This is my photo essay, compiled with my day-to-day experiences in the Sun Smile Dental group. Just a heads up, some pictures are the same as my Starter Pack blog post!
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For my Presentation of Learning (POL), I want to share my experiences and takeaways as an intern or a student shadow. This would be measured in my successes, my failures, my learning, and what I did to make up for my failures and shortcomings as a person who's under the care of professionals in the real world. Halfway into my third week of internship, I realized there's a lot that I don't know outside of school. There are so many possibilities and there are so many limitations of what I can do as a community member of society, a future generation, a student, a person, etc. Being at the Sun Smile Dental Group has given me a lot more responsibilities and things to consider for my future.
As an intern, I regret not being able to assist any of the dental assistants, dentists, or hygienist. Not because of my lack of advocacy but because I am not trained and I'm not qualified to be in this field yet. I would measure the success of my work though in the way I apply myself within the social aspects of the work space as well as in my participation for my internship project. I'm glad to have met so many nice, hard-working, meticulous people here who answer any personal and professional question I have. The intimacy between co-workers, shows that working together is very important in the future. Not just in the work space but in our personal lives because interactions exist everywhere to give you more benefits than drawbacks in opportunities, experience, mental health, and relationships. This was a late revelation but there's a technique to choosing internships in High School. Choosing the right place is not as easy as calling the first organization you're interested in on the internet. You have to take in the responsibilities of properly communicating with your potential mentors beforehand to see if both parties can benefit from the situation. I wish I hadn't overlooked this fact in the beginning but I'm glad for the first-hand experience and consequences because interning here was helpful regardless of my inactivity. I hope that my contributions in my children's book project is enough to pass my inactivity in the work space. I was able to brush on the skills of teaching and condensing information in an easy-to-swallow medium. This skill is very useful in the work space as well as general comprehension as a whole because if you can teach it to a kid, you know your content extremely well. Illustrations help with show-not-tell information and detail-orientation of aesthetics and relevance. Creating a plot with facts that appeal to children balances multi-tasking, organization, and written communication. It's an overall practice of the skills I learned in High Tech and I believe it will help me further in the future. It pushes the boundaries of my motivation and work ethic to complete an authentic book alone in less than a month, compared to our grouped bilingual physics books earlier this semester. I'm still glad I went with this project because it utilizes the skill sets I already possess to benefit the company in a way only I can do. This is the least I can do. I find that this internship opportunity has given me a lot to think about life in every passing moment as well as the build-up to my eventual death. There's so much to consider and the world revolves faster than I can say anything. There's too much yet so little time to figure out what to do at 16 years old. The stakes of my decisions are whispering in my ear and digging into my back but I can't really find a solution to my dilemma. What can I do to survive? What can't I do? It's all confusing but I feel like, because of my privileges, I can take my time to figure it out along the way. Going to a prestigious school isn't the end-all-be-all, bribing my way (as if I could anyway) isn't helping yourself if you can't commit long-term, and it's really just a selfish discovery for yourself. Following your passions can go both ways in your career but it's different for everyone. I want to be able to do my own things but I also want to meet the expectations placed on me as an individual and as a representation of my generation. It's funny to think about it but I know my opinions and view of life will keep on changing because I know the world is changing. From what I saw in my 'co-workers' in my internship, they all are complex individuals who know what they want with their life but they aren't in a rush to reach their goals. Being in this space allows them experience, resources, knowledge, and control in their schedule and growth as a person. They all have their own lives and working in a dental office is pretty free. They come to work in appointments and work on their own time. They can choose to 'level up' and be promoted with more responsibilities but they also have the choice of following their own preferences. I want to be able to reach this stage of ease and confidence in myself, to rationally choose my future in a way that benefits me over time if my original choice backfires on me. The way they treat their patients and me is also a wonderful trait to have, they're very patient and inclusive. It's something I can see that they work hard for to get people to be comfortable and to help them in the best way they can. I hope to find myself in a similar mindset and environment because there's nothing that can go wrong with being a good person. Just as my title suggests, this is my first snippet of my photo essay in my internship at the Sun Smile Dental Group. I'm not exactly embarrassed to admit that it's hard for me to advocate for myself. I've always had trouble putting myself out there in new environments without thinking I'm inadequate or out-of-place. Even though High Tech High programs/projects are designed to tackle this issue, it's always been prevalent in my professional and personal life. With internship though, these issues have just been amplified by my inability to actually participate and work at a dental office.
