Getting the Ball Rolling

So far, I have been lucky enough to be able to volunteer at an orthodontist's office where the people are lovely and I am learning things here and there. It is important to note that I am off to a slow start, since I was not working there during the summer and my previous schedule hadn't allowed me to work more than a few hours at the office.


My time spent at Dr. Banh's clinic has been filled with general helping out with menial tasks. My first day was spent filing away patient data (and conducting my first interview), while my second day consisted of organizing papers into packets.

The multitude of patient files in need of being filed away.

After I finished my interview on the first day, one of the assistants, Roberta, showed me a few different appliances that are used by Dr. Banh.

The first appliance (pictured top left) is a skull with TADs, or temporary anchorage devices, screwed into the bone of the mouth in order to move teeth into a desirable position. The second appliance (top right) are different types of palatal expanders. Their purpose is to widen the upper jaw to create a better fit with the lower jaw. The third appliance (bottom left) are braces with clear brackets, which are more aesthetically pleasing than traditional metal brackets. The fourth and final picture (bottom right) is of retainers, which are normally given to patients after their braces are removed in order to prevent shifting of the teeth. At Dr. Banh's clinic, patients are able to design their retainers however they like, and the retainer for the palate has a very cute watermelon design as an example. I thought it was pretty cool to see what types of devices orthodontists use and what purpose those tiny appliances serve.

The packets I put together on the second day are one of the ways the clinic gets the word out about orthodontic healthcare and their business. The letter portion of the packet was written to the parents of elementary school students, informing them about National Orthodontic Health month and the care Banh Smiles offers. The other paper attached was a coloring page for a contest. The winning class of the contest will win a pizza party sponsored by Dr. Banh. I think the idea is lovely and is an excellent method for promotion and raising awareness. Unfortunately, the packets took all three hours of my time that day and I got cramps from moving papers back and forth. I'm thankful I didn't have to staple them, too.

The informational letters and coloring pages that I was supposed to form into packets.

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

Who is your mentor and where do they work?

My mentor's name is Dr. Dan D. Banh DDS. He works at his privately operated orthodontics clinic, Banh Smiles, in Covina.

What five questions will you ask them about their background?

1. What was your life like growing up? 
2. Where did you attend college? For how long?
3. How do you feel your experience in school has affected the way you practice today?
4. When did you open your clinic? What struggles did you have getting started?
5. What do you find most rewarding about your job?
6. How does your starting salary compare to your current salary?

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

• Describe your experience in how you found your mentorship? If you haven't found one yet, describe your experience so far in the search of a mentor.

I found my mentorship just by going to my regular orthodontist. After much thought, I decided on orthodontics as my topic and visited Dr. Banh's office to ask him to be my mentor. The reason I chose Dr. Banh as my mentor is because I was very satisfied with the results of my treatment and the way he and the staff treat the patients. Since Dr. Banh already teaches regularly at USC's school of dentistry, he was more than happy to mentor me and teach me about the field of orthodontics.

• Research question: What has been your most important article you have read so far and why?

So far, the most important thing I have read was chapter one of Orthodontics: Current Principles and Techniques, titled "The Decision-making Process in Orthodontics." This chapter includes the basics of what an orthodontist should look for in order to diagnose a patient, as well as guidelines for treating a patient. I feel that these two things are crucial to know since they are pretty much the center of an orthodontist's job.

Class Trip to the Library

On Friday, August 29th, my house walked over to Cal Poly's library. We were led by our teacher to a computer lab type room and watched a presentation from one of Cal Poly's librarians about research and using some of the resources available to us through the Cal Poly library's website. From that presentation, I learned to use the ProQuest databases. I really like using ProQuest because there are so many online articles on my topic to choose from, so I have plenty of research options. On the other hand, I have to be sure to narrow my search because I would otherwise be stuck scrolling through hundreds of unwanted ads for orthodontic clinics that opened around ten years ago.

Some of the many results from ProQuest with the keyword "Orthodontics"

In addition to finding out about using the online databases, I had the opportunity to find books for my research on orthodontics for my senior project. I found seven books that piqued my interest, but I was only able to check out five thanks to the library's check-out limit. I checked out the following books:

• An Introduction to Dental Terminology
• Oral Health, Dentistry, and the American Public
• Removable Orthodontic Appliances
• Dental Anatomy and Occlusion
• Orthodontics: Current Principles and Techniques

The five books that I checked out from the Cal Poly library

I spent a good chunk of my Friday looking at these books and they are so interesting. The most interesting part is the pictures. One book has thousands of pictures with cases and diagrams and graphs. There was one case (pictured below) of a woman with bimaxillary protrusion, meaning the woman's teeth on her maxilla and mandible (upper and lower jaw) were excessively protruding forward. Her treatment included having her premolars removed and undergoing an augmentation genioplasty (chin augmentation).

I find it amazing that people can change their appearance with the removal of some teeth and surgery. Even the use of orthodontic appliances like braces and headgear yield impressive results. These books and their content have served to fuel my passion for the medical field and orthodontics. It's all just so fascinating.

A case shown in Orthodontics: Current Principles and Techniques

Examples of appliances for orthodontic treatment from Removable Orthodontic Appliances

Anatomy of the oral cavity

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. I intend to interview Irene Fisher from the Banh Smiles office who has been working with my mentor, Dr. Banh, in the field of orthodontics for many years. The reason I would like to interview her is because she has plenty of experience with orthodontics and I feel she can provide a lot of insight that will help me with my project.
2. Aside from the five required questions on the Interview Component Contract, I will ask additional questions such as...
• How satisfied are you with your line of work and job here at Banh Smiles?
• What is it that you enjoy about your job?
• What do you believe are the setbacks to working in an orthodontics office?
• What are some of the worst cases you have come across while working here?
• What is the competition like for a position like yours?
• What is your average workday like? (busy, slow, peak hours, estimated patient count, etc.)
• What do you feel is the most important thing an orthodontist like Dr. Banh or yourself must consider so they can help a patient?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1. The topic I have chosen for my senior project is orthodontics.
2. What is the most important thing an orthodontist must consider so they can help a patient?

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal  

1. A log my mentorship hours:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqjYoq8XhtlcdFJCSDBfelZVS1d2OGRlTWFTWVZ1V2c&usp=drive_web#gid=0

2. Volunteer contact information:

Ernest Romero 

Teen Services Librarian at the West Covina Library

(626) 962-3541 

emromero@library.lacounty.gov

3. What questions were raised because of your 10 hours of experience? 

• Can I create an EQ from the work I do at this place/my topic?
• Is this what I want to use for my senior project topic?
• How can I apply what I do and learn here to my senior project throughout the year?
• Can I make an hour-long presentation out of this at the end of the school year?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I have gained from this experience is the knowledge of how to deal with people. By people, I mean people of all ages. The ability to deal with people is priceless because it is something I will be doing indefinitely, and thinking on my toes as I do when helping others at the library is a universal skill. Another part of dealing with other people is explaining how to do something, which I feel I am proficient at thanks to my experience volunteering at the library.

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

My senior topic will be Library Teen and Youth Services. My volunteering over the summer has helped me choose this topic because I had a surprising amount of fun volunteering at the library, have met excellent people, and feel that the employees at the library are doing a great service by reaching out to the youth of the community. I felt inspired and as if I could do a lot with the library for my senior project.