were to require further treatment beyond our initial phase.

The Prosthodontic rotation our third year is also known as our denture rotation. During this, you are paired up with another third-year student and a Prosthodontic faculty member to fabricate your first denture. I had the opportunity to work with Dan McQuillan who sat next to me every day for our first two years in our pre-doc labs which was a great way to organize this as we knew each other’s workflows like the back of our hand’s. We got the opportunity to work under Dr. Charles Janus who has helped generations of dentists in the Prosthodontic clinic at VCU. This is one of the most bittersweet rotations we have. There are a lot of hours spent in the lab fabricating the denture, this tends to be a slow and tedious process as is the case with a lot of lab work you are doing for the first time. Sometimes it seems like you’re making no progress when you get steps checked by your attending faculty just to be told you have to redo them.In the end, all of the blood, sweat, and tears are worth it though when you see the transformation of your patient when you deliver the final denture.

Last but not least is our Endodontic rotation.This rotation starts off similar to our pre-doc labs, doing root canal therapy on extracted and plastic teeth.One exciting twist to this rotation is we get to take turns using the endodontic microscope. Using this definitely takes a few minutes to get used to, but after using it for a while you learn why all endodontists use it.The magnification and lighting is unparalleled, and it very cool experience to have under your belt if you are thinking about during Endodontic therapy in your practice. During the second part of this rotation we get the opportunity to do endodontic screenings. These consist of patients who referred to the VCU Grad Endo clinic from outside offices. This is a very helpful part of this rotation as it gives us insight and experience in making diagnoses, recommending treatment, and making referrals.

Overall, VCU does an excellent job giving us a taste of these specialties during our third year. We get enough information so that we can apply it to each patient that sits in our chair, but not enough to where we are overwhelmed. These rotations also give us a great foundation to build off as we learn more about each specialty throughout our time at school and our careers.

WRITTEN BY: JACK MADIGAN

SKIT NIGHT

APRIL 18,2023

Skit night has been an ongoing tradition at VCU School of Dentistry for multiple years, put together by VCU ASDA. For the event, dental students and dental hygiene students create fun videos of parody styled skits about life at VCU. The production of the videos involves creativity, inside jokes, a fair amount of acting to successfully capture the audience.

As the Skit Night Co-Chair for the class of 2024, I am constantly given ideas for the video, and it is amazing hearing how creative my classmates are. Everyone gets so excited to contribute through brainstorming ideas, playing characters, making props, and writing scripts. One of the hardest parts about this position is bringing everyone's ideas to life and navigating video editing programs.

VCU SOD ASDA

WRITTEN BY: LYDA SYPAWKA

Skit night is always so exciting because everyone is invited including students, residents, faculty, staff, and administration. As the Skit Night chair it is also extremely nerve wracking because you just hope everyone understands the hidden jokes, and the funny scenes don’t completely flop. Regardless of their sense of humor, everyone is usually able to find enjoyment watching their peers and professors dip their toes in the acting industry. Overall, Skit Night is one of my most favorite events of the year, as it brings the whole school together to have a good laugh and share unique experiences in a playful way.

GIVE KIDS A SMILE :)

Thank you to everyone who played a part in Give Kids a Smile event! It was an honor to work alongside such dedicated students, residents, faculty and staff. Because of you, 98 children received dental care valued at more than $50,000, in addition to the important oral health education provided outside of the clinic.

DISTRICT 4 CONFERENCE

Raleigh, North Carolina

Attending the District 4 conference in Raleigh this past February was an unforgettable experience. I was lucky enough to start attending the District 4 conferences as a PreDental, and have loved them ever since. While I wasn’t able to fully understand the relevance back then, I realize now how much there is to learn from each speaker and breakout session. Notably, this year, we were able to learn more about treatment planning, the different options we will have as new graduates, preparing our CV’s, and so much more.

My favorite part is that the conference is hosted in a different city each year. This is a great way to get to know different locations that we might be interested in moving to practice or complete residencies. We kicked off the conference with a welcome event and a downtown social. The nightly socials also allow you to better get to know the city, your classmates, and students from the other District Four dental schools. Chatting with the other students is an amazing way to compare educational experiences and possibly bring back ideas to VCU.

We spent the next day attending presentations and breakout sessions on topics that we were interested in learning more about. Having access to so many people within our profession that have had such a variety of experiences provides great opportunities for mentorship. We closed out the weekend with an awards ceremony, and yoga the next morning! I would highly recommend attending the annual District 4 Conferences.