I'm glad to say that I really tried in the past week and a half. Rather than focusing on the aspects of work, I tried to strengthen my relationships with my mentor and my mentor's employees. Sun Smile is a smaller office so it's been helpful to interact with everyone on a more personal, one-to-one level. It might be a bit silly but I've gotten to talk to most of the staff through lunch breaks, casual conversation, and badly-hidden interview questions. They were also very kind to include me into some of the facilities and processes of what they do behind the scenes in their job. I've gotten to see different procedure runthroughs without the patients, and they all are willing to answer my questions. I do need to work on having more questions and asking to observe the work space more without violating HIPAA. This career path, especially as the leading dentist, does have to do with a lot of self-advocacy and a type of confidence in the craft and in your knowledge as a professional. In diagnosing patients, leading the assistants and the company, performing on people's mouths, working with children and elders alike, it's a lot of work that has to do with being on top and out there (where ever there is). As for the advice in "How to be an intern everybody remembers", it's a nice generic list of what to do during internship. It mentions the dress code, behavior, and tips of how to look better in the work space but I did have some drawbacks in my personal experience. I've realized that I don't have a lot of professional clothing that's warm enough for this recent weather or doesn't border POL-level dress code and I can't necessarily ask for work to do (because of legal issues and HIPAA). When the office open up for the day, I usually show up 5-10 minutes early and it's really cold outside. It's not necessarily bad but different employees open the doors at slightly different time so it's a little unpredictable of who I meet in the morning. I recently went to a 'morning huddle' meeting with everyone but I didn't really need my notes because it was just a sheet of what appointments each dentist/hygienist has for the day. The meeting itself was pretty brief with a lot of abbreviated technical terms that I couldn't keep up with. I plan to ask and label what each part means.The only job I really got was to explore the work space and observe what I see; I also have my internship project so I do ask questions to get accurate information among other things to keep myself busy here. My project did come up in the meeting and everyone was curious and, dare I say, excited to see what I've planned. I hope to meet and interact with all of the staff here, it's a great environment and I'm glad I have this opportunity to explore myself and the professional world. For my internship project, I want to do my best in creating a lasting effect to make up for the lack of work I can do in the duration of my internship. In the first couple of days that I was at Sun Smile, both the employees and I know that children have some issues with being in a dental office. The dentist do a pretty good job of calming their younger patients but I wanted to take it a step further and create their own storybook for children on proper care of their teeth as well as a heads up on what dentists do. I plan on incorporating little activities inside the book and creating a brushing visual/tooth model for interactive pieces but it's proving itself difficult. I got my inspiration from the Spanish/Physics book our class did earlier this semester and I wanted to incorporate this new skill into the professional world. I also noticed that there were a lot of books on this topic as well so I wanted to add onto it with my own twist.
