Stu-DENT Diaries

Happy New Year!!

Dropping in for a little update. I am no longer a dental student. I graduated from dental school in May 2014, as stated in this post. Also in said post I mentioned that I was matched to the Orthodontics Program at my school (yay). 

I started my new journey as an Orthodontics resident in July of 2014. Needless to say, it was quite different from anything I encountered in dental school. I've had many moments when I wasn't sure what was going on or understood what was being said/taught, and to be completely honest, there were times when I asked myself "what the h*** were you thinking coming into this specialty?!"

Needless to say, as the weeks and months went on things became a lot more clear and I became a lot more comfortable with the new things that I was being exposed to. Concepts began to make sense and soon I no longer felt like I was drowning in information.

In writing this post, it made me reflect, realize and certainly serves a reminder about change. Changes was what I was going through. Sure dental school was no cake walk, and in the beginning it was a total shock (as change took place) but I got comfortable in the same place with the same people and that comfort made me feel safe. Now that safety net was not there anymore. I was in a new environment (though not totally new - I was at my alma mater, which helped a lot), with new people (co-residents) and totally new ways of thinking. But one thing is certain, and that is that change is never easy - you fight to hold on, and you fight to let go. This is funny, I remember in dental school, the goal was to be done! to let go, but when it was over I fought to hold on. I missed my classmates and the friendships we built over the years, and I missed the familiarity of the daily routine or at least the familiarity in the way I studied. Now, everything is pretty different, but good.

I am enormously blessed, and there is not a day that passes that I don't give thanks for its abundance!

I remember graduating high school in my home country Jamaica and wanting to become a dental hygienist. I became a hygienist but during that process I knew I wanted more and so I put all my efforts into becoming a dentist. I could have stopped there but I yearned for something more and had a very ...towards orthodontics and so I put all my efforts there, and here I am living my dream of becoming an Orthodontist :)

Very much overdue, but this was my very first patient in July 2014 (lol). Not perfect but I'm getting there!

Before                                                              After

And here's a video I saw online tracking an 11 year old girls' Orthodontic treatment over an 18 month period.

Orthodontics is awesome!!

As usual, feel free to email me with any questions you may have. Use the contact me tab above or just click here and fill in the form.

Enjoy!