D2 WHITE COAT CEREMONY

As the long days of D2 drag on - the year is proving itself to be quite short! The class of 2025 received their white coats this semester. The white coat ceremony is an annual tradition recognizing the D2 transition from didactic courses to clinical patients.

Friends and family gathered at the Altria theater to celebrate all of the hard work the class of 2025 has done. Congrats to all!

Virginia State Capitol

On January 27, 2023 VCU dental students throughout all classes met at the Virginia state capitol for Dental Days on the Hill to advocate for the future of their profession. Many notable speakers, including Sen. Todd Pillion and Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, spoke on the importance of accountability and advocacy in dentistry. Students and faculty alike networked and lobbied amongst delegates regarding pertinent issues on access, scope of practice, and the recent increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates. This annual event showcases the continued efforts of VCU school of dentistry and the VDA in promoting student engagement at the local and state community level.

LET'S DANCE!

MCV Winter Formal and Dental Ball

As the spring semester commenced, the VCU Graduate Student 2023 Winter Formal took place in January. Due to safety concerns as a result of COVID-19, the last time VCU held this formal was in early 2020. With the monumental dance floor, multiple photo booths, and delicious local food vendors, it’s safe to say the winter formal’s return was quite the success! The formal took place at Main Street Station, a venue with antique elegance yet perfect for sophisticated fun.

In February, the VCU dental ball took place at the Hippodrome. Amongst a photo booth and a groovy interior, the vibes were all there to give the dental students a night they could remember forever!

WRITTEN BY: ARIANA MADAN

THE IMPLANT CLUB

This past spring, under the leadership of D3 students, Luke Yore and Ali Morajarad, and faculty advisor, Dr. Karen McAndrew, the first implant club was started at VCU. The goal of the implant club is to bring together students who are interested in implants through workshops, lunch and learns with various specialists, and implant conferences. We are looking forward to learning more about implants and gathering interested students during the Implant Symposium. This will be held November 6-10 and it will include a week of lunch and learns with presenters from oral surgery, periodontics, and prosthodontics as well as implant workshops. Currently, VCU has been making advancements and focusing more on implant dentistry. Dr. Karen McAndrew, the head of the implant committee, has been working closely with the implant companies, IT staff, periodontal department, and oral surgery department to expand VCU’s focus on implants. As students we now have free access to the program Real Guide to design surgical guides and to plan implant placement. The implant club is excited to begin this new club and expand our knowledge on implants. Be on the lookout for the club’s Instagram page and announcements about future meetings! Anyone is welcome to join!

AADMD, or the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry, has recently been brought to VCU. The current president of the club, Rachael Marley, took the initiative to bring this organization to our school and student body. The club has been a success with now over 92 members and counting! AADMD provides its members with valuable resources to best customize patient care for those with special needs, something that is not frequently taught as a part of our curriculum. Although it is a fairly new organization here at VCU, they have already had many ways for their members and even non-members to get involved including lunch and learns, community service opportunities, and the most recent one: their Lots of Socks campaign! The purpose of their sock fundraiser was not only to make sure everyone is looking stylish in clinic, but more importantly to raise awareness for World Down Syndrome Day on March 21st! The club is something we are grateful to have here at VCU. I’ve interviewed President, Rachael, and President-Elect, Amelia-Rose, to hear more about what this club means to them.

HELLO AADMD!

What inspired you to be a part of AADMD and bring it to our school?

"I have always had an interest in providing care to individuals with special needs. This interest sparked when I was in high school: I had a summer job lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons. I had a few students who identified as requiring additional needs: one student was autistic, another had a learning disability, and one was deaf. I treated these children no differently than I would any other student, but I did modify my teaching methods based on what they could understand and comprehend when necessary. The parents and caregivers were ecstatic. It was amazing to see not just their excitement, but the excitement from my students as well. Teaching these individuals was easily the most rewarding thing I have ever done, and I continued to teach swimming lessons - both group and privateup until the start of dental school. I still teach private lessons over breaks!

Meet the president!: Rachael Marley

It was in the pediatric dental clinic at the University of Florida where I first witnessed an individual with IDD receive dental treatment. I was able to volunteer weekly in the clinic, and I gained a lot of exposure interacting with this patient population and their caregivers. After talking with the patients, it became clear how hard it was for this population to find care. Seeing how easily patients would be turned away or remain on waitlists that were over a year long urged me to do something about this; more importantly, I decided I wanted to treat this patient population as a dentist. Moreover, I immediately wanted to bring this to VCU. Patients, both adults and children, with additional needs are often referred to the pediatric dentist. I felt it was important for the dental student to gain exposure on how to best treat this patient population, whether they had aspirations to be a pediatric dentist or not."

