During the FLP Internship program, I had participated in working in two dental clinics, which gave me a better idea of how it is like working as a dentist, and what I would need to know as a dentist. Throughout the process of the internship program, the learning goals that I had worked on were mostly communication and gaining my knowledge on dentistry as I often had to communicate with my mentors in order to be able to fully understand their tasks and the different procedures that they were performing. While communicating, they had explained the use and importance for different tools that they had used during procedures, and also shared more about why it is important to practice good dental hygiene.
With my experience of the internship program, it broadened my idea of whether or not I would want to consider dentistry as a future job. Although it might not be the most suitable job for me, working as a dentist still seems quite interesting and fun as I would be able to learn more throughout the process of working, and also create new relationships with the people around me. What I had expected from this program was that I would be able to learn more about dentistry and the important details about it, and what I did not expect from it was that I was able to actually observe and watch dental surgeries. From what I had observed, the surgeries were really fascinating and it surprised me that a lot of the patients did not feel any pain from their teeth getting pulled out.
Some of the skills and abilities that I had to put in during the internship process was communicating, being professional, and learning. For communicating, I had to communicate with the mentors so that I would be able to learn throughout the process and procedures; sometimes, I had to also communicate with the patients, answering any question that they need, or giving them direction on what they should do. This helped me learn more about how it is important to have a good relationship with customers / patients and how it would benefit us. While working on these skills, I had to also stay professional, keeping the patients comfortable by not creating a nuisance.
Overall, this internship program had taught me a lot that I would definitely have not been able to teach myself. It increased my knowledge about dentistry, and gave me a clearer mindset about the future jobs that I would want to consider taking, and what I would want to study when I get into college.
Dear Alicia,
Throughout your internship at Dr. Tsou’s and the ABC Clinic, you made an emphasis on developing and/or improving your communication and engaging outside of your social circle. Having listened and read your reflections, I have no doubt that you have exceeded your goals set out prior to the start of those two internships! I hope the professional growth you experienced and the first-hand observations of dental surgeries help you understand more about this particular pathway and assist you in developing your own niche of choice!
– David Hung 01/23/2021