News from Student Chapter Registrations
The Student Chapter at Iowa State University would like to use donated funds to contribute to the education of the students that rely on our club for additional information about dentistry. At our school in particular, dentistry problems are covered for one lecture in the traditional curriculum unless you take the dentistry elective, which is online only and does not provide the same level of education as hands on experience. Money donated to the club would help to cover expenses for wetlab supplies (gloves, polish, tools, etc.) as well as help us to bring in more speakers that are dentistry experts or enthusiasts. We are quite limited in the number of veterinary dentists in Iowa (one boarded dentist at the moment), so we often have to bring in speakers from elsewhere but cannot provide this to our club as much as we would like due to our club having limited funds. Many speakers require an honorarium or travel costs, which our small club is unfortunately not able to cover.
Western University of Health Sciences (CA) would like to expand the club and have more opportunities for the members to explore the veterinary dental field.
At Michigan State College of Veterinary Medicine the Student Chapter would like to use funds to host wet labs. The most common oral health procedure we will likely be performing is extractions. It is essential that we graduate with the knowledge and skill set to: 1. assess and determine if a tooth needs to be extracted, and 2. efficiently extract that tooth with proper technique. The Dentistry Club will be planning a wet lab involving cadaver extractions. During this wet lab, our advisor, Dr. Moore, will be demonstrating the appropriate technique, while assisting us to ensure that we are utilizing the technique appropriately. Extraction technique is not something that can be effectively learned by watching, so this will be a very hands-on experience. It is most ethical to practice these techniques on cadavers before practicing them on live animals.
The Ohio State University Student Chapter would like to use the funds to fund their lunch lectures and materials for our wetlabs such as gloves, syringes, saline and other minor lab equipment for practice extractions, charting teeth, and nerve blocks.
The University of Illinois will be using funds donated to their club for funding of additional labs and lectures. The club is active in adding new and educational opportunities to students every year. Next year they are planning on adding a Beakistry Wetlab as well as an equine oral pathologies wetlab that will both need additional funding.
The Student Chapter at University of Minnesota would love to host more wet labs to give students more opportunities to practice these valuable skills. One lab we would like to do is rabbit extractions, both intra and extra oral approach. We have also reached out to technical programs to inquire about starting a project that would involve both CVT students and DVM students. The idea is to work on client communication, physical exam, anesthetic protocols, anesthetic monitoring, oral radiographs, blocking, and extractions with live patients. From the President of the Chapter when asked if she had attended the 2018 Veterinary Dental Forum – “It was wonderful! I’ve personally gone for the last 5 years running, and every year I learn more and get a renewed sense of passion for veterinary dentistry.”