Aspiring Dentists Get a Head Start at Stony Brook
“Discover Dental” gives undergraduates hands-on education and training
Stony Brook, NY, August 20, 2014 – Undergraduate students interested in entering the field of dentistry came from 40 colleges and 15 states nationwide to participate in Stony Brook University’s Discover Dental School Summer Scholars Program. They gained hands-on experience in an environment that simulated clinical practice and emerging technologies. The annual one-week intensive educational program runs in August each year at the School of Dental Medicine and is among the most comprehensive of its kind nationwide.
This year’s 54 participants came from a number of New York colleges and universities including Stony Brook University, Columbia University, New York University and Adelphi, as well as a variety of undergraduate institutions nationwide, such as Washington University, Boston University, Notre Dame and the University of Tennessee.
“The need for dentists is increasing due to many retiring dentists and our growing and aging population that is in need of oral healthcare services,” said Ann Nasti, DMD, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of General Dentistry, and Director of the Discover Dental School Summer Scholars Program. “Learning about new practices and technologies affords these prospective dental students a true sense of the profession and its direction.”
The School of Dental Medicine’s faculty, residents and students instructed the participants during each of the training modules.
This program introduced students to some of the most recent revolutionary technologies in the dental field such as 3D microscopic vision to enhance active learning for endodontic procedures, CAD/CAM technologies which allow for one visit crown appointments and the CompuDent Wand System, which is a system that provides painless injections for all routine procedures.
The hands-on training took place at the Thomas and Nicolina Nasti Simulation Laboratory, a high-technology training classroom, which stimulates a dental care environment and at Stony Brook University’s Center for Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety.
Applications for the 2015 program will be available December 1, 2014. See this webpage.
Participants were trained in new technologies, such as giving painless injections using The Wand.
Students performed simulated endodontic procedures utilizing revolutionary 3D video technology.
The undergraduate students had their first exposure to preparing and restoring cavities.
