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Pre-Dental Conference 2010 - Hinman Dental Meetingwritten by Charlene Brown, pre-dental student at Georgia State University
For the 3rd year in a row, a meeting was held specifically for pre-dental students interested in attending dental school. Organized by Dr. Evis Babo of Peachtree Smile Center, this meeting was previously held at Spelman College's annual Health Professions Conference for an audience of over 50 students. This year the meeting made its debut at the 98th Annual Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting in Atlanta, Ga, March 25-27, 2010 at the Georgia World Congress Center. The conference featured 100s of exhibits, experts and speakers, and educational (CPE) courses and workshops, but the focal point for the pre-dental students was the meeting held at 2pm on Saturday, March 27, 2010. The keynote speaker, Dr. Carol Hanes, Associate Dean for Students, Admissions, and Alumni at Medical College of Ga (MCG) in Augusta, Ga discussed the admissions process, future growth plans for the school, and the DAT. Providing a student's perspective, Shannon Fatehi, gave an interesting presentation on the day in the life of an MCG dental school student. Approximately 65 eager students from schools in the southeast including Georgia State University and Emory University were also exposed to hands on activities, such as learning how to suture banana peels as "props" for gum tissue and placement of implants on models courtesy of Biomet 3i. Both activities were lead by Drs. Joyce Lee and Marya Barnes, respectively. The attendees, who didn't seem to mind sacrificing a beautiful Saturday afternoon, hopefully walked away from this event informed and rejuvenated about their chosen career path.
Outside of dental club meetings held locally at colleges/universities, this meeting is the only one of its kind. Speaking from a pre-dental student and attendee's perspective, I found the meeting to be invaluable and one that I highly recommend to others seeking a career in dentistry. With the projected above average growth in dentistry over the next decade, the need for exposure to the field is overwhelming. This exposure provides pre-dental students with opportunities to build a support system consisting of dentists who are interested in his/her success, gain insight on the admissions process, and find comfort in knowing that there are other students on the same journey. As a post-baccalaureate student, having worked in Corporate America, I have a great appreciation for this meeting since I know how scarce opportunities are to find support systems and mentors to guide you towards successfully achieving your goals.
With older dentists retiring, one of the issues in dentistry is lack of dentists to meet the needs of a growing population with increasing access to healthcare. Additionally, there is a lack of minority dentists. In an attempt to encourage young aspiring minds seeking this career path, pre-dental meetings such as this could be the catalyst to changing the trend. For diverse candidates whose exposure may be limited due to socio-economic factors impacting access and resources, lack of a support system is often detrimental to a minority candidate's success. Often times the interest and hunger for professional jobs in science-related fields is present but that fire is extinguished by the time the individual has reached teenage years. It is in these years when students, especially minority students, would significantly benefit from a group of successful dentists and administrators reaching out to show them the way.
In retrospect, I understand the potential life-changing experience that exposure of this nature could have had on me at a critical time in my life when choosing a career path. If I had had the opportunity to attend pre-dental meetings to make connections and gather information in a supportive environment, perhaps the road to dentistry wouldn't have been as bumpy a ride. However, I find great comfort in knowing that an initiative organized by Dr. Babo and her teammates a few years ago has now grown into an annual event attracting larger audiences. Perhaps, by starting here in Atlanta, Ga, over time we'll begin to see a negative trend take a turn for the better one pre-dental meeting at a time.
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