Dental Training (6/28) || Joseph Si

It was an early start to the morning before heading to dental training. I had to pick up Claire and Allyson since they needed a ride… even though they have cars LOL. We got to Dr. Bui’s at 7:45 AM. This is my second go around at dental training so you can say that I am a seasoned veteran.

The style of the dental training was the same as last year. There were five groups rotating between the different stations that covered fillings, oral surgery, emergency medicine, dental assisting, and infection control. I was grouped with Bao, Jolie, and Ryan Nguyen. I first started with Dr. Kyra Nguyen and Dr. Michael Bui. They taught us composite fillings. This involved identifying the location of the cavity, removing the cavity, etching the surface to create a rough surface for the bonding agent to adhere to, and finally adding the filling to fill the cavity. Between the addition of the etching and the bonding, and the bonding we were taught to use a UV light to cure the etch and bond. After they would even out the filling to create a smooth bite.

Me as the practice patient.

Once this station was over, we moved on to oral surgery / extractions with Dr. Loc Do. We were taught the local anesthetic to use depending on the patient history and which tools to use based on the tooth being extracted. For example, upper and lower teeth use different extractors, while the front teeth for upper and lower are different as well. He also taught about elevators which are used to loosen teeth before they are extracted and showed us the different types of extractors based on the condition of the teeth. For example, if the teeth are broken and are still in the tooth socket we would use a flag elevator. There are a bunch of different tools and things to use based on the medical history and specific situation of the patient.

Afterwards, we moved onto sterilization with Dr. Timothy Bui. He taught us the four P’s. Protect Yourself, Project the Patient, Prevent Contamination between Patients, and Prevent Contamination from Ourselves to Others. He’s always made it pretty easy to learn without us having to memorize by showing us in a way that is common sense.

Me posing with Dr. Bui's Porsche 911.