Yesterday we had 6 First Year students from the International Medical University drop in for a visit.

For the past few years we play host to students both in first year and in their third year from IMU. They come in to watch us work and learn about how a private dental clinic operates.

One of the objectives is to learn about patient-doctor interaction, learn good dental practice management and have them begin their journey towards being successful in their careers.

This year we had Jessica Tan, Lim Mei Xian, Deborah Tiong, Darren Tan, David Tan and Jason Phang.

Deborah is from Sibu, Sarawak, Jason from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, and Darren … reserved Darren’s father is a dentist in Singapore … all his siblings except for the youngest sister who is still in school, have embarked on dentistry as a profession! Jessica, Mei Xian and David were from the Klang Valley.

I asked them why they chose Dentistry. They had many different answers … it didn’t matter really what got them moving towards this career … what is more important is they begin to enjoy the journey and ultimately being a dentist … and that can be pretty difficult especially so in the first few years, when the studying and course work is tough.

They got to see so many different procedures yesterday! Patients kindly consented to let them watch a Zoom! Whitening procedure, a makeover, removal of an impacted tooth, scaling, cementing a crown … amongst others.

More importantly I think, they got to see that Dentistry can actually be fun for both the patients and the dentist … they got to see how being friendly and building happy relationships where the dentist truly cares for the patients, make work not seem like work.

It was such a joy to host these aspiring students!

They may not believe or see it yet, but they have begun the journey to a potentially very fulfilling career.

I love my job … and they could love their jobs too!