HOW I KEEP MY MOTIVATION

This was in my vision board last year... I chose the name of my “future startup”, bought the domain jadedentistry.com, chose the logo, and picked a date for opening and designed this “invitation card”. I was planning to spend 12-18 months to build a startup so 11/2021 would be reasonable.

Then Covid hit! I thought I had to delay my plan. There’s no way in a million year that I would imagine running from collecting unemployment benefit to becoming an owner in 6 months. The startup plan is now back to the closet but I found me my home with the group of excellent people that I am hoping to work with for years to come.

I am renewing my vision board the 2021 so thought to share about the last one with my friends and family. You guys can tell that I truly believe in vision board. When you have your goals right in front of your eyes day in and day out, you will keep motivated. Another benefit: you will hold yourself accountable because now everyone visiting your house/room can see these goals too. Things won’t happen until you write it down.

Here’s how to do it:

1) Go to the dollar store and buy $1 poster board.

2) Print out pictures or short words of what you want to happen in a month/year.

3) Stick/glue it to the board.

4) Hang the board where you can easily see it every day (even hang it in the restroom if you want to ).

Cheaper version: use lots of colored pens and highlighters to write down your goals on a sheet of paper and tape it anywhere you want (following step 4)

THE BIGGEST JUMP OF MY LIFE

Hi my lovelies, it has been a few months since my last blog post. I hope you all are doing well these days. We are approaching the end of 2020 and the world is still spinning in a weird way. The life as we used to know was just a few months ago but feels like a century apart. Crazy right? What is even crazier is the thing that I am about to share with you all: I became the owner of a beautiful dental clinic named Avalon Family Dentistry.

 My family’s first reaction when I told them about my plan: Are you sure? We are in the middle of a pandemic! That is absolutely understandable. Who in the right mind would look for a practice to acquire when dentistry in the U.S had to stop operating for months? I was scared to say the least, but when I came across a wonderful clinic with an excellent team, I knew in my gut this was meant to be.

It all started during my unemployed time. I have always been wanting to have my own clinic since I was still in Vietnam. I longed for a place to call home and settle down after so many years living far away from family. My initial plan after graduating from CU was working for 2-3 years before having my own place. When the pandemic hit, the dream was far-fetched as the future became so uncertain. I didn’t know how dentistry would be after the shut-down. I didn’t know if I still had a job after coming back. However, I know this was the time for a new plan with a better preparation. I started talking to people asking for guidance and in the middle of that, I was introduced to a wonderful doctor – who eventually agreed for me to take over her clinic. It was not an easy decision for her as her initial plan was to retire in 5,6 years. It was not an easy decision for me either because my thought was to prepare for next year after the pandemic has passed. It was really scary to apply for a huge loan on top of my huge student loan to say the least. But I had to! It’s not every day that you would come to a dental clinic and feel like home.

It has been more than one month since the day all paperwork was done and I got the key. It was a simple key set, but it is the result of years of hard work and dedication. There are still many things to do and to learn, but I have great confidence this will work out. When I met the team for the first time, I told them I would try my best to maintain the legacy and I do mean it! I always believe that good thing will come when we treat other people with respect and love.

As many people have known my stories, I was devastated around this time 5 years ago when I couldn’t get any student loan to attend dental school despite getting accepted by CU. My dream was so close yet so far away without the loan. My mom worked two jobs to support my siblings through college and I just couldn’t ask more from her. If you told me how my life would be in 5 years, I would never believe it. My mom still asks herself if this is real until now. I hope that through my journey, you all will see what’s possible and find courage to follow through with your dream. All the impossible is possible with resilience and dedication. Don’t give up. You never know when one moment and one small decision can change the course of your life forever.

Best of luck and keep believing in your dream!

10 THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR

I know it is not Thanksgiving yet, but it doesn’t cause any harm to express some gratitude, isn’t it? I just got my first two weeks of unemployment insurance (UI) and I am so so happy about that. I know being unemployed is never a good thing, but let’s focus on the bright side today.

1) I am thankful for my unemployment money because it can cover my rent, utility, car, even my brother’s rent (I’m in charge of that since he’s still a uni student) without me touching my savings. Of course, I still have to spend a little bit from the savings for things necessary but I always think three, four times before spending.

2) I am thankful that I actually have savings. I applied for UI two weeks ago and got denied. I knew it was only a system error and eventually I would get it approved so I was not panicked. However, it is the unknown that easily scares people since you don’t know when the check will come.

3) I am thankful that I have a job allowing me to have savings. So many people live paycheck to paycheck while I am lucky enough to have 2-month savings. I know a lot of doctors, dentists saying that they had to sacrifice so many years studying and working hard to earn the title and the lifestyle, so this is fair. Hey, a lot of people work hard as well if not even more without ever having an opportunity to change their destiny. Therefore, I am thankful for the career, the opportunity that CU gave me and all the help I have.

4) I am thankful that I can visit my family anytime I want (of course I only visit my direct family for now) and have a home cook meal. It is a blessing and doesn’t require any further explanation.

5) I am thankful that my family is still healthy. As I mentioned before, there are several family members contracting the virus but they all recovered. Things could be worse.

6) I am thankful that I have a place to live. A nice cozy apartment that I am proud of and I have to restrain myself from décor too much (my pleasure guilt).

7) I am thankful that I wake up every day simply deciding if I should drink tea or coffee for the morning and what to eat instead of thinking how I survive the day.

8) I am thankful to have a great support system from family and friends. I have so many wonderful people in my life that I think of almost every day (although I may not text or call all of you guys).

9) I am thankful that I have many hobbies to dive into during this special time. It’s a matter of choosing which hobby I want to do today.

10) I am thankful for my life in general. I’ve read somewhere that if you have a roof above your head, food to put into your mouth and a dream/goal to pursue, you are luckier than 90% people on Earth. In that case, I think I hit a jackpot.

I believe that even in the darkest hours, we can still find something to be thankful about. Thinking about all the bad things happening right now doesn’t make us less suffering or make the situation brighter. If you have to think anyway, try something positive.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON INBDE #2

1) I am confused about INBDE exam pattern!! Can you please tell me more about it?

The INBDE is actually Integrated-NBDE, which means they combine NBDE Part 1 and NBDE Part 2 into ONE exam. Therefore, instead of taking TWO different exams on different days (Part 1 first and then take Part 2 after that), you can now take ONE exam and get it done.

