When I started my internship, I was unsure what to expect. Since I had an interest in dentistry or orthodontics as possible careers, I interned at a local dentist office to observe how it felt to be a dentist. I knew the fundamental components of being a dentist, and I learned through my career exploration report more facts about dentistry, like its average salary or its job availability, but I lacked information about the finer details of dentistry. As I started my internship, I hoped to learn more about dentistry as a possible career, and decide whether dentistry was the right career path to follow. In the end, I found clear results to my goals.

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At the beginning of the internship, I was mostly uninvolved. Each day of my internship, I would drop off my backpack, grab my notes, watch my mentor, Dr. McClure, perform operations, eat lunch during the midday break, and continue observing Dr. McClure perform procedures until the dentist’s office closed. After the first week of being an intern, dentistry felt slightly boring. As I watched Dr. McClure perform operations, I took notes over the steps and other information of the procedures. While I was interested to learn more about each of the operations that Dr. McClure performed, watching procedures and taking notes started to disinterest me, especially since the same operations often occurred several times on a daily basis. Each day had at least eight regular checkups, one crown readjustment, and one composite filling; I could only write so much about the procedures on a daily basis.

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Since I started to lose my interest in dentistry, Dr. McClure assigned a task to me to regain my curiosity for the subject. Even though this was not exactly a project, Dr. McClure told me to research further into dentistry on my own. Nearly every day, Dr. McClure would ask me questions to look into at home to discuss during the day after. These questions varied from simple inquiries (such as “What are deciduous teeth?” or “What are the numberings of the teeth?”) to complex prompts (such as “What is alginate compression material, what is it composed of, how is it used and why is it so useful?”). Even though the research topics were sometimes quite shallow or plain, this endeavor helped return my excitement for dentistry. The more that I engaged myself in dentistry, the more that I wanted to learn, which fueled my fascination with dentistry. Furthermore, my task helped me learn much more about dentistry than I could only learn through the internship.

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In addition to my assignment, I also aided Dr. McClure and the dental technicians with some of the daily parts of dentistry, like sterilizing instruments and developing X-Ray photographs, also known as radiographs. About halfway into the internship, Dr. McClure allowed me to assist in cleaning the dental utensils, like scalers, mirrors and explorers. The process for cleaning the instruments was quite easy. First, all the materials would pass through the preliminary sterilization device, which was effectively a vibrating box filled with boiling water. After preliminary sterilization, the materials would dry off and prepare for bagging. The materials had to be in specific sets during the bagging for Dr. McClure and the dental technicians to use. After proper bagging, the materials would pass through the secondary sterilization device, which was effectively a machine that steamed the materials inside the bag. Finally, after cooling, the materials were ready for use again. In addition to sterilization, I also aided Dr. McClure and the dental technicians in preparing and cleaning radiographs. Even though modern dentists use digital pictures of essays instead of physical photographs, I learned how to process radiographs anyways. To prepare an radiograph, I soaked pictures with photographic developer for five minutes in a darkroom, then soaked the pictures in water for another five minutes, and finally cleaned off the film. I enjoyed these activities, since they engaged me and increased my interest in dentistry. More importantly, these activities helped prepare me to become a dentist. From these devices and activities, I learned and practiced how to sterilize tools and finish producing radiographs, activities I would need to perform on a daily basis if I were a dentist.

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By the end of the internship, experienced much more about dentistry. Where I had entered with only a small amount of knowledge, I left with much more information about many aspects of dentistry. From this internship, I learned the number classifications of teeth, names for areas of the teeth, each type of tooth, and many other pieces of dental content. Furthermore, I delved more into the skills and qualifications needed to become a dentist, the various operations a dentist performs, and the other duties a dentist performs beyond cleaning teeth. However, I think this internship benefited me most from its effect on my future. I was interested in dentistry coming into the internship, but I was unsure if I truly wanted to pursue dentistry. At the end of the internship, I felt strongly about pursuing dentistry and orthodontics more than other fields of medicine, like pediatrics or ophthalmology. My internship greatly defined my plans for my future. While I occasionally found dentistry to be dull, I enjoyed witnessing Dr. McClure perform procedures and I did not mind helping with the smaller tasks, like sterilization or radiograph development. In addition, my mentor suggested colleges to explore if I wished to pursue dentistry, such as the University of Dayton and the Ohio State University. I could realistically see myself in the future as a dentist or an orthodontist after taking part in this internship. For these reasons, I am glad to have participated in my internship, and I think I could not have made my decision to continue exploring dentistry without it.