May Extra Blog Post

The school year is coming to a close, but senior project is finally over. Presenting to a room of over thirty people for about an hour was an unforgettable experience. I was not sure how well I would do speaking for so long but surprisingly I managed to get comfortable enough to speak clearly and with confidence. I'm actually proud of how I did, despite not making time (that's what happened, sadly).
Reflecting on the senior project, I am glad I was able to do mentorship at an orthodontist's office and learn more about the field. It allowed me to see all sorts of cases and really piqued my interest in orthodontics so perhaps I might be able to use what I know in the future in my career.

Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

I am most proud of my research content. I managed to talk for forty minutes and was able to get all of my points across to the audience. The information I gave also brought out many good questions so I feel that the audience really learned from what I had to say.

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

My PowerPoint seemed to have flowed smoothly, and my activity -- although short -- went better than expected. From past experience with activities like mine, the audience tends to give simple answers but they showed understanding and that they really grasped what I taught.

(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

If I could go back, I would make my activity longer. My activity ran too short so I would make sure there was something more, like meeting with each group instead of waiting for their hands to raise, or having the groups find a group with the same case and confer on their diagnoses and treatment decisions.

(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

Senior project has helped me learn how to conduct my research and be resourceful. With so few print sources available, I have had to get most of my data and research from databases and my mentor. Additionally, this project has placed my foot in the door for a career in orthodontics. If I choose to pursue this topic for study, I will have a place to do internship and someone to recommend me for a graduate program. Senior project has opened doors that will help me in the future.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal

A log of my mentorship hours is located here.

My mentor's name is Dr. Banh and can be reached through his clinic/office at (626) 339-5111.

Interpretive

The most important thing I gained from my mentorship experience is an idea of what it is like to work in an orthodontics office. This is important because it helped me realize that I would like to work as an orthodontist in the future, but am still exploring my options.

Applied

Mentorship has helped me answer my EQ because I was able to see techniques applied on real people, rather than simply reading about it or looking at models. In order to learn about what is important to a patient's treatment, I needed to see treatment in action.

Exit Interview

What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?

EQ: What is the most important factor an orthodontist must consider when treating a patient?

Answer 1: Orthodontists must understand their patients' needs in order to treat them.

Answer 2: Patient compliance should be taken into account when treating a patient.

Answer 3: Timing is key to treating a patient.

My best answer is Answer 1 because it is my most fundamental answer, and orthodontists have to look beyond what they see with the naked eye and check every facet of the cases they take on when treating patients.

 What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

My mentorship, independent components, and research brought me to this answer. I would have to credit my mentorship with my best answer because I got to see the treatment plans in action and learn through my interviews about what orthodontics is all about.

What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

My biggest problem was my research because of the My access to databases and research portals was very restricted due to the fact that I am not a college student or a member of a research institution. There were also few books available about orthodontics, and even fewer that helped answer my essential question. Luckily, I gained some access to research through my time in Young Scholars, and my mentor was able to answer every question I had in relation to orthodontics and my project.

 What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

1. The interview I had with my mentor. Dr. Banh was able to provide a well-thought-out response to all of my questions and helped me polish my answers and evidence.

2. "The Rationale of Orthodontic Treatment" from An Introduction to Orthodontics by Laura Mitchell. This book was my starting point and the foundation for my research and answers.

April Extra Blog: Final Project Presentations

The end of the school year is quickly approaching. Both independent components are completed, research is coming to a close, and there is one presentation left.

The upcoming weeks will consist of preparation of content based on my independent components, research, interviews, and mentorship. All of these sources will help me put together my hour-long presentation. Even more pressing is my activity, which is supposed to reflect and teach about the answers to my essential question.

I find that it's difficult to come up with an activity for orthodontics. Putting braces on a model would be expensive, and it isn't like my audience can simply make retainers. So far the best I have come up with is an activity with clay. One blob of clay would be fresh, having been kept in a plastic bag. The other blob of clay would be dried and hardened after being left out and exposed to air. The clay would represent dental age, and the students participating would learn about it by trying to change the form of both blobs. My activity would represent my third answer (treatment timing).