•  Imagine Iphone 10 vs Iphone 11 – different versions, different looks but the core concept is the same with Siri, App store, Itunes etc. Part 1&2 are Iphone 10. INBDE is Iphone 11 – they don’t produce Iphone 10 anymore, only Iphone 11

So, the format is changing but not the content of the whole NBDE thingy. You will still need to have knowledge of both basic science (Part 1 content) as well as dentistry (Part 2 content). New format doesn’t mean you can study less! They will ask questions from both Part 1 and Part 2 in the new exam INBDE.

The ONLY difference between the old and new format is the TIME you spend from applying to passing the exams.

• Old format: Applying for Part 1 —> Take Part 1 (1 day) —> Pass —> Applying for Part 2 —> Take Part 2 (1.5 days) —> Pass

• New format: Applying for INBDE —> Take INBDE (1.5 days) —> Pass

2) Is it written exam or computerized exam?

It is computerized. You will have multiple choice type questions on computer.

Be mindful, when you read info from ADA, you will notice that NBDEs (both old and new versions) are still considered “WRITTEN” exams to distinguish with the Board “CLINICAL” exams where you have to treat patients in front of a committee (also the most important requirement to get license in any state – but I will not go into that topic today). You will take NBDEs/INBDE before applying for International Dentist Programs and the Board Clinical Exam after graduating from that program.

3) Which one do you feel easier? Taking Part 1 & 2 or INBDE?

First of all, if you are still considering taking Part 1 now and have NOT studied for it yet, I will say forget about the old version and just focus on the new version – INBDE. The Part 1 will have the cut-off day on May 31 as the last day you can take it, which is less than 2 months from now.

If you have been preparing for NBDE Part 1 and now facing the choice either going for Part 1 & Part 2 route or INBDE route, I will say INBDE is easier. Why?

• Regarding the stress, INBDE is less stressful because you can finish the exam in 1.5 days. You don’t have to apply for 2 exams, pay money for 2 exams, wait for the response from JCNDE twice, go to test center twice, wait for the results twice, spend 2.5 days for exams (1 day for Part 1 and 1.5 days for Part 2). Imagine how much stress you have for the old route! Less stress = better performance

• Regarding the number of questions, you will have 500 questions in the INBDE comparing to 900 with the old route (450 questions for each exam). Believe me, my brain was fried at the end of Part 1 day so I was exhausted just to think of Part 2 let alone taking it. After taking Part 2, I couldn’t study anything for months as there were no brain cells left (just kidding but that’s how I felt). 500 questions are way better than 900.

• Regarding the content, INBDE requires you to have the same knowledge as with the old route. However, due to fewer questions, they will be very likely to ask questions about very important concepts (how our teeth occlude, the distribution of the Trigeminal nerve, etc) rather than small details (like Krebs cycle or how protein turns into fat). I feel like INBDE is more similar to Part 2 content than Part 1 content, so it is easier for me to understand and apply the information (I was dying every day studying Biochem and Physiology – they are no joke).

 If you want to know more about how to study/prepare for these exams, check out these posts Study for Part 2/INBDE or Question and Answer on INBDE #1!

If you have any other questions about NBDE/INBDE, don’t hesitate to contact me by sending me a message right down below or contact me on Instagram/Facebook/Youtube. This topic will continue to be confusing until they officially discontinue the old version of NBDE and have only one option to choose (INBDE). There is no stupid question as I understand how confusing it can be with one option let alone two options like right now (When I took Part 1 in 2014, there was no old vs new format discussion). Good luck on your exam preparation and stay safe!

Love,

Cuộc sống ở Mỹ thời Virus

1) Ở Mỹ bị bệnh có bị cách ly hay không?

Không! Ở Mỹ bị bệnh thì cũng chỉ cách ly ở nhà, và những người ở cùng nhà được khuyến cáo tạm nghỉ làm 14 ngày. Chuyện lương bổng thì tuỳ trường hợp – nếu người nhà có thể làm việc online thì vẫn làm việc bình thường không cần vào công ty, còn nếu người nhà không thể làm việc online thì sẽ được nghỉ có lương (với điều kiện được khuyên nghỉ bởi bác sĩ chứ không phải tự ý nghỉ). Nếu trong nhà có người cao tuổi hoặc người có tiền sử bệnh thì có thể ở tạm tại các motel do chính phủ mua. Nói chung là nếu bệnh thì đóng cửa bảo nhau thôi, hàng xóm láng giềng cũng không biết. Được cái ở Mỹ nhà nào nhà nấy kín bưng, hàng xóm cũng ít tụ tập nói chuyện nên khả năng truyền virus ra ngoài rất khó

2) Ở Mỹ khi xác nhận bị bệnh thì như thế nào?

Ở đâu thì nguyên đó, không có gì thay đổi. Người nhà mình bị bệnh được vài ngày thì xin đi test, test xong cả 7-10 ngày trời mới nhận được kết quả vì hệ thống bị overwhelmed do quá nhiều người đi test. Vì vậy đến lúc CDC gọi điện thoại tới nhà thông báo kết quả dương tính thì đa phần người nhà mình đều hết bệnh rồi. Trong suốt thời gian đó, dù không biết có bị virus hay không thì mọi người đã tự cách ly rồi. Nhà có ông nội 95 tuổi thì bắt ông ở trong phòng không được xuống nhà vì cả nhà bệnh hết, chỉ ngày 3 bữa đem đồ ăn lên cho ông. Hiện tại ông cũng bị dương tính nhưng tạm ổn không có dấu hiệu gì bất thường.

3) Ở Mỹ nếu bệnh thì bác sĩ chữa như thế nào?

Như đã nói, CDC chỉ gọi báo kết quả dương tính rồi thôi - không cần đến bệnh viện trừ trường hợp trở nặng, khó thở… Trong trường hợp của gia đình chị họ mình thì mọi người có kết quả sau khi đã hồi phục nên càng không cần đến bệnh viện. Gia đình chị có đưa ông tới bệnh viện khám vì ông hơi sốt nhẹ. Bác sĩ cũng chỉ đo lượng Oxy, kiểm tra máu các thứ xong cho ông về vì lượng Oxy vẫn đầy đủ chứng tỏ phổi không bị tổn thương. Từ ngày đầu đến nay, nghe nói là gia đình chỉ uống Tylenol mỗi lần bị sốt, bình thường thi uống nước ấm, rồi nước chanh gừng các thứ như khi bị cảm, rồi tẩm bổ này nọ.

