Monthly Archives: June 2009

www.DMDstudent.com Dental Student Scholarship

I have been toying with the idea for a while to start a scholarship that is sponsored by this website.  My only problem is that the income for this website doesn’t exceed the cost of running the website.  Despite this minor setback I am going to try and set up a small scholarship at first and gradually work up to something larger as I graduate and move on to earning some more money.

Let me first talk a little about scholarships as a dental student.  I have applied for maybe a dozen scholarships while in dental school and have won one of these scholarships which was worth $1500.00 big ones.  This was a couple of years ago and I think it was at a crunch in my budget and most of the money went towards my monthly rent and some bills.  It was still nice to have the extra money for a short while.  I know several of my classmates who have won several $500.00 scholarships, and a few who have won $25,000.00 a year.  Most scholarships are easy to apply for and your school should have an advisor that is aware of available scholarships.

In my experiance dental scholarships come in a few different categories and some are only awarded if you meet specific criteria.  There are needs based scholarships where your parents may have to meet certain income requirements.  There are scholarships that are only awarded if you meet other criteria such as gender, race, state of residency, religion, etc.  There are also scholarships based on merit and how well you perform in a certain class or overall.

Most likely your state dental association has a scholarship that you can apply for as well.  Find out which ones you qualify for and apply to as many as you can.

Most scholarships have you write an essay.  This essay can be tweaked a little bit and you can use the same essay for most of the scholarships you apply for.  Some scholarships will ask a specific question that you need to answer in essay form.  Whatever the case the scholarship essay should be well written with the intent of catching the readers attention and making them pick you over the other 500 people with an essay written exactly like yours.

The scholarship that I am going to offer is as follows:

The award is for $20.00!!!!!!  I know, amazing!

The criteria:

  1. You must be subscribed to this website.  Click on subscribe, enter your email address, and then confirm your account by visiting your email address.  Check your junk mail if you don’t get a confirmation email.
  2. You must be a dental student. Tell me your name and the dental school and graduating class you are in.
  3. You must be going to a dental school in the U.S.
  4. Answer the following two questions in a half page or less: Why do you like dental school? and How does DMDstudent.com help you. It can be a story, an experience, etc.
  5. Submit the essay with a picture of your dental work.  You know I like dental photo’s!
  6. Deadline is OCTOBER 1st, 2009
  7. I will read all the essays and look at all the pictures and choose my favorite ten.  I will then pick from a hat out of those ten and the winner will be notified and sent twenty smackers!
  8. SUBMIT everything to templedmdstudent@gmail.com
  9. By submitting your essay you agree that I can use your picture and essay on this website if I choose.  I will use initials for your name though.
  10. Finally, I am looking for something funny and creative.  I am the one choosing the winner after all and I would like to be entertained!

GOOD LUCK! If this is succesful then look for more lucrative opportunities in the future!

I Love Gold Crowns + Photos

I think one of the fun things to do in dental school is making a gold crown.  I’ll tell you why – as a student you have the control!  After the prep and impression are taken you can decide when to pour up the models, mount them, wax the tooth and cast it.  There are some steps in between to get signed off by faculty, but ultimately the control is in the students hands.  There is no lab slip, no lab time, and no chance for a potential mess up by the lab.  I have recently been working on a gold crown for #18.  Everything has gone very smooth and I am pleased with the outcome.  When a gold crown is treatment planned you will want to take the following steps (this is mostly for Temple Dental students).

1.  The patient has to pay AT LEAST half of the cost of the crown.  At Temple we charge $350.00 which is a steal!  If the patient can pay in full then get them to pay up front, it makes life easier.

2. After they paid, go and get an approval form and fill it out.  Take the approval form to a clinical coordinator so they can stamp it.  After it is stamped, go through the checklist on the form and make sure you have everything done in the chart.  You have to make sure the recall is done, signatures are up to date, etc.

3. Put the form in the chart and submit it to the AEGD window for approval.  This takes 24 hours.  After this time period the chart can be found back in central records.  Go pick the chart up and see if your plan is approved.

4. If you are approved you can get your patient in and start treatment. If not, fix what you are missing and resubmit your form.

Here is the crown I have been working on for the last few weeks (total of 3 appointments for a parapost and composite buildup and prep and impression).  I plan to cement it within the next week.

gold crown on die in articulator

shiny!

gold crown on die in articulator

gold crown on die in articulator

gold crown on die in articulator

gold crown on die in articulator

gold crown on die margins

gold crown on die

Othe reasons to like gold crowns:

Typically there are less appointments because there is not a coping try-in step before porcelain.  The margins always come out better (at least for me).  Gold is simply awesome to look at.

Hope you enjoy the case!

P.S.  I tried to get the bridge, but the patient just wanted to get the crown done. FYI!