Ryan is a third year at UCSD majoring in Human Biology. He is a pre-dental student and has been volunteering as a dental assistant for the UCSD PDS free dental clinics for almost a year now.
The UCSD Pre-Dental Society offers opportunities for pre-dental students and volunteers to gain clinical experience and work as assistants in clinics as well as providing/giving back to the San Diego community with quality dental care. In doing so, students and patients alike teach and learn from each other to broaden healthcare perspectives.
Ryan was a dental assistant/chairside assistant in the clinics under dentists such as Dr. Sussi Yamaguchi, director of the clinic work. His routine included setting up chairs with proper dental equipment after thorough sanitation, taking blood pressures and patient information, making patients feel comfortable before procedures, assisting the doctor by operating suctioning/other equipment handling during the procedure, and cleaning up afterwards to maintain the clinic environment.
Some personal challenges for Ryan included handling the high pressure environment of working with real patients. At first, the fear of messing up or making the patient uncomfortable during a dental procedure as the assistant stressed him out and made the task at hand difficult as he needed to pay close attention and perform to the best of his ability. However, after attending many clinic sessions, he felt more comfortable and confident in his ability to provide quality assistance.
Some valuable things from his FE include friendships with some of the clinic managers, valuable information as a predental student about admissions and which graduate schools to apply to, and most importantly, exposure to dental work and how to provide quality care for patients in need.
Overall, Ryan recommends this experience for global health students that are interested in pursuing dentistry at UCSD. He believes that this pre-dental opportunity is extremely valuable and is arguably the most important experience he has gained in relation to his experience as a pre-dental student.
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