What does AADMD mean to you?

"AADMD holds a depth of meaning to me! My interest in working alongside those with special healthcare needs began in my time shadowing the Dental Department at the UVA Hospital during my undergrad years. They have a bustling pediatric clinic where the majority of their patient population are individuals with IDD from all around Virginia."

Why do you think this organization is a valuable asset to a dental student’s education?

"Starting the AADMD club alongside Rachael has been such a rewarding experience so far! It’s been really exciting to see how much growth we’ve had so quickly (s/o to everyone who purchased socks and celebrated World Down Syndrome Day alongside us) and I’m so greatly looking forward to all that the next semester holds for us as we get our footing and have our ideas for growth come to life! The special health care needs population is one that is very lightly tapped into during our education here at VCU. We get such a small glimpse into SHC dentistry in the classroom and in the clinic, and we felt that this club would enable us to engage the student and faculty population, and equip us all to care for individuals with IDD (intellectual and developmental disabilities) more readily. I, for one, have a ton to learn about what it means and looks like to care for individuals with IDD. We are so eager for a challenging restoration or shade matching case, so why not be eager to take on a new discipline of challenge in creating an inclusive environment for all patients to be seen? It would be exciting to see students confidently entering their externships at the Virginia Home."

Meet the President Elect!: Amelia-Rose Scarpulla Biggers

WRITTEN BY: ARIANA MADAN

FINANCIAL

INTELLIGENCE IS HOT

The VCU School of Dentistry Financial Aid Office provides financial aid counseling to students enrolled in Dental Hygiene, Doctor of Dental Surgery, International Dental, D.5 and Advanced Education programs. Find a variety of resources through this QR code, including information on financial literacy, a full credit report, and a tuition calculator.

STUDENT DEBT IS NOT

Connect with the financial aid office through UniBuddy. UniBuddy is a resource available for students that allows rapid direct communication between students and administration. Through instant messaging, this resource allows you to ask questions regarding loans, scholarships, grants, and fees. Scan this code to get connected.

WOULD YOU RATHER

~dental student edition~

Would you rather never have to schedule a patient again or never have a patient cancel on you again?

42 % Schedule patients

58 % Patient cancellation

Would you rather have a photographic memory or perfect hand skills? Would you rather do a crown prep or MOD ?

82 % Crown prep

18 % MOD

Would you rather Lyons or Woods?

20 % Woods

80 % Lyons

49 % Photographic memory

51 % Perfect hand skills

Would you rather use a dental dam or Isovac?

33 % Dental dam

67 % Isovac

Would you rather do a FMX or full perio chart?

70 % FMX

30 % Full perio chart

Would you rather have to set up the mannequin head every day, or have the dividers put back up in Woolwine?

25 % Mannequin head

75 % Dividers

The duo here to share their advice with you regarding all your school and personal problems

Nada: One thing about the number of surfaces you’ll acquire sitting in your fully set up operatory at 10:15am, just mere inches away from the unused banana flavored topical all smeared on a cotton swab rolling around on the cart with no patient in your chair, is that they won’t be acquired. Save yourself the no-show walk of shame back to IMS with your squeaky clean instruments, and get that patient off your rolodex after the second broken appointment! It’s not worth the public humiliation, trust me.

Avery: I would channel my inner Simon Cowel from America’s Got Talent and give them the X. As much as you may need surfaces and want this patient to show up because they’ve got an abundance of them, if they won’t respect your time, it's time for an LOI.

“This one is for Avery-I think my classmate is super cute, but I don't want things to get awkward if making a move goes south. Do you think it's a good idea to date my classmate?”

Avery: I’ve seen many blossoming relationships come from dentistry. I’d just rather fill my void with flowable than a classmate.

using it. How do I confront them without sounding mean?"

Nada: It depends on if this is a D1 or a D2 asking….totally kidding. I would consider shooting them a quick text. Nothing too crazy. Maybe it looks something like this: “Hey bench buddy! It would be a lot easier for me to navigate our shared bench and fine tune my box dropping skills (what I’m paying loads of tuition to do here) if I wasn’t constantly worried about slamming my knee caps into your overflowing drawers that won’t close all the way. Also, I would really appreciate it if our bench top wasn’t covered in globs of your unmixed putty and dozens of extracted teeth that reek of formaldehyde and root caries. Lastly, have you heard of brown paper? I hope your practical went okay! TTYL.” They will be super thankful that you were honest and straightforward, and hopefully willing to make a change! If not, there’s always next year!