It's a lot harder though, I realized, because I'm doing the research, writing, editing, illustrating, and the interactive pieces by myself. I do have more time on my hands so I can do what I need to within and outside of the work hours. So far, I already have the story written down so I just need to work on the drawings, condensing the information into easily understandable content, editing, and the interactive pieces but they may require more than just paper and pen. I need to get more observational knowledge about my work space and get the materials for my interactive piece. This requires the many skills I learn in High Tech High, such as multi-tasking, self-advocacy (in relations with the professionals), creativity, organization, etc. I'm hoping to get support from my mentor and their co-workers as well as my internship teacher. There's a lot to do and there is a lot to show but I need to make the first move and get myself involved so I at least know what I'm talking about. I can ask for more information, critique, and possibly materials but if it's just me, I can do it myself as well. All these shortcomings and challenges are self-imposed too, so I need to do my best to figure out my own solutions and create a product for Sun Smile to keep and use. Over a span of a couple of days, there's a lot that struck me about being at a dental office. Noticeably there is a difference between being a patient and being within the work space as an intern. As a patient, we connect on a more physically intimate level because dentists and dental assistance get into your mouth and talk about what's wrong with you, your diet, and your hygiene (slightly exaggerated) for about 20 minutes to 2 hours. As an intern, it's seeing the professionals behind-the-scenes, waiting for appointments, managing the equipment, filing paperwork, etc. It's a stark difference because the time frame is considerably larger and people have places to be and get paid for. Though the commute here is a funny story. When we were still searching for internship opportunities, I chose a place that was nearby the school because I didn't know if I could drive myself by then and I could walk there if I needed to. Turns out I could drive and I got a wonderful internship that's a good 2 to 3 minute walk from the school's parking lot. Consequently, I've been dropping off my brother at 8 and waiting till 9-11 to walk into my internship. It's a bit underwhelming but I could always find something to do beforehand. This will also be something I'll account for next year's internship.
Anyways, the professional relationship between co-workers and patient-dentist is pretty interesting. As I mentioned in the last post, it's very close-knit and friendly. They show compassion and familiarity as a way to comfort the most of anxious people and to create a good work-family environment. They do get pretty surprised to see me again as I do with them but it makes it exciting but also stressful to interact with them. It reminds me a little about how High Tech High works with group projects, team time, exhibitions, presentations, etc. It's overall very integrative and has a lot of working between dentist/oral surgeon to dental assistant. Good communication and listening skills are necessary and it's one of the things that I believe are one of the most strongest skills that Sun Smile Dental possesses. Although the waiting, the procedures, and the environment can get a little repetitive and slow, there are freedoms in the work space that give the career path its appeal: good team work, no one really works alone; personal commute and responsibilities, it's the important of appointments and a general organization of time management; and non-stressful disposition, no one will come after you to avenge the death of their lost loved one that was an accident 5 years from now (another exaggeration). I did find that with nothing to do here, I am increasingly more productive with more time, a new environment, and no distractions. Though, I do need to work on the courage to ask patients and the professionals to observe their appointment. I feel like it's a breach of confidentiality that most hospitals and clinics have to promise for their patients so I have yet to really look at the procedures and the vocal manipulations made to make the patients comfortable with hands and sharp tools in their mouths. Remembering names is hard for me, despite the fact that I can get the conversation to keep going. It's overall a new experience that feels like unknown territory, like I'm back in elementary school, going on a field trip to visit the 'big kids'. I hope I can kick myself into high gear and assert myself into the work space. Sun Smile really does prioritize the importance and the benefits of having good dental health and giving people confidence in their smiles. With implants, crowns, fillers, dentures, braces, general cleaning, etc., they do what they can to ensure the safety and longevity of patient's teeth so they can enjoy eating, smiling, and overall living without mouth pain, decay, or staining. They also do their best to give welcoming customer care, relieving anxiety through the process, communicating well to convert difficult medical terms to something more easier to understand, taking their time frame into consideration, and more. It's truly another level of being selfless that I feel is universal in the medical field (hospital or medical expenses aside) but it's also time-consuming to have to consider every little thing that could be overlooked, which does equate to requiring more school and college debts. there's a lot that goes into committing to the medical field and I realize that I have yet to really know what I'm getting into. This is a challenge that I'm willing to accept because I am fascinated with what the environment looks like so far, I hope to learn more throughout my internship. My internship mentor is the Sun Smile Dental Group's owner and one of their two main dentists, Dr. Robert Lin. In my interview with him, I asked vaious brief questions about his profession, his organization, and etc. It was pretty overwhelming in content and details but I now feel a new and respectful light towards dentists and dentistry as a whole.