4) Phản ứng của đại gia đình mình thế nào khi hay tin có người trong nhà bị COVID-19?

Bình thường J Nói chung thì từ đầu tháng 3 sau khi mình dọn nhà xong thì các anh chị em họ cũng không tụ tập nữa vì tình hình dịch bệnh. Tuy vậy anh chị em họ vẫn chat trêu chọc nhau mỗi ngày cho vui vì ở nhà không chán quá. Đến lúc chị họ đi test thì ngồi chờ kết quả như chờ xổ số mỗi ngày. Thiệt tình mà nói thì do đều là người trẻ, lại không có bệnh tật gì sẵn nên không ai lo lắng gì. Chỉ có lúc hay tin 1 người bác của mình bị bệnh khi cơ thể vốn dĩ ốm yếu sẵn thì cả đám có lo lắng chút – may mắn bác mình qua khỏi chỉ sau 2,3 ngày (người ta nói tại bác mình có sẵn sốt rét nên chắc bình phục nhanh hơn). Tới khi nghe chị họ nói là ông nội chị bị sốt thì cả đám cũng lo, nhưng rồi ông cũng khoẻ. Ngoại trừ 2 lúc đó thì cả nhà bình chân như vại.

Tóm lại, con virus này cũng hên xui lắm, cũng có những người trẻ khoẻ phải vào viện dùng máy thở, cũng có người già yếu lại không làm sao. Mọi người đọc báo hằng ngày thấy chết chết chết nhưng không phải như vậy, không phải cứ bị con virus này dính vào là chết đâu. Tất nhiên chúng ta vẫn phải tuân thủ nghiêm ngặt social distancing hoặc stay-at-home order, vì tỷ lệ chết của con virus này cũng tương đối cao mà chưa có cách chữa trị chính thức (mọi kiểu chữa chỉ là thử nghiệm). Sống có ý thức, chứ không phải là sống trong hoảng loạn. Mình upload ở đây ảnh chụp màn hình từ facebook của chị họ mình chia sẻ về 14 ngày sống chung với Virus để các bạn tiện theo dõi.

Love,

How to study for NBDE Part 2/ INBDE

I know the topic is kinda outdated now with the new format INBDE is coming this August. However, one of the page’s members asked me the question since she just passed Part 1 (Congrats by the way!) so here we go.

Alert: For people who have NOT prepared for NBDE yet, don’t bother taking Part 1&2 NBDE. You should just focus on the new format INBDE.

Alert #2: you can still benefit from this post if you only prepare for INBDE. What I found is that INBDE is pretty similar to NBDE Part 2.

1) When will ADA officially cancel NBDE Part 2?

08/2022. Why? For the people that decide to take NBDE Part 1 until the last day, they still have 2 years to pass Part 2 so they can clear TWO parts of the old format NBDE. If you miss the deadline of Part 1 - 05/31/2020, you can no longer take the old format NBDE – you will have to take the new format INBDE.

            Good: INBDE is ONE exam only instead of TWO exams as of NBDE.

           Bad: it’s a new format so there is no textbook, no released exam, no data yet.

 From ADA: “If a candidate from a non-accredited dental program has successfully completed the NBDE Part I by May 31, 2020, the candidate will still be eligible to take the NBDE Part II until July 31, 2022.”

2) What is the topics of NBDE Part 2?

• Endodontics

• Operative Dentistry

• Prosthodontics

• Pharmacology

• Peridontics

• Patient Management

• Orthodontics

• Pediatric Dentistry

• Oral Diagnosis

• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

• Pain Control

3) Which books can one use to study for NBDE Part 2?

·      Dental Decks – DD is like “the Bible” of NBDE. They have different formats that you can buy – the print flashcards, online flashcards, or both. They almost always have edit every year aka “new version” but the core knowledge is almost the same. If you can afford the newest version #13 – go for it. If you can’t, buy older version (just don’t buy version from 10, 15 years ago).

·      First Aid – I used this one combining with Dental Decks. It’s a textbook, not flash cards like DD so I liked it a little bit more when I needed to understand the full concept of some subjects. I think it’s pretty comprehensive and easy to understand. They have TWO version: Textbook version and Q&A version

·      Mosby’s Review: I did not use this one – no specific reason. First Aid was cheaper on Amazon at that time so I got it instead of Mosby’s. It’s pretty popular as well – personal choice.

·      Kaplan Part II lecture notes: Kaplan is very famous regarding any medical/pharm/dental exams. You can never go wrong with Kaplan I feel like. They also have an online course for NBDE, which costs $99 for their question bank or $699 full version with videos and teachers.

·      Dental Board Buster series: I had a copy of the book, but I did not have that much time or patience to go through a whole book. I admire people that can read Dental Decks 3 times, First Aid 2 times, Mosby 2 times etc. You are my heroes! At the time I was preparing for Part 2, I got so bored even after one reading only.

·      Tuft – for Pharmacology. EVERYONE suggests reading pharm from Tuft. I did skip pharma from Dental Decks and First Aid as I read Tuft only. I do feel like they are the easiest to remember although pharma is never truly easy.

·      Released questions from ASDA: that was a lot of money to buy all versions but it’s worth it. I think I bought only the last several versions and skipped the ones they released like 30 years ago.

4) Which apps/online courses one can buy to study for Part 2?

·      Dental Boards Mastery: it’s good! I actually liked it! It is like question bank with answer and explanation so it helped me check my knowledge as well as clear up some confusion I had.

·      Board Vitals: I got it free as I was a student at CU. The school purchased the app for all dental students to use – also questions and answers. I don’t like it as much because the questions seemed too easy comparing to the real test. The way they ask questions was also not similar to the real one. It’s good when you exhaust all the books you have or apps you have and still want to check your knowledge. Good as a complementary tool to study Part 2, not as a primary tool.

·      Kaplan course: as I mentioned above - $99 for question bank or $699 for full course

·      Crack the NBDE: I did not try the app so I have no idea.

Disclaimer: Those mentioned above are NOT the only books/apps/courses you can purchase. Those are only the more popular ones.

