I saw two patients for adult prophy (basic cleaning) appointments on Friday.  Both of them were very friendly and were in great moods, because who isn’t on a Friday? I finished early for both appointments, so I had a nice long lunch and was able to leave a little early on Friday afternoon.  At our clinic we have two appointments per day 8:30am-11:30 and 1:00pm-4:00.  If your appointment doesn’t take the whole time you can assist a classmate or help them get cleaned up.  I have a great group of colleagues in my CCU (comprehensive care unit); we all help each other out on a daily basis.  Our class of 60 is split into 4 CCUs for our clinical experiences (end of 2nd year through 4th year).  It’s nice to work in smaller “departments” because it allows for more interaction with faculty.

I’m getting really excited about selecting rotation sites for fourth year.  We go on one externship which can be done in a public health dental setting virtually anywhere in the world and then we go on three rotations to community health centers for 4-6 weeks at a time.  The sad part is that our class will be split into two rotation blocks and people on opposite blocks will only see each other once or twice at school in the whole 4th year!  I’m planning to rotate to places that I’ve never been and would not otherwise be able to spend a month.  The only one I would like to request for sure is one in Maine.  I have always wanted to visit ever since I read a book that was set on the coast of Maine…the imagery in the novel was enough to make me want to spend a month there at some point in my life.  My mom wants to come visit me in Maine, and it’s funny because she just read a story set in Maine too.

This weekend was nice because I took a break from all school work as soon as I left the clinic on Friday.  Myself and few of my classmates and their significant

others, as well as a friend from outside school and her fiance, and my bofriend all went to Theatre 168 in Scottsdale on Friday night.  The Jesterz are an improv troupe who take suggestions from the audience and create “instant hilarity” on the spot.  For $12 a person, the comedy was hard to beat.  We all walked out with our abs feeling worked out and cheeks that hurt from laughing.  I highly suggest going!

Saturday was a time to cheer on my favorite football team, the University of Nebraska Huskers!  There are a few other husker fans at the school and I have a friend who recently graduated and moved out here to AZ for work and we all get together to cheer on our team.  We went to 1st Round Draft, a bar and grill who claims to be the “Husker Headquarters,” we were slightly disappointed with how mellow the crowd was.  We’re planning to keep trying out all of the so-called Husker bars to find the best place to view!

We had friends over for a game night Saturday and had another night full of laughs that stemmed from Catchphrase and Cranium–both are great group games.

Today I’m writing a few public health papers that I wish I had gotten done earlier in the week, but here I sit.  Ha!  I have one down and one to go and then time to hit the pool while the sun is still up.  Hope you enjoyed the synopsis of my wonderful, much needed weekend!

Stay tuned

My name is Lillie Pitman and I am a third year dental student in Arizona and I absolutely love it.  It’s hard to identify myself as anything but a dental student these days.

A little bit about me: I grew up in Northern California (yeah Nor-Cal!) and was introduced to dentistry at an early age.  My mom was an assistant for a Periodontist and I was always intrigued by her stories about surgery.  A periodontist is someone who specializes in treating the supporting structures of the teeth (ie: the gingiva, bone, etc…) and the diseases and conditions that affect them.

I started working for the same periodontist when I was 13 years old, as a front office helper, doing filing and answering phones, scheduling appointments and running errands.

Once I started high school, I worked after school; I helped in the lab with sterilization, cleaned operatories and helped the front office ladies with whatever they needed.  Up to that point, I never saw dentistry as a future career.  When I started college, I was planning to pursue a degree in social work, because I loved doing community work and helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

It was right around that time when the periodontist trained me as his surgical assistant.  After interacting with the patients, helping with tissue grafts, bone regeneration, implant placement and osseous surgeries, I fell in love with perio and knew that it was the field for me.  As a little girl I remember loving to watch surgeries on the Discovery channel, so I think perio was just in the stars for me! Â

I am thankful for my mentor Dr. Cole for helping me get to where I am today and opening my eyes to the possibilty of being a periodontist.  I never envisioned myself becoming a dentist…no one in my family had ever graduated college and I am going to be the first doctor in my family.  I am thankful everyday for the opportunities I have by following a career in dentistry.

I am now trying to find a perio program that is a good fit for me.   I’ll be applying for residency in a year from now.  I am interested in clinical periodontology as well as public health dentistry and am not sure what my career will look like yet.

So that is me in a nutshell and I hope I can be of assistance to you as you follow your dreams.