Dr. Robert is in charge of taking care of patients' teeth as a dentist but also juggles the responsibilities of owning his own dental office with regulations, laws, insurance, customer care, etc. The decision to be in the medical or the dental field normally doesn't start off as a clear goal, some choose to change their college majors if they find the right motivation and devotion to a certain career path. For my mentor, he was at first pursuing a psychology major and went through the whole process of shadowing and interning at the hospitals and clinics. He found that he wanted more work-life balance for his life, he didn't want to always be on call for work or have to deal with stress and trauma of heavy bodily injuries at random times of the day---which is completely understandable, it can mess you up a lot. As a dentist, you can set your own hours and get a good salary on your own terms. Like a doctor or a psychiatrist, it's the bustle of handling multiple patients at the same time but without the real consequences of someone's life. You would also need to love what you do because it's going to be the same work over and over again until you retire or die. Depending on the specialty of the profession, there is a lot that goes into helping people outside of the obvious technical skills. Listening is a huge one, people usually come to hospitals, clinics, private practices, etc. when they have a problem so being able to listen, interpret, and diagnose what could be wrong is a major part of learning how to help medically. Other skills like being calm under stress, multi-tasking, attention to detail, teamwork, and work ethic also help in providing the best service for your patients. Everything is towards being the best and the most useful to your patient's pains. If that means dedicating years upon years of your life and resources to achieve your dreams of helping people, you better be determined to follow all the way through to the end. From my first day at Sun Smile Dental on May 13th, 2019, I did pretty much the same as my career day. It wasn't too eventful and I still couldn't touch anything or help without interfering with the preference of the patient or the dentist. It was stressful to not be a burden if I can't do anything but I was struck by the difference in the staff that day. It seems like depending on the schedule, only so many professionals need to show up, as only my mentor and two dental assistants/receptionists clocked in. There are a lot of instances where we just wait for the next patient(s) and it was pretty bare once they left for lunch break. They do have long hours, which makes up for the waiting periods in between.
From just the other two employees beside my mentor, they all were close knit. Besides having to work and to support each other, the atmosphere is easy-going and it's adaptive to the dental procedures and patient care. I didn't get to properly meet most of the staff though. My internship is pretty unknown to the team so I need to work on my interpersonal skills, but I do have the rest of the month to work on it. For my internship, I'm not sure what I'm doing and I really hope I'm not the only one in my class to feel this way. I can't exactly interact with the patients outside of communication and more social type activities, which is pretty frustrating. I really wish I can apply myself into this work space but it's hard to without the training to do so. I did get an assignment for my school project though; they're planning to 're-vamp' their website and I'm helping to interview each employee for their biographies, which might be helpful in creating connections with everyone here. I really hope that I can do something meaningful here, even if it's just for updating their website. I'm excited to know more about each person in this work place. Especially due to their long periods of inactivity between work hours, Sun Smile is such an interesting environment with wonderful relationships. The professionals build off of each other and really get to know the patients and their teeth. I hope I can take away some of the work habits here when it comes to communicating with others, sharing information in a palpable way, and more because they're good skills to have in the future. Though I am worried that, by the end of the internship, I place a bad name for myself and High Tech High. It is hard for me to form connections here so far because of the lack of direct confrontation and timing, but I hope to utilize my one-on-one interviews as a way to get to know them and they get to know me. I really want these professionals to like me because I think that their roles in this work space is amazing and they're such nice people. I also hope that I can really capture who they are as a person in their biographies but failing this assignment might just be one in the many that will follow in the future. Wish me luck. For more clarification from my last blog post, I am interning at the Sun Smile Dental Group in San Marcos with their owner (and one of their dentists) Dr. Robert Lin. Because I can't exactly work with the patients or do anything as a normal college intern could, I'm stuck in a dilemma of figuring out my place in the work space.
