Our biology lecture revolved around diabetes. I know many people who have diabetes, but I have never understood the biology behind the illness. The best part of our day was hearing a dentist talk about the effect of diabetes on her surgical treatments for patients.
A periodontist came in to speak to us. The dental scholars really appreciated this lecture because most of our speakers have been medicine-oriented. Our speaker showed before and after pictures of bone drafts, gingivectomy, orthodontic expose, implant surgery, and many other painful-looking problems. One problem that stood out for me was one patient who was more concerned about looking good, but not actually caring about the health of their teeth. They wanted straight teeth, but had big problems with calculus ("hardened dental plaque," according to Wikipedia), basic personal hygiene care, gingivitis, etc.
Medically compromised patients are patients that are smokers or have diabetes, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Since today's biology focus was about diabetes, our periodontist speaker told us about her experiences with diabetic patients. One patient she had was a diabetic who lived as if she did not have diabetes---no exercise, poor home health care, no blood sure checking, etc. Our speaker said she refused to do surgery on her because she knew that her patient would not heal well.
The main point of our talk was that "diabetes does not cause periodontal disease. It alters the body's response to periodontal disease, thus making the condition worse." Diabetics are also twice as likely to have bone loss. The best thing that can be done for diabetics is to control their diabetes.
After lunch, we had our very last writing skills workshop. Today's focus was writing your personal statement. I have started drafting my own personal statement. My RA was so kind to read what I've written so far and offer her advice. The best piece of advice I've gotten so far about writing my personal statement is to make it creative and strong by relating each statement I make with a compelling, personal experience. A personal statement should not be like a resume. So...I'm working on it!!
A periodontist came in to speak to us. The dental scholars really appreciated this lecture because most of our speakers have been medicine-oriented. Our speaker showed before and after pictures of bone drafts, gingivectomy, orthodontic expose, implant surgery, and many other painful-looking problems. One problem that stood out for me was one patient who was more concerned about looking good, but not actually caring about the health of their teeth. They wanted straight teeth, but had big problems with calculus ("hardened dental plaque," according to Wikipedia), basic personal hygiene care, gingivitis, etc.
Medically compromised patients are patients that are smokers or have diabetes, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Since today's biology focus was about diabetes, our periodontist speaker told us about her experiences with diabetic patients. One patient she had was a diabetic who lived as if she did not have diabetes---no exercise, poor home health care, no blood sure checking, etc. Our speaker said she refused to do surgery on her because she knew that her patient would not heal well.
The main point of our talk was that "diabetes does not cause periodontal disease. It alters the body's response to periodontal disease, thus making the condition worse." Diabetics are also twice as likely to have bone loss. The best thing that can be done for diabetics is to control their diabetes.
After lunch, we had our very last writing skills workshop. Today's focus was writing your personal statement. I have started drafting my own personal statement. My RA was so kind to read what I've written so far and offer her advice. The best piece of advice I've gotten so far about writing my personal statement is to make it creative and strong by relating each statement I make with a compelling, personal experience. A personal statement should not be like a resume. So...I'm working on it!!