NSU CDM Lasting Impressions Spring 2019

6 | COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE showing the exact spot. “Don’t touch the acrylic until the very end.” Not far away, two students work side by side with Vogel as a patient gets an exam. “Sometimes I rescue the students from a situation, sometimes I show them what to do, and sometimes I just say, ‘Good job.’” Vogel, who calls himself the team’s “dental dad,” said the setting is conducive to the mentoring process. “They stay with us for two years,” he explained. “The first year, we help them transition their theoretical- ideal simulation lab skills into real-life clinical basics and foundations. The second and final year is where we encourage them to take their next big step, learning to think and act on their own, become more efficient, and stretch their comfort zones.” “Every dental student is assigned a family of patients,” Godoy added. “D3s are paired with D4s. The idea is for the 4s to tutor the 3s, and they both benefit from that partnership.” Third-year student Karen Nachum said she’s only been working on the team five months and has already completed three denture cases. “I’ve had people on other teams call and ask me questions,” she said. “I’m so much more knowledgeable already. I’ve learned so much. I want to give my patients the best care and the best results, so if I have to spend more time doing things now, I know it’s going to pay off.” WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH While there’s a lot of tough love on Team 2, the students said they wouldn’t want it any other way. Morales was given the chance to leave the team when the D4 he was paired with asked to switch to a different group. “She wasn’t happy here,” he said, “and I had the option of going as well, but I knew that staying here was the right choice. Because, at the end of the day, you become the best.” Avakyan recalled an experience that solidified her knowledge that Team 2 was where she belonged. She had wanted to work on something extra, to learn something more. Godoy and Vogel encouraged her, so she created a study model of one of her patients. “Originally, he was to have a removable denture, but I had been working on this project as an extra,” Avakyan said. “When my patient saw this, he decided he wanted A Day in the Life Above, fourth-year dental student Gayane Avakyan thrives on the challenge of being a part of Team 2. At right, third-year student Trushen Patel, front, compiles data on a patient while third-year student Jorman Garcia continues treatment.