I have yet to really establish a substantial project within this internship but during my career day, I was advised to do my best to research and observe what could be improved. Whether it's with patient's welfare/service, the materials used in dental procedures, etc., I believe this is a challenge that I will struggle with but I hope to leave a lasting impact by the time I leave in June. I'm excited to be in a work space for a specialty area of the career field that I want to go in. It's a rare opportunity that not many high schoolers get to experience and I don't want to let my school or my mentor down. I also hope to make a lot of good memories with the professionals as well as the patients in the dentist office, but it all depends on how I can handle myself in an environment where I can't do much outside of observing. I might need to communicate better with my mentor as well as past junior interns to get an idea of what I should do for my project. On May 2nd, 2019, I had my career day with my internship mentor Dr. Robert Lin from the Sun Smile Dental Group in San Marcos.
At first I thought a typical work day here would be repetitive and tedious but at the same time hectic. I wasn't necessarily wrong but the thing that I believe makes it so special or different is that every patient is so memorable in their own way. I was able to observe two patients in particular and revolve a bit within the dentists, dental assistants, and hygienist. It is a small business though, they deal with general dentistry with less than 10 staff embers and the hours are long with sometimes periods of empty office hours. Depending on what people need with their teeth and/or gums, the procedures and switch off between assistant and dentist could change, but I didn't get to really see much because my day there was slow. I never really had a chance to ask during my time in Sum Smile but from what I had observed or can conclude they're is a lot of 'free' time in their work days. I would think that employees are free to take breaks in between waiting for appointments, if they're already done with prepping, cleaning, filing, setting up appointments, etc. It was very quiet in that sense but in this time, the employees themselves could also do work on each other if a member of their team for that job was available (I got to see my mentor get a filling done by another dentist in the office named Dr. Murphy! It was wild). It also seems like appointments are a priority so anything that happens while waiting is up to the employee as long as it's relevant and professional. The dress code itself was very clean. It was mostly hospital/nurse scrubs with the exception of the lead dentist, my mentor, who wore a physician's lab coat and a business casual collar, tie, and slacks. I also got to wear a lab coat, so that was pretty exciting! I would think the purpose of their dress code is to appear professional and sanitary while being very practical for constant movement as well as easy visibility of staff versus patient. They also have a lot of special equipment that helps them access and fix teeth, such as surgical masks, goggles with magnified qualities (that bug out like mad scientist eye goggles), latex gloves, etc. It's pretty standard like as in hospitals or doctor's offices without the excess machinery. When I was at the office, Thursday is usually their late day so from 11 am to (an early excused leave at) 5 pm, I was able to explore their semi-small office and see a lot of cool aspects of a dentist's office. They had four cubicles? or rooms for patients with two offices (one for consultations), a waiting room, a reception desk, and a very tiny staff room. It was pretty awkward at first because I couldn't do anything without it being illegal and I didn't know that many people at the office. Everyone was so nice, the patients were really cool people and they had funny reactions to the numbing medicine, and the employees were very welcoming in answering my questions and asking me questions. Today, as I mentioned briefly before, it was pretty empty and everyone was weaving in and out between lunch, appointments, etc. I hope that for the rest of my internship, I can figure out my role in Sun Smile. I expect the professional world in there to be somewhat as I described a typical work day to be like but with the extra training and procedures that normal, day-to-day patients don't normally see. There is a lot that goes into the medical/dental field, they need to learn a lot of skills outside of their intended purposes in science studies, such as strong oral communication, stamina, flexibility, empathy, etc. This does fall into the skills I learn at HTHNC that might be useful in the future, such as: -Public speaking/Oral communication -Organizational skills -Work Ethic/Teamwork -Creativity in the work space ...and so much more. These skills I'd feel like would be very helpful in communicating with and reassuring patients with their consultations and procedures, connecting and working with my co-workers, etc. I hope to engage myself further into this kind of environment, I feel like it will be a good learning opportunity. |