Wait a minute, I had braces, too!

That's right, ladies and gents. From 2009 to 2011, I was shackled by those pokey little metal brackets and wires. No soda, no chewy or sticky foods, nothing too hard or crunchy... It was difficult being a sugar fiend with braces. Especially when my wires were tightened. No eating took place for days after visits like those.

02.25.2009

Somehow, my experience with braces was not completely terrible. Dr. Banh and his employees (past and current) made the experience much more pleasant. They are friendly, joke with patients, and treat people like family coming in for a friendly visit. There is a warmth that keeps patients like myself coming back. As important and fascinating as the atmosphere is, I must digress.

It's obvious, but people with braces have their own individual reasons for visiting an orthodontist. Some of those reasons are even difficult to see with the naked, untrained eye. In my interview with Dr. Banh, he told me that there are many steps to diagnosing a patient and developing treatment plans. At some point during that process, x-rays are taken to show what is going on in places we can't see. Here is an example of an x-ray from my file.

It's tough to tell, but my maxillary cuspids (canine teeth, top row) in the x-ray are in the roof of my mouth. In order to get those teeth down to their designated positions, I had to have oral surgery to make openings in the roof of my mouth, attach chains to the teeth to pull them, and wear braces in order to keep my teeth straight throughout the process. If I had not gone to the orthodontist to have an exam, my cuspids would have erupted in place of my incisors (front teeth). Orthodontics helps prevent dental abnormalities such as my "vampire teeth."

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1. My working Essential Question is as follows:

What is the most important thing an orthodontist must consider so they can help a patient?

2.  After being a patient at my orthodontist's office and volunteering there, I have come up with an answer to my question:

Patients need to understand which treatment options are available to them.

Staff should make patients feel at home and comfortable. 

3. So far, my most important sources that have helped me develop these answers to my Essential Question are experience as a patient and research articles from the ProQuest databases. My experience has shown me that patients that are treated kindly and like family are more likely to return for visits, trust their orthodontist more, and are more willing to keep up their treatment (rubber bands, retainers, avoiding hard/sticky foods..). My research on ProQuest so far consists of many studies on customer satisfaction and how being informed and totally included in the decision making process leaves the patient more content after their treatment is completed.

4. My mentor is Dr. Dan Banh DDS and I do my mentorship at his clinic, Banh Smiles. Right now, what I do at Dr. Banh's office is shadow and observe the staff. This relates to my Essential Question because without actually stepping into an orthodontics office, I cannot fully understand the treatment process, let alone what an orthodontist needs to consider for treatment.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

For my 30 hours of service learning, I plan to shadow my mentor and learn what types of procedures are done by an orthodontist and assistants on a day-to-day basis. In addition, I would like to study to become an unlicensed dental assistant. The course requirements for unlicensed dental assistants as specified by the Dental Board of California are as follows:

• A board-approved course in the Dental Practice Act
• A board-approved 8 hour course in infection control
• A course in basic life support offered by an instructor approved by the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association, or any other course approved by the board as equivalent and that provides the student the opportunity to engage in hands-on simulated clinical scenarios.

I will meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence through pictures, certificates, and/or transcripts for the courses I might take.

I feel it is important to attain some form of certification in the dental field because orthodontists are dentists first. Basic dental training is key. Becoming an unlicensed dental assistant may also allow me to be able to be more hands-on during future shadowing.

My senior project hours log can be accessed here.