Disclaimer #2: You don’t need to buy every single book, buy every single course to pass the exam. If you pass Part 1, take it easy as Part 2 is way easier. My recommended recipe: Dental Decks + ASDA released questions + 1 book + 1 app

5) How do you use books/apps to study?

Try to combine Dental Decks and a book at the same time. Books help to explain the full concept of a subject/topic but they may distract you with too much details. Dental Decks works like a guideline to keep you on track. Whatever shows up on the DD cards, it’s important to know. If you don’t have much time to study, stick to DD. If you have some extra time, read again with a textbook to deepen your understanding and put things in perspective.

It’s up to you to tackle difficult topics first or easy ones first. Some easy ones are Endo, Operative, Perio etc. The reason why those are easier is because we use those knowledge everyday seeing patients. You just need to read through it real quick to update some new information and dust off some old ones. The more difficult ones are Pharmacology, Oral Pathology, Orthodontics, etc because they have so much info to remember! I studied Pharmacology last because I know I can only remember it with my short-term memory. If I chose to study it first, I would forget everything by the time I took the exam. However, if you decide to study 2,3 times before the exam, you can always study it first and study again later to remember better.

I never go to any exam without trying to do question banks (unless there is no question bank). Question bank is the best to fast check your understanding. I usually go through books as fast as I can and spend more time for questions and answers. I tried ASDA released questions as well as the two apps I mentioned above (Board Mastery and Board Vitals) weeks before the exam. If there was one question that I don’t understand the answer or disagree with it, I would check DD or textbook again to clarify.

Those question banks are extremely important with Part 2 because of the 2nd day exam. On the 2nd day, you will have patients’ charts, pictures, X-ray, and you will have several questions regarding the case. It’s different because those questions relate to each other, so you need to look at the big picture. Question banks will help you understand better the way they ask questions, what they want you to know, how they test you understanding. For example: Patient has 1 small cavity DO on tooth #13 that you can easily do a filling. However, the probing depth of the tooth is 9-8-9 (F)/7-6-7 (L) – filling will not be necessary as the best approach is to extract the tooth. So, if you look at the small lesion on the Xray only, the tooth is restorable - but  if you look at the X-ray and probing chart at the same time then no, we shouldn’t keep the tooth.

I hope this post helps you if you are preparing for NBDE Part 2 right now. If you are preparing for INBDE, you can start by studying part 2 the exact same way, then read quickly through Part 1 material right before the exam. Why? From my mock test, INBDE is pretty similar to Part 2. The amount of questions I got about basic science is minimal.

Best of luck!

Disclaimer: These are Amazon affiliation link which means when you purchase on amazon through the link, I will get some kick back. Your price will be the same with or without the link, but I’m forever grateful for your help and support.

#Flattenthecurve day 5

I am kinda losing my sense of time and date now. Every day is weekend now with no sight of Monday. I am thankful that at least I live close to my family now so if the situation keeps getting worse, I will stay with them to escape loneliness.

On facebook, there are still some conversations here and there between closing or opening dental clinics. I think most people agree that we should close clinics and open for emergencies only. However, some dentists still ignore the ADA recommendation or even State Board’s order to open because they see this opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a profit while all the other competitors close. There are always good and bad people no matter where you live.

I happened to live in Washington State – one of the three states that got hit hardest in the country by the virus. Since a lot of my family members work in healthcare – specifically for several nursing homes in the area – I am more worried about the situation than my staff. They thought I was overreacting and that is okay. Everyone has different worries – either financial burden or health. At least at this point, we all worry about the same thing: our unemployment status and our sanity.

Politics aside, I am thankful to live in this country. Majority dentists are bored to death at home so we start to share around all online courses from marketing to endo. Some courses even give it out for free during this hardship to help other fellows. Kudos to them! You guys rock! I am not filing for unemployment yet and just sitting tight for now, but I will have to by April. I hope that unemployment insurance can at least help me cover my rent and car payment, but I feel like right now there are other people needing it more than me, so I let them file first. Possibly I will not make any difference in the long waiting list but let’s just wait for now. I called all my student loan reps to postpone payment for at least 2 months. Got two of them delaying for 2 months without any interest and the last one (also the biggest one) delaying for 3 months with some interest. I will try to call the car loan rep again tomorrow. I plan to keep paying rent for now with my savings because paying now or paying 10 months from now is almost the same (the end of my rent contract) - the financial prospect doesn’t look that promising yet at the end of the year. The goal now is to preserve as much cash as possible in case this virus will last more than 2 months.

Tonight, the governor issued “Stay-at-home” order. We all knew this would come sooner or later. My mom asked me to come home but I will still stay in my apartment for a while. It’s only 20min away anyway. I facetimed my besties from CU to check on each other. It is a tough time for everybody now but we could still laugh at each other’s jokes just like our CU time. Oh how much I miss my best two years in Colorado!

#Flattenthecurve Ngày thứ 3

Chúng ta đang sống trong giai đoạn lịch sử - 20, 30 năm nữa không chừng các lứa học sinh sẽ được học dịch bệnh càn quét cả thế giới khiến hàng chục ngàn người tử vong. Ngay cả tổng thống Donald Trump cũng tự gọi mình là “a wartime president” tức tổng thống trong thời kỳ chiến tranh. Mình tạm không bàn về chính trị ở đây mà chỉ muốn nói rằng đây là thời kỳ chưa từng có tiền lệ và không dự đoán được.

Mình nhớ những lúc ngồi trong các quán cafe nghe nhạc, đọc sách và lên các kế hoạch dự định cho tương lai. Những ngày này mình chỉ ngồi ở nhà, mở tv suốt ngày để xem có tin gì mới về virus và nghĩ về những thay đổi to lớn xảy ra chỉ trong vài tuần lễ. Chỉ mới 3 tuần trước mình còn bay đi Colorado chơi, thăm trường cũ, thăm bạn bè, bàn tán về tình hình dịch bệnh ở nước này nước kia, hào hứng về căn hộ mình mới mướn và sắp dọn vô vì nó rất gần chỗ làm. Vừa dọn vào 2 tuần thì “thất nghiệp” ở nhà ít nhất 2 tháng. Dù bạn ở Mỹ hay Việt Nam, mình cầu chúc tất cả mọi người và gia đình nhiều sức khoẻ và luôn giữ được tinh thần lạc quan.

