Moving On Up: It’s Not All Roses

I am three days away from (finally) being a D4! It has been a long road, but these last three years have flown by at the same time. As carefree as I should be knowing that I will soon have five weeks off, seeing the current D4s frantically trying to complete their graduation requirements reminds me that D4 year isn’t all roses. One of the great aspects of the UofM School of Dentistry is the extensive outreach program that students participate in during their final year. These one- to two week long experiences show students what real-world dentistry is like, including working with trained dental assistants. At the same time, these opportunities allow us to serve patients throughout Michigan that may not otherwise receive necessary care. This program, though, is also not without drawbacks. The school scheduled our rotations for us and has taken a firm stance that those rotations are not to be changed. My schedule includes two weeks of outreach during the first weeks of June, followed by a one-week Oral Surgery rotation during the third week. With clinic closed to D4s until May 28, I have 8 appointment slots to offer between April 18 and June 23. I have coordinated with rising D3 students to provision care for my patients with the timeliest needs, but unfortunately, many of my patients will simply have to wait the two months for me to return full-time to continue their treatment plans. This delay rightfully frustrates my patient population at the School of Dentistry, and as a result I am trying to squeeze in six patients before the end of the week. This is a far cry from the relaxing finish to the semester I envisioned when our exam schedule was published earlier in the winter! Nevertheless, what’s right is right and the relaxing will have to wait until Saturday…

David Coviak, Class of 2014 graduated from the University of Michigan in 2008 and worked in IT at Clemson University before returning to UofM to begin dental school in 2010. Now in his third year, he is dedicating himself to writing daily and hopes to spend more time engaging in his hobbies of old.