“My patient keeps canceling on me, but I need the surfaces. What should I do?”

You ask! They answer!

“When I run down to the Henry Schein store my classmate always asks if I could grab them something too. They say they are going to pay me back, but the bill is starting to add up. How do I ask them to pay me back without making things awkward?”

Avery: Next time they ask you to grab something, play that one Rihanna song about a female dog owing you money. After you guys have chortled in rapturous glee, get real serious and mad dog them. When they laugh again, you say, but like forreal forreal, it’s my money and I need it now. At this point if they are still not taking you seriously you need to assert dominance by repping pushups on the dirty woolwine floor until they realize that you mean business!

Nada: This is a tough one! Who likes chattin’ benjamins when we’re all definitely lacking in the benjamin department? I would handle this situation by walking right up to my classmate when they’re definitely in a good mood. Maybe you notice Dr. Janus has just signed off three lines on their project work card. I would consider that THE perfect opportunity to swoop right in and let them know that you don’t mind helping them out when they need it, but that you plan on making their enamel hatchet disappear moments before your next practical if they don’t accept your venmo request from all the trips you’ve made down to see Stephen Colon Schein in the dungeon.

“My patient just made a Tik Tok about me. What should I do?”

Nada: My personal recommendation here would be to duet the patient’s TikTok with a viral dance of your choice…I’m going to refer to my friend Avery on this one.

Avery: Do NOT send this video to all of your friends from back home/college. They will be tempted to comment hilarious things that could come back to bite you. You SHOULD however, take it to the chin and laugh it off. It probably won’t be up for long anyways since Tik Tok is most likely getting banned!

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

However, being from a family of dentists and witnessing my parent's happiness with their job, it wasn't something too difficult to foresee in my future. I grew up in the northeast part of Brazil, in a beautiful town called Recife. Almost two decades ago (wow, time flies), I came to the US for the first time (other than vacations with family in Disney) to Bedford, VA. There, at Liberty High School, I completed my senior year. This was not only my first experience abroad and away from my family but it was also "the experience" of my life. In Virginia, I gained a second family, friends, and memories forever. At that time (2004), going back home, I had no idea one day I would be living and practicing Dentistry in the state I always felt was my home away from home.

When I was asked to write about myself and my ties to Virginia, I thought it would be a great opportunity to share with the VCU SOD community a “story of fate”. It's a story I have already told many of my colleagues and close friends. It all started before I knew I would pursue a career in dentistry.

Fortunately, I completed my dental training in Brazil, a Master's degree in Implant Dentistry, and a Ph.D. program. It was during my Ph.D. studies that I had another opportunity to live in the US for a while. I ended up finding a place at that time at the University of Michigan to keep pursuing my interests in contributing to advancing health through education and discovery. At the University of Michigan, I completed my periodontal residency with a Master's degree. I love to teach both at predoctoral and postdoctoral levels and conduct research. My research areas of interest are mainly clinical research focusing on digital dentistry, prevention, and treatment of peri-implant diseases. Yes, 17 years later (2021), I was coming back to Virginia to assume a position as a Clinical Assistant Professor in Periodontics. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence or if there was just a "master plan" designed for me to find in Richmond and at VCU; my home for growth, development, and to create my family. I'm lucky to work with many talented faculty colleagues, staff, and students. There is not a single day when I'm driving back home where I feel like I haven't learned something. This motivates me the most in our profession and in Academia. It gives me the feeling of contribution, giving back to the community, and constant learning and growth. I continue to look forward to contributing to the field of Dentistry, and learning from our community at VCU.

Dr. Rafael Siqueira

A personal note about me: I am a food lover and a big sports fan. I enjoy new experiences and interacting with different cultures. Which is why attending major sporting events is often an opportunity to combine some of my passions. I could cite some memorable moments I have had when going to the 2016 UEFA champions league final in Milan, Italy, the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, or the 2017 Miami open tennis final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (two of the greatest tennis players of all time). More recently, I attended the US Open Final of 2022 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Interesting historical fact, the Arthur Ashe Stadium in NY is the world's largest tennis venue (~24k people). The stadium is named in honor of Arthur Ashe. He is one of the sport's greatest champions, being the first and, so far, only Black man to win major titles at the US Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open. Arthur Ashe was born and raised in Richmond, and there is a superb monument of him at Monument Avenue. The statue depicts Arthur Ashe holding a tennis racket in one hand and books in the other, surrounded by children. According to my research, the books are raised higher than the tennis racket, per Ashe's request, as he tended to emphasize education over sports. Those experiences expose you to new places and languages, different types of people, and expands your mind. I am lucky that my lovely wife Renata is a great partner for all of the mentioned adventures. We look forward to continuing exploring Virginia, the Richmond area restaurants, visiting the museums and historic buildings, and enjoying the first summer with our little one already walking and running (so hard to keep up with his energy ��).