Tiện đây mình xin chia sẻ một vài suy nghĩ về mối liên hệ giữa nha khoa và dịch bệnh. Mình tham gia vào rất nhiều các group nha sĩ Mỹ trên facebook: Dental Nachos, Dental Hacks Nation, The business of Dentistry,… và tất cả các admin đều kêu gọi các nha sĩ tạm gác tay khoan nghỉ ở nhà một thời gian. Dưới đây là một vài lý do được nêu ra.

  Thứ nhất, khi sử dụng tay khoan, đầu cạo vôi, chúng ta tạo ra rất nhiều aerosols ("aerosol là từ để chỉ các chất lơ lửng trong không khí ở tầng thấp, bao gồm hạt bụi, khói, nước, hạt kim loại nặng...” - theo báo Tuổi Trẻ). Các hạt nước bắn ra bao gồm nước phun ra từ tay khoan, nước bọt và có khi cả máu của bệnh nhân. Nếu một trong các bệnh nhân của chúng ta nhiễm virus mà chưa có triệu chứng do đang trong thời kỳ ủ bệnh, khả năng chúng ta bị lây nhiễm là khá cao dù cho có đeo khẩu trang. Hơn nữa, hiện nay WHO cho rằng virus có thể lơ lửng trong không khí đến 4 giờ đồng hồ nên nguy cơ các nhân viên phòng nha cũng như các bệnh nhân đến sau vô tình lây nhiễm là có thật. Hiện nay các chính phủ đều khuyến cáo “social distancing” hay “cách ly xã hội” tức giữ khoảng cách 1.8m với người kế bên trong khi chúng ta chỉ cách miệng của bệnh nhân khoảng 0.5m hoặc ít hơn khi làm việc. Do đó, đóng cửa phòng mạch hoặc hạn chế chỉ chữa những ca cấp cứu (nhiễm trùng, đau răng…) chính là tự bảo vệ bản thân, nhân viên, cộng đồng và hạn chế phát tán dịch bệnh.

  Thứ hai, đóng cửa phòng mạch để dành PPE (personal protectice equipment – khẩu trang, găng tay, gown y tế) cho các bác sĩ, y tá làm việc trong bệnh viện. Thông thường mỗi bệnh nhân ngồi trên ghế thì bác sĩ và 1 y tá nha khoa sẽ phải dùng ít nhất 2 khẩu trang, 2 đôi găng tay. Ở Mỹ, nếu phòng nha chỉ nhận bảo hiểm nha khoa tư nhân thì một bác sĩ trung bình sẽ có 9,10 bệnh nhân một ngày, nghĩa là sẽ phải dùng ít nhất 20 khẩu trang, 20 đôi găng tay trong khi các bác sĩ, y tá làm việc trong bệnh viện có khi phải dùng lại 1 khẩu trang đến ngày thứ hai. Nếu phòng nha nhận thêm bảo hiểm nhà nước, thông thường một bác sĩ sẽ điều trị 25-30 bệnh nhân thì số lượng khẩu trang sử dụng mỗi ngày sẽ còn cao như thế nào.

  Thứ ba, bạn có thể cho rằng bản thân còn trẻ, khoẻ mạnh, không có bệnh tật gì nên không cần lo, có bị nhiễm cũng không sao. Sự thật là, những người trẻ tuổi khoẻ mạnh vẫn có thể bị nặng phải nhập viện. Nếu bạn khoẻ mạnh, cơ thể bạn sẽ chống virus tốt hơn nên chưa chắc là sẽ mất mạng do virus, nhưng có khi lại chết nếu không có máy thở để trợ giúp trong giai đoạn điều trị. Nếu tất cả những người trẻ tuổi khoẻ mạnh vi vu ra đường trà chanh chém gió như bình thường thì dù tỷ lệ bị nặng thấp hơn người già, số lượng người nhập viện cũng sẽ tăng lên nhanh chóng và khi đó sẽ không có đủ máy thở cho tất cả bệnh nhân. Ở Ý có bài báo nói rằng một vài bệnh viện quyết định trả về nhà tất cả các bệnh nhân 80 tuổi trở lên “vì có cứu khả năng sống sót cũng không cao nên thà cứu những người trẻ hơn”. Hãy tưởng tượng họ là ông bà mình bị trả về nhà chờ chết, có đau xót không? Nếu bạn phải nhập viện và một cụ ông cụ bà nào đó phải nhường máy thở của mình cho bạn chỉ vì bạn thích đi tiệc tùng, vui chơi như bình thường thì bạn thật sự ích kỷ. Cứ cho rằng bạn thật sự khoẻ mạnh và chỉ bị vài triệu chứng nhẹ như mệt mỏi, đau đầu, sốt nhẹ, ho… và không cần đến máy thở thì bạn vẫn có thể lây bệnh cho vợ/chồng, con cái, cha mẹ, ông bà, bạn bè – nhưng người có sức khoẻ yếu hơn và có thể không được may mắn như bạn.

Mình đọc rất nhiều ý kiến cho rằng tất cả chỉ là một trò thổi phồng sự thật của cánh nhà báo nhằm reo rắc nỗi sợ và kiếm lợi nhờ đó. Thật sự thà mình cẩn thận quá mức vẫn hơn là lơ là để rồi hối tiếc sau này. Mình cũng đọc ý kiến nhiều bác sĩ cho rằng không cần phải đóng cửa phòng nha và vẫn làm đầy đủ các dịch vụ - cạo vôi, mài cùi, trám răng… Thật lòng mà nói, mình không quan tâm cho lắm vì mình tự thấy cái gì đúng thì mình làm. Trong thời điểm nhiễu nhương này, có quá nhiều điều chúng ta không biết về dịch bệnh này. Có thể khi mọi thứ qua đi, mọi người mới nhận ra là nó không quá tệ như mình tưởng (hy vọng là vậy). Bạn phải là người tổng hợp thông tin, cân nhắc, đánh giá và tự quyết định điều gì bạn tin là đúng đắn. Một người nào đó cho rằng đi thu gom hết xà phòng, khăn giấy để kiếm lời không có nghĩa là bạn cũng bắt đầu làm như vậy. Mình cho rằng việc tốt nhất là làm hết khả năng có thể để ngừa dịch bệnh nhưng không nên hoảng loạn, không được thu gom nhu yếu phẩm với mục đích kiếm lời trên sự khó khăn của người khác, gọi điện thăm hỏi gia đình bè bạn, trở về với thân tâm của mình và học cách sống đơn giản hơn.