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I, Marisa Ruiz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 33 hours of work.
(b) My mentor, Dr. Banh, and his assistants all helped me complete my second independent component.
(c) Here is a log of the 33 hours of work I completed for this component.
(d) My independent component consisted of shadowing and observing my mentor, along with his assistants.
INTERPRETIVE
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work. Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work. 

This component helped me confirm that the answers to my essential question make sense and provided more evidence to show they are true.

My observations have shown me doctor-patient interaction, the variety of orthodontic appliances used in many cases, and the regular dynamic of an orthodontic office. All of these things and more helped give me more evidence to back up my answers to my EQ.

[Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures of the patients and the observations I made because of privacy reasons, especially since most of the patients under my mentor's care are under eighteen years of age. I do, however, have plenty of pictures of the loads of files I have had to organize before I observe.]

APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped.
This component helped me answer my essential question because I was able to see an orthodontist in action, treating a patient.
This component gave me extra perspective on the key components in satisfactory treatment by observing a professional in the field of orthodontics.

March Post: Finding the Sources I Need From the Internet

So far, researching my topic has been surprisingly difficult. The only books I could find on my topic only really covered basics and contributed little to answering my essential question. Even with all of the information available to me about orthodontics online, it is always a challenge to narrow the results to fit my answers. At some point my searches became more fruitful once I got more creative with the keywords for the databases I use. Better keywords meant finding fewer advertisements and newspaper articles. Finding a new angle is definitely helpful for getting out of a research rut.

Fourth Interview Questions

EQ: What is the most important factor an orthodontist must consider when treating a patient?

1. What is the most common issue your patients come in to fix?
2. Roughly how many patients do you believe have been in your care since you first opened your practice?
3. How many of them would you say do what you tell them to, treatment wise?
4. Which ages tend to be the most negligent and why do you think so?
5. If a patient does not follow what you have told them to do, what effects does that have on their treatment?
6. Do you use any particular methods to help ensure patient compliance? If so, please explain.
7. What complications, if any, have occurred mid-treatment?
8. Truthfully speaking, are there any errors you have made in your treatment plans in the past?
9. What aspect of planning treatments for patients do you feel is the easiest for a novice to mess up?
10. How do/did you select the (brand of/specific) appliances you use on patients?
11. Where is it that you learn most of the things you apply to creating a treatment plan for various cases? (experience, school...)
12. Have there ever been cases where the patient absolutely needed to have braces/surgery/treatment, or was close to a situation like that? Please elaborate.
13. What age is the most ideal for beginning treatment?
14. What makes the previously stated age range ideal?
15. What is the likelihood that a child would be told to undergo orthognathic or any similar type of surgery?
16. Have you encountered elderly or middle-aged patients with malocclusion? About how long did they wear their braces and/or appliances?
17. Are there cases in which you advise patients against getting braces?
18. Do you feel that braces are the most effective form of correction for crooked teeth? Why/why not?
19. How much better are adults than children at following your instruction (for treatment)?
20. Between understanding a case/patient's state of occlusion, patient compliance, and timing of treatment, what do you feel is the most valuable to a patient's treatment and why?

Blog 17: Third Answer

EQ:

What is the most important factor an orthodontist must consider when treating a patient?

My Answers:

To recap...
Answer 1: Orthodontists must understand their patients' needs in order to treat them.
Answer 2: Patient compliance should be taken into account when treating a patient.

And finally...
Answer 3: Timing is key to treating a patient.

3 details to support the answer:

Timing (age-wise) is the difference between planning a one-year treatment and a five-year treatment.

O'Brien, Kevin, PhD. "Effectiveness of Early Orthodontic Treatment with the Twin-block Appliance: A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial. Part 1: Dental and Skeletal Effects." American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 124.3 (2003): 234-43. Web.