Arthur Ashe stadium for US Open final 2022

Dr. Siqueira, Dr. Andrada, and Dr. Ghassemi New Perio Faculty 2021

Family celebrating Thoma's 1st Birthday

Exploring a new Korean restaurant with Dr. Sabatini, Dr. Lin, and Dr. Ghassemi

Liberty High School Soccer Team, Bedford, VA

Perio Family 5k run (PerioDash)

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Makeba Diallo is a junior dental hygiene student at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Though she is a South Carolina native, she has resided in Virginia for many years and lived in Germany as a child for four years. Although there is so much that she would like to accomplish in her lifetime, oral health advocacy is her passion. In May 2014, she graduated cum laude and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in cellular, molecular, and physiological biology with a minor in psychology from Christopher Newport University (CNU). After several years of working in leadership positions within the financial services and business industries, she decided to return to school in August 2022 as a full-time adult learner to fulfill her initial goal in dentistry. In May 2024, Makeba will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene. Since her educational background and many years of work experience go hand-in-hand, she plans to further her education and earn a Master of Science degree followed by a doctoral degree to become a stellar advocate for the dental hygiene profession. While in school, Makeba plans to partner with local dentists and provide the necessary education and affordable dental preventative care to underserved populations.

Since Makeba began her academic journey at VCU, she has accepted and excelled in several positions to aid in the expansion of her knowledge and clinical experience in the dental hygiene profession. She was chosen by her peers to become the class treasurer and the Student Chapter of the American Dental Hygiene Association (SCADHA) treasurerelect for 2023-2024. Makeba was also selected by her faculty to represent VCU at the Virginia Dental Hygiene Association (VDHA) Annual Leadership Conference in October 2022. She was also able to attend the House of Delegates meetings and network with other dental hygiene professionals.

One of Makeba’s latest and prestigious achievements was when she applied for and was selected to become an American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Council of Students, Residents, and Fellows (CoSRF) Allied Dental Health Liaison in January 2023 As apart of the ADEA COSRF team, Makeba will assist with developing an action plan to recruit and include Allied Dental Health students in ADEA COSRF, present liaison updates at ADEA Annual Session in Portland, Oregon in March 2023, and provide an Allied Dental Health perspective in the planning of “I Have an ADEA”

Additionally, Makeba was selected by her faculty to participate in organizing VCU’s Research Day, which will be held in April 2023. Another one of Makeba’s latest achievements was when Makeba was selected to represent VCU at the 2023 ADEA Student Diversity Leadership Program (SDLP) in March 2023. The SDLP engages emerging student leaders from a variety of backgrounds who have an interest in issues related to diverse communities. This year, the SDLP will focus thematically on ethical frameworks that cultivate a culture of care and values to influence ethical patient treatment and healthcare decisions and promote social justice in oral health.

As Makeba contines in her dental hygiene journey, she is excited to continue to learn from and work with others as well as accept new responsibilities to become a valuable asset in the dental hygiene profession.

Makeba Diallo

PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Throughout the spring semester, D4 students gradually start planning and practicing for their clinical boards that are scheduled to start midFebruary. The procedures involved root canal treatment of tooth #8, endo access preparation on #14, a crown prep on #9, and a fixed partial denture preparation on #3-#5. To prepare for these steps in their professional careers, students eagerly practiced on the weekends and in their free time. “Coming in on the weekends and staying after hours to practice was crucial for success on clinical boards” said Justin Conduff (D4 student). The senior dental students’ hard work and long hours of practicing did not go unnoticed by other students. "It is wonderful to see my colleagues wrap up their journey in dental school with mock boards. It is such a thrilling experience to see so many showcase their hand skills one last time before they are officially DDS!” said Bahar Boroumand Rad (D3 student and Director or Runners).