Nếu bạn cũng chọn cách ở nhà giống như mình, bạn có thể dùng thời gian này để hiểu rõ hơn về bản thân, hoàn thành những project nho nhỏ mà mãi chưa thực hiện được, dành thời gian đọc những cuốn sách còn đang xếp xó, hoặc thử một vài sở thích mới như yoga, vẽ, hát… Dưới đây là một vài quyển sách mà nhiều bác sĩ nha khoa nổi tiếng ở đây giới thiệu mà mình đang muốn đọc, bạn có thể tham khảo.

 Start with why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Leads And Win

 Profit First: Transform Your Business From A Cash-Eating Monster To A Money-Making Machine

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals

Hoặc một vài cuốn sách mình đã đọc và thấy rất thích xin chia sẻ với các bạn

#GirlBoss 

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Titans of Dentistry: How The Top Performers Think And Act Differently

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search For Everything Across Italy, India, And Indonesia

#Flattenthecurve day 3 blog

We are living in history these days. I miss going to a coffee shop, reading a good book and planning for future. Now I’m sitting in my living room with news about the virus all day long, thinking about how our lives have changed drastically in just a few weeks. Only 3 weeks ago I was having a short vacation in Colorado, a bit concerned about the new situation, got excited about moving into my new apartment “very close to work”. Two weeks moving in, now I’m jobless. I don’t know where you are right now reading this – USA, Vietnam, or Trinidad and Tobago (yea I was amazed looking at 43 countries on the visitor list) – I wish all of you good health and a great time with family.

A brief check on dentistry in the US. I’ve joined several dentists’ groups on facebook: Dental Nachos, Dental Hacks, The business of Dentistry, etc and all of them are calling dentists to stop working for a while. There are a couple of reasons.

 First of all, we create lots of aerosols using handpieces and cavitrons. If one of our patients contract the virus without symptom (incubation period), we will breathe in that virus air in close proximity. WHO says that the virus can linger for 4 hours in the air so the risk of having staff members or other patients breathing in the virus is there. The government issued “social distancing” to reduce of risk of public exposure and we are certainly closer to people’s mouth than 6fts. Therefore, closing dental clinics or limiting to emergencies only is to protect dentists, staff, the community and to stop the spreading.

Secondly, closing clinics will help to reduce the number of PPE we need so our medical colleagues will have more PPE to use. We – dentist and 1 dental assistant - use at least 2 masks, 2 pairs of gloves for each patient (most of the time we use more than that). If the office takes only private insurance, we will see 10 patients a day on average so we will use at least 20 masks, 20 pairs of gloves a day while our medical doctors, nurses and staff have only 1 mask a day each person or even reuse them the next day. If the office also takes Medicaid, the average will be 25-30 patients a day!

  Finally, you may not worry too much about your staff and you consider yourself as a young, healthy person so you will not be affected too much even if you have the virus. The thing is, even young people can be hospitalized. One may not die because of the virus but one will die because of the lack of ventilator. If all the young healthy people go out and about like their normal routine, there will not be enough ventilators for everyone. In Italy, some hospitals have to choose to treat young people and let people from 80 years old and above staying at home waiting to die. You are selfish if you let someone else die so you can have a normal daily routine. Let’s say that you have mild symptoms or even no symptom so you don’t need a ventilator. You can still pass the virus to your loved ones – spouse, children, parents, grandparents – who may not be as healthy as you.

I have read on the internet that this is just a game of social media trying to create fear and make a profit from it. Well, I would rather be overreacting than underreacting and regretting it. I have read all the reasons why dentists still open their clinics with a normal schedule – fillings, crown preps, SRPs and to be honest, I don’t care. I decide for myself what the right thing to do is, and just because someone else does it differently doesn’t mean I will too. There is so much unknown about the situation. It can be the biggest flob ever, who knows! Maybe by the end of the year, it turns out this virus is nothing (let’s hope so). I would say the right thing to do now is be cautious but not panic, do not hoard all food and supply, call friends and family, look inside yourself and learn to live simply.

Meanwhile, if you decide to stay at home for the sake of the community, we can all use this time to learn more about ourselves, finish an overdue project, read a book that we always want to read, find a new hobby, etc. Here is a list of books that are recommended by dentistry gurus that I want to finish (and maybe you can try too):

Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (New Edition)

Profit first: Transform your business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goal

Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspires Everyone To Take Action

How important is STAT?

I am visiting Colorado for the weekend, and being a sentimental person, I can’t stop thinking about how my life has changed since the day I came here for the interview. I was living in Vietnam at that time, coming here on a tourist visa, making around $1000/month practicing over there, and hoping for a career in the U.S. I actually never expect myself to become a dentist here. All I knew back then was working as hard as possible toward that dream but should not expect too much due to fear of frustration. Before my first trip visiting the U.S, I would think my profile was not bad at all, but after the trip, I couldn’t stop asking myself how I can ever stand out among thousands of international dentists hoping for a spot at ANY dental school.

Here was my stat:

- GPA 3.2/4

- TOEFL 104

- NBDE: pass 

Simple as that. I went to studentdoctornetwork forum, looked at people’s stat and thought “oh, mine is average, I’m not too bad so that’s good”. I still see people asking each other’s Stat right now in so many Facebook pages. The question can be like “Can you share with me your stat?” or “My stat is this low, do you ever know someone with the same stat getting accepted?” Here is my two-cent of thought regarding STAT.

 1)Why does everyone talking about STAT?

• 1st reason: STAT is probably the only numeric criteria that can be put in perspective order. GPA 4.0 is obviously higher than 3.2, and 3.2 is higher than 2.0. TOEFL 104 is, of course, better than 94 – which is the bare minimum to apply for dental schools, but not as good as scoring 114. That’s why people keep asking STAT to compare themselves with others to see where they are standing.

• 2nd reason: maybe they think STAT is EVERYTHING or don’t know what else to ask.

2) Is STAT that important?