Utilizing the timing of skeletal maturation is an effective means of achieving a desirable outcome.

Kopecky, Geoffrey R., and Leonard S. Fishman. "Timing of Cervical Headgear Treatment Based on Skeletal Maturation." American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 104.2 (1993): 162-69. Web.

"Optimum treatment timing for Twin-block therapy of Class II disharmony appears to be during or slightly after the onset of the pubertal peak in growth velocity."

Baccetti, Tiziano, Lorenzo Franchi, Linda Ratner Toth, and James A. Mcnamara. "Treatment Timing for Twin-block Therapy." American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 118.2 (2000): 159-70. Web.

Concluding Sentence:

Without understanding the importance of the age or skeletal maturation of a patient, an orthodontist cannot effectively treat a patient. The entire treatment would be thrown off, as well as the payment plan -- meaning the credibility of the orthodontist would also be at risk since he/she is just judging the patient's occlusion by sight alone.

Treating Class II and III Malocclusion and Compliance

Over the course of my project, I have learned about overbites, underbites, crooked teeth, and various forms of malocclusion.

Each one of these are treated differently, and it takes longer to treat some than others. Underbites and overbites (classes II and III respectively) take the longest to treat because they require movement of the jaw. The younger the patient, the easier they are to treat. Past adolescence, treatment for classes II and III requires orthognathic or other types of surgery. Young patients, however, can use headgear or reverse headgear to correct their malocclusion.

While an orthodontist can give her/his patients headgear and send them on their way, it isn't guaranteed that they will wear it. In order to ensure compliance as much as possible, the orthodontist should take steps such as explaining the importance of treatment and getting the patients' parents on board.

Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?

What is the most important factor an orthodontist must consider when treating a patient?

2. What is your first answer?

Orthodontists must understand their patients' needs in order to treat them.

3. What is your second answer?

Patient compliance should be taken into account when treating a patient.

4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• Compliance can reduce treatment time in some cases, increasing patient satisfaction.
• Not complying (i.e. not wearing rubber bands or appliances when instructed to) prolongs and reverses treatment.
• Compliance is fostered by factors directly and indirectly relating to the orthodontist, such as office environment and doctor-patient dynamic.

5. What printed source best supports your answer?

Pakravan, Darren Cyrus. "Comparison of Adult Patient- and Orthodontist-Reported Compliance and Satisfaction with Treatment Outcome." Order No. 1452688 University of Illinois at Chicago, 2008. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

6. What other source supports your answer?

Hardy, Daniel Kenneth. "Predictors of Orthodontic Patient Compliance." Order No. 1561908 University of California, San Francisco, 2014. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.

Without compliance, there would be no point to regular orthodontic visits or paying for treatment. Something as small as not wearing retainers can take a patient back to square one and waste both time, money, and effort. If an orthodontist can ensure patient compliance, they are likely to be on a steady path to proper treatment.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I intend to continue shadowing my mentor and study each of the cases he takes on while I am present.

2. Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will provide pictures of what I observe and do as evidence of my 30 hours.

3. Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This component will help me explore my topic in more depth through experience. Orthodontics is partly learned through experience and observation, so I plan to utilize those two learning tools. Additionally, it will help me get research material and find my answers to my essential question.

Independent Component 1

LITERAL
a. I, Marisa Ruiz, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 34 hours of work.
b. My mentor, Dr. Banh, DDS, and the Dental Board of California (DBC) have helped me complete my independent component. My mentor was gracious enough to let me shadow him and to break down some of his treatments. The DBC gave me a sense of direction for completing necessary courses.
c. Here is a link to my updated Senior Project Hours Log.
d. My 34 hours have consisted of shadowing my mentor, learning about how the practice is run, and taking courses that are required for unlicensed dental assisting (Basic Life Support, Dental Practice Act).

INTERPRETIVE
The work I have completed is important to my project because the best way for me to find out the most important factor to consider when treating a patient is for me to watch an orthodontist at work and to ask questions directly. Additionally, the coursework I completed was helpful in understanding some of the basic knowledge required to enter the dental field. Dentistry is really the first step toward specializing in orthodontics, after all.