VCU School of Dentistry also prepared their students with a mock boards experience. For the first round of boards, faculty dedicated their Saturday to grading and providing feedback on the students’ FPD preps and endodontic treatments. “The VCU SOD mock boards is pivotal to prepare for the actual boards, and it truly is a team effort from staff to students to faculty. We are one of the only schools to implement this in the country and I am proud to be a part of it.” said Dr. Shahrzad Orenduff (VCU faculty and Clinical Board Director).

Other dental students, staff, and administration volunteer their time to help with this event, allowing the upperclassmen a realistic experience. “Support and dedication are what makes the VCU School of Dentistry a special place, and I am in awe of the tremendous teamwork and professionalism of faculty, staff, residents, and dental students, working together to provide our D4s this valuable experience.” said Dr. Richard Archer (Senior Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs). The entire day was a huge success and over 50 people volunteered their time to create a meaningful learning experience for their soon-to-be dentists.

LIFE AS DH3

STUDENTS

First day of Spring 2023 semester- last one for our seniors!

Our White Coat ceremony took place February 24, 2023. This ceremony signifies our entrance into clinical care and gave the class an opportunity to pause and appreciate the milestones we had made over the previous six months. We were coated by our wonderful faculty members Ms. Heather Tuthill and Ms. Kimberly Lintag-Nguyen. Prior to the ceremony that day, we attended the Mirmelstein lecture with the topic of Sustainability in Dentistry delivered by Dr. Toni Roucka who is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Marquette University School of Dentistry. We were educated about the impact of plastics in dentistry and provoked thoughts and ideas on how to begin to combat this issue as we make our way into the field of dentistry.

Fall 2022- pre clinic times!

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, VA

On January 27, 2023 we were able to attend the first in-person rally day since COVID made its appearance. On this day, we were given the opportunity to talk with our state representatives and legislators about continuing the integration of oral health education while thanking them for recently passing the increase of medicaid reimbursement to providers. This has increased the amount of providers who participate with medicaid, ultimately resulting in more patients receiving oral health care that they weren’t before. Yay!

A few of our juniors attended the Winter Formal held this year. Proof we wear clothes other than our blue scrubs!

Pre-clinic times in the basement sim lab! Fall 2022

GUESS WHOSE PET

BY: KATE PARKER

LIA (LEFT) LIKES TENNIS BALLS AND CAPTAIN (RIGHT) ONLY HAS 4 TEETH

DASH (TOP) IS IN THE RUNNING FOR THE WORLD'S WORST CAT AND MS. POTTS (BOTTOM) WILL DO A B S O L U T E L Y A N Y T H I N G FOR FOOD THIS IS COOP NAME WAS CA WE CHANGED IT SO NOW HE IS COOPER"

LUX (LEFT) LOVES TO HAVE HER MANY TOES MASSAGED. SHE IS POLYDACTYL! IRAH OF HER T YOU HER

FRANKIE (LEFT) IS NAMED AFTER THE MAIN STREET IN CHAPEL HILL AND NORA (RIGHT) TAUGHT HERSELF HOW TO PLAY FETCH WITH A STUFFED SEAL

TRIXIE LOST A BABY TOOTH WHILE BITING HER OWNER'S FINGER. SHE JUST TURNED ONE

GUESS WHOSE PET

CAM LIKES TO CHASE BIRDS AROUND THE YARD FOR HOURS AT A TI

NOODLE IS THE BEST CAT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD AND HE IS VERY FRIENDLY AND SQUISHY

DAPHNE (TOP) WAS RESCUED FROM THE SIDE OF THE ROAD WHEN SHE WAS A PUPPY. CHARLIE (BOTTOM) WAS VERY POPULAR AT FRAT PARTIES IN COLLEGE

STELLA (LEFT) AND KILLIAN (RIGHT) ARE BOTH NAMED AFTER BEER

GEORGE (LEFT) AND LEO (RIGHT). GEORGE'S HOBBIES INCLUDE BITING FACES AT 4:30AM. LEO'S SIGN IS ACTUALLY LEO AND HE LOVES PLAYING WTH PLASTIC SPRINGS

LUNA THINKS/ACTS/PLAYS LIKE SHE IS BIG AND TOUGH. SHE ALSO GOES CRAZY FOR BLUEBERRIES

ANSWERS: 1. BILLY OWEN. 2. ASHAAN PATEL, 3. RIMA PATEL, 4. WENDY YU, 5. GABBY NELSON, 6 CHERRY TAKAWI, 7 BAILEY WALTON, 8 GABI ACKER, 9 ALEX ANAMA, 10

SAY

CHEESE