STAT is important, but not EVERYTHING! Let’s take TOEFL as an example. If someone gets 105 and another person gets 104, person A is not necessarily better in English than person B. What matters is how you communicate with other people and make them understand what you try to express. Personally, I think once you reach TOEFL over 100, you all are at the same level of proficiency. I met one person with TOEFL 95 got accepted in a heartbeat because they have shining personality and a glamorous profile, and I met so many candidates speaking fluent English but still need a bit more luck to get accepted. Let’s talk about GPA. We all know if you have a 4.0 GPA you have a better chance of getting accepted. Generally speaking, dental schools want to see GPA 3.0 and above. If you have less than 3.0 than you have to work exceptionally hard to prove yourself. I have a friend with less than 3.0 because her previous dental school is extremely strict about score and she got accepted. Dental schools are aware that different schools will have different ways to score students (at least Colorado is aware of this) so they don’t consider GPA as the SOLE predictor of a candidate’s ability to learn.

3) If everything is only relative, how do schools evaluate candidates?

Well, I don’t know exactly how they rank candidates, but I know for sure they are looking at a bigger picture of a person. Does the candidate show commitment to dentistry? Does the candidate sound like a good person? How’s the candidate’s experience? How are the recommendation letters? Each school has its own formula in choosing students. Some may choose competitive students. Some may value grit and perseverance more. In general, they want to look for well-rounded competent candidates with some specific traits.

4) What should I ask then?

Well, you can still ask around for other people’s STAT but instead of thinking “I am good enough” like me before, you should ask yourself “What else can I do to make me a well-rounded competent candidate. What else can I do to prove it?” Remember the international dentist program is so competitive at any school. CU chooses 40 students a year for ISP class among 800 candidates. That is 5% acceptance rate. Analyze what is good or bad about your profile and make it better. If you have GPA around 2.0? Considering joining a post-grad program to increase the value of your GPA. If you don’t have any experience working as a dentist, considering working for a dental clinic as a dental assistant or at least at the front desk. If you don’t practice dentistry and also don’t have any research paper, volunteering for a research or shadowing a faculty will be some good ideas.

The conclusion: everyone knows being a doctor in the U.S is a very big deal. I’ve heard this statement from a faculty before an ISP interview, “we potentially change someone’s life today, so consider it seriously and evaluate candidates wisely”. No one wants a “good enough” person. The spots are limited, so they would rather save it for someone who desires the opportunity and would do whatever it takes just to have a better chance. Are you that hungry person?

Is the journey worth your effort?

I haven’t been writing anything for a while. Sure, life feels like it gets stuck sometimes and you just do not have the energy to be creative. However, I could still talk to people all over the world thanks to this blog. I may not know you all personally, but I can understand all your self-doubt and struggle and dreams. I was there once. One time I was talking to my friend about all this and commenting “I think my chance (of getting accepted) is like 1% considering all aspects from finance to language”. She asked me why I wouldn’t just quit and find something else with a higher chance of success. I startled for a second. Giving up was never a consideration or an option for me. Maybe I was simply born stubborn. I knew what I wanted and was willing to work hard to earn it myself.

I was not born into a rich family although it may sound like it with a neurosurgeon father and a dentist mother. Things were different in Vietnam in the 80s and 90s. Being a doctor was one of the low-paid careers. There came other problems as well which I would like to forget and forgive. I absolutely was not one of those kids who could get whatever they want. I am never “the center of the universe”, more like a sidekick in any kind of story. I was taught to be a well-behaved girl and nothing more, so I did not feel like I was special, or I was good enough. I was indeed a very ordinary girl growing up in a third world country. Hence there comes all my self-doubt but also comes all my determination.

I never requested my parents for what I really wanted – I always picked the cheapest dress/backpack/notebooks, etc in stores – and told myself when I grew up I would work really hard, so I could afford all those sparkly things. I understood the bigger items, the harder it would take to get. That’s why I never expect this whole dream to be easy. I knew it would be a one-in-a-million chance because it’s worth it!

Is it really worth it? I asked myself this question a thousand times now I am on the other side of the story – I’ve already achieved my life-long dream. I am pretty sure my other colleagues also ask this themselves. I recently got a question “Do dentists in the US have a lavish lifestyle?” No honey, we don’t. Our life gets swept away by all kinds of bills – student loan repayment, license renewal, malpractice insurance, disability insurance, car payment, rent/mortgage payment, membership renewal for ADA/Local ADA/AGD/Spear, etc. I was living paycheck to paycheck my 1st year out of school no matter how much money I made. I was stressed out because I don’t have any saving money in case something goes off-track. If you listen to those podcasts by dentists, “stress” is the word you hear in every single episode. We work in the healthcare industry but are forced to think like businessmen/women and deal with people the same way with retail services. So, is it really worth it?

It is for me. It can be different for you though. So, before you decide to give up your homeland, your family, your friends, to dream about a new life in a different country, be honest to yourself – why do you want to pursue dentistry and what do you hope to achieve? If you are not honest to yourself and only pursue a dream “just because my parents want me to”, you will suffer. I don’t want to see other people regretting their decision while sitting on top of the new empire you work so hard for. If you are in it for the money, you may enjoy it for a while before paying all bills at the end of the month. Well, or maybe 10 years later after working hard and being smart about saving/investing the money instead of spending it in a brand new Mercedes. If you are in it for a lavish lifestyle, well the first year out of school I only wish I have a life after work. If you think you will have an easy life after graduation, life is never easy – you get paid more than average, so you have stress more than average. I promise you that I complain on my head almost every single day.

Then why I still think it’s a good idea? It is a great platform to build the life I want. It is the freedom that I want to have. Yes, I still have to work even harder than I’ve ever been but I have the “transportation” to go places. If I really want a designer bag, I have to save for it but at least I know I will get it. I know I should live with my mom to save money, but a place for my own is kinda my “designer bag” so I still pay rent every month. I know I can afford an apartment. I know I can afford that bottle of perfume. I know I can afford the meal there. I know I can afford the ticket traveling back home to Vietnam. I may not actually purchase all that but it’s empowering comparing to how I grew up. I can choose to save money for myself or support my family. I can choose to save money for new perfume or travel (I know my sin). I work so hard, so I can have the freedom to choose what I want to do with my life. For a new immigrant like myself, this is all I ask for.

So if you think dentistry will automatically bring you a mansion, a Tesla, and a Birkin bag, you are in the wrong field. There is nothing wrong if those are your motivations (mine is a house looking over a lake or a beach), but if you think it’s automatic, I want to give you a reality check. If what you actually want is freedom, pride, sense of achievement, being a model for your children to follow, being an inspiration, etc then maybe it will worth it for you as well. Let it be your guiding star through a difficult journey ahead and never lose sight of who you are and what you want.

