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  • Writer's pictureRuhee Jaffer

Everything I Wish I Knew as a D1

This is by far the best 4 years of your life. Here are some tips to make it the best experience ever.

Dear ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ž๐ง๐ญ, โฃ โฃ I am so excited about the incredible four year journey you are about to embark on! Here are all the things I want you to know (๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ) โฃ โฃ 1๏ธโƒฃ ๐‡๐€๐•๐„ ๐…๐”๐! Donโ€™t forget this and stay passionate. You worked so hard to get where you are, but the real work is just about to start. ๐˜’๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ and keep looking at the big picture. This is where you always wanted to be! And the ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ thing keeping you from being that amazing dentist you always aspired to become is four years. But believe me these are undoubtedly the ๐›๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ’ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž.โฃ โฃ 2๏ธโƒฃ Your most ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ resource - Your UPPER ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง. Alright so the D2s were literally just where you are right now. Who better to guide you than the ones who ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต hustled through the craziness of simlab, juggling quizzes, tests, perfecting the explorer grasp, provisionals, impressions, waxups and conquering the learn-a-prep. โฃ โฃ 3๏ธโƒฃ ๐’๐“๐Ž๐ ๐Ÿ›‘ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ. This is something I wish I realized earlier on I would have had a few extra nights of good sleep and about 55 less wrinkles. Alright so thereโ€™s going to be classmates of yours that were born with the hands of Picasso and literally may not even need to try that hard because the hand gods are always smiling down on them. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜•๐˜–๐˜› ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ. I had to put the sweat, tears, and many extra hours in simlab. And thatโ€™s ok because I worked for it and that was ๐Œ๐˜ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ. Everybody has different strengths, and you will discover that as you go through school. โฃ โฃ 4๏ธโƒฃ Do not be afraid to ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ. Your faculty and TAโ€™s really are there for YOU. Yup! Thatโ€™s right they are here to teach you the ropes, but they are ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด. If you donโ€™t understand a concept ask immediately. Itโ€™s so easy to fall behind or worse yet pick up bad habits (or wrong habits) if you donโ€™t get assistance along the way. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆโฃ โฃ 5๏ธโƒฃ ๐†๐ž๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐. This was my greatest joy. I was lucky to be involved in organized dentistry (#CDAproud#CDAproud) as the CDA rep for my class. And along the way added a bunch of other things to make my dental school experience more whole. Community service, mobile clinics, Dr. Stat, student research group, volunteering at skid row, externships, inter professional educational opportunities, and special patients selective to name a few. My goal in dental school was to ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ - so become that โ€œ๐ฒ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐งโ€ you wonโ€™t regret it โฃ โฃ 6๏ธโƒฃ There is no competition, other than with ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ. Dentistry is a highly team-based collegiate profession so all your classmates will be your colleagues. ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ with each other, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ each other, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ to each other, and make the bestest friends of your life here. โฃ โฃ 7๏ธโƒฃ Donโ€™t allow ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง to be your greatest enemy. Strive for continuous ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ. As type A personalities it is so hard to get ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ and stuck when we are always trying to achieve perfection. I did this and it was really painful. It hindered my progress and I honestly was critical of my self and ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ. In dental school you are juggling multiple things, and canโ€™t afford this to happen.


Please reach out to me if you have any questions it was so great meeting a bunch of you yesterday. You can also follow me on Instagram @toothfairydiaries

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