Certificate of Completion for course on Dental Practice Act

Certificate of Completion for Basic Life Support course

Watching the making of alginate molds
during slower hours

TADs - an appliance that my first interviewee
explained to me and that I saw my mentor
working on while I shadowed

APPLIED

This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic better through eyes-on (I wasn't allowed to actually do much myself) and face-to-face learning. Whenever I had a question about an appliance or the purpose of a patient's treatment, I had the opportunity to chime in with, "What does that do, Dr. Banh? How does that one work? Does that stay on all day? Where does that attach?" and similar questions. Taking courses helped me by showing me what guidelines an orthodontist (or regular dentist) must follow when treating a patient and what is required of them from the beginning. 

Digging Deeper into the Treatment of TMJ

Half a year ago, I discovered a painful popping and clicking as I opened and closed my mouth, followed by ringing in the ears. A visit to my doctor, my orthodontist, and Google have shown me that I have a condition called TMJ, AKA TMD, AKA temporomandibular joint disorder. In simplest terms, it's the dysfunction between the muscles that move the jaw and the joints that connect the mandible to the skull.

Over the course of the school year, my research has brought me to scholarly articles on the disorder, as well of its common origin and the best treatment options.

At this point it is unclear to me whether or not TMJ is caused by orthodontic braces or is even connected to orthodontic treatment. I am also on the hunt for successful non-surgical remedies, but there isn't much luck narrowing that down, either. I feel that finding a solid fix for TMJ will be very helpful in finding more answers to my essential question: What is the most important factor an orthodontist must consider when treating a patient?

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am most proud of my information and just the PowerPoint as a whole because I think it really came together. On top of that, the class let me know that my presentation was in fact fairly informative and that I seemed to understand my content.

2. a) What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

I would give myself a P.

    b) Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I believe I filled all requirements for "P" consideration, made sure to engage my audience when I spoke, used my time effectively, had a decent PowerPoint, and applied my research well.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

My PowerPoint and visual aid overall was good, in my opinion. Also I feel like my information was presented well.

4. What didn't work? What would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

The main problem I had today that I would fix if I knew how is my shakiness. I came off as nervous to the class so some parts of my presentation may have been difficult to understand. Also, my peers tell me I should work on my activity and create a better one so I would definitely fix that.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

My answer two will probably involve either patient compliance or practice setting.

Blog 12: Mentorship Hours

1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship at the office of Dr. Dan Banh DDS.

2. Who is your contact?

My contact is Irene (whose last name I always forget). She is the office manager and works the front desk. She can be contacted at the office phone number: (626) 339-5111.

3. How many total hours have you done?

As shown on my Senior Project Hours Log, I have completed 43 hours over the summer (with a different mentor for a different topic), 25 hours of mentorship, and 28 hours for my Independent component. The sum of those hours is 96 hours, but with my current mentor I completed 53 hours.

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

The hours I completed since the school year began have consisted of filing, shadowing, and seeing what goes on away from the patient's chair. There were many opportunities to see all sorts of orthodontic appliances, as well as the process of attaching, wearing, and removing braces. My time at my mentorship has taught me that there is much more to orthodontics than what I had originally thought and I have so much more to learn.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1. It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school. What did you do over the break with your senior project?

The break gave me a chance to do more research on my topic, as well as look further into orthodontics as a career. Sadly, I was very limited on my research sources because my primary database -- ProQuest -- has been down for a while.

2. What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why? What was the source of what you learned?

My work over the break has taught me that I need a new approach with my research. The source of this knowledge was my previous research and similar results coming up when I looked for new articles. I know there is more fresh research available, but I just need the right keywords to find them.

3. If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I think I might ask an orthodontist other than my current mentor in order to gain a different perspective on orthodontics and my essential question. My final answers will be more complete after speaking with multiple practicing professionals in the field.