Love, Hannah.

*Job prospect for Foreign-Trained Dentists in the U.S

There is one topic that I want to write about for a long time but wanted to wait until after I started working so I can have more accurate information. A lot of people asked me about job opportunities for foreign-trained dentists and if we can pay off student loan. I have worked for a few months only so maybe my viewpoint will change a year from now, but I want to share with you all what I have observed so far.

1) Is it more difficult for a foreign-trained dentist (FT dentist) to find a job?

Yes and no. It all depends on if you need a work permit to stay in the U.S or not.

If a FT dentist has citizenship or green card, he or she will have the same start as other new-grad dentists if not better. I’ve talked to a recruiter in my 1st year at UCDenver, she told me they would pay more for a FT dentist because we were supposed to have more experience “If we pay $500/day for a new-grad, we will pay you guys $550”. Of course, this thought is not always true as I have met so many impressive dental students during my two years at UCDenver.

If you don't have green card or citizenship and need sponsorship to apply for work permit and eventually green card, then your opportunities will be somewhat limited. Not every clinic wants to sponsor because of the hassle of paperwork, so most people can only work for corporates until they have green card.

2) In case I need sponsorship, is it really difficult to find a job?

Nope! I asked my senior this question on my 1st day in Colorado. Here was her response – “It’s all about what you are willing to compromise. If you want to live in big cities, you cannot expect a big paycheck. If you are willing to live in a small rural town, your benefit will be much better. If you want to live in big cities and want a big paycheck as well, then it will be difficult. If you are willing to compromise, there’s always a job for anyone.”

I myself don’t need sponsorship and was one of the latest to sign a contract. Most of my friends signed contract 1-2 months before graduation. A few of them signed as early as 3 months before G-day. People who don’t have big family here and can live pretty much anywhere are the earliest to sign. Most people love to live in the coast, so if you are okay with living in New Mexico, Utah, Iowa, etc then it will be like a breeze to find a job with great salary. I have limitation in the “location” box as I have big family in the Seattle – Tacoma area and I want to stay close to them. Therefore, I had a harder time to find a job – my 1st offer was a month after graduation, but it fell through, I signed a contract with a different practice a month later. I felt a bit desperate at that time honestly (I am always over-worried anyway) but eventually there is always a job for anyone – just like the senior said.

3) So, it’s not difficult to find a job, but is it difficult to pay off huge student loan though?

Believe me, even dentists who were born here, raised here, trained here ask the same question. Our tuition is twice as theirs for one year but most of us have 2 years instead of 4 like them. Some of us will join a 3-year program but dental students also take loan for 4 years undergrad before applying to dental schools. So, it’s safe to say we all graduate with almost the same burden.

A one-million-dollar mansion or a tesla car is never on my list of shopping (well, maybe 15 years from now but not a few months out of school) and if you share the same thought, then we shouldn’t have problem. You must have a realistic expectation in spite of student loan. You cannot expect to work 3 days a week, take 4-week vacation every year, buy the latest car model, live in a big house and pay off student loan in 5 years. If you want to pay aggressively in 5 years, you have to live frugal. If you want to pay in 10, 15 years while saving to purchase your own practice, you have to live modestly as well.

This is a big topic that dentists are talking about every single day so I won’t dwell on this too much. All you want to know is yes you can afford student loan but you have to be smart in spending and saving. I’ve read in one of the facebook dentist group that if your loan is about $250k, it’s easy; if your loan is up to $500k, it’s more difficult but manageable.

4) Any discrimination toward FT dentists from patients?

I haven’t experienced any discrimination so far, maybe where I live play a part. I live in Washington State – a liberal state so I’ve heard that people tend to be more open-minded. I’ve only lived in 2 states so far – WA and CO – and they both are liberal states so I cannot compare. However, I have lots of friends living in other states as well and I haven’t heard any crazy story about discrimination, so maybe it’s not a thing toward international dentists. I am pretty sure bad things happen everywhere and discrimination does too. It’s just not a trend. What I have experienced so far is the “title” international dentist working in my favor! You know when a patient suspect that you are a new-grad, they always look at you and judge if you are good enough to treat them. But, whenever I continue the story with “That was my 2nd dental school! I am a dentist in my home country and had practiced for a while before coming here”, then they always say “Wow!” There was a patient in UCDenver pointing out to me “Wow, so you are a doctor at two countries! One is hard enough and you have two down!” I realized for the first time how impressive it may sound to patients’ ears. Thanks patient, you made my day! Once in a while when I am in a good mood and want to tease my patients a bit, I always start with “Actually I just graduated a few months ago”, pause a second, then continue “But that was my 2nd dental school…”

Those are the questions that I got asked more often toward job prospect. I hope my post will bring you some hope and reassurance on your journey. If there are any other question, don’t hesitate to send me a message below or pm me at our facebook page. Looking forward to talking to you soon.

Whatever you do, keep being a gem!

*Question and answer on INBDE

Hi guys, I have been received questions about different topics. I think it may be a good idea to share some questions and answers with you as maybe some of you are too shy to ask. No question is stupid question. Here is the first one of the series.

Q: Hey, Hannah, I’ve read your comparison between INBDE and NBDE part1+2. It was very helpful for me to make my decision. Thank you a lot. Besides, I’m wondering about the study material of the INBDE... Is it possible if we will be obligated to review both: NBDE part 1+2´s material, the two dental decks ect... I’ve noticed that the INBDE is more focused in dentistry skills but how long is the biochimistry or the anatomy part and how should we be preparing it... I’m a little nervous about the preparation, and the lack of old exams which are helpful to orientate the preparation. Waiting for your reply, thank you in advance.

A: Hi, thank you for reaching out. I am glad to learn that my post was helpful. About your question, please keep in mind that I am no master in this new format thing as I only took 1 mock test and that's all ^^ However, I will share with you what I would do if I had to take it again.

First thing first, the test was the combination between part 1 - pure science and part 2 - dentistry related. I did not see any question like "what is the molecule of insulin", instead it was like "you will see a patient today to restore a class II, patient was diagnosed with diabetes type II and you know you will need insulin in emergency kit just in case, why do you need insulin?" (This is not exam question, I just made that up). They try to test on how we apply our knowledge in our daily dental life more than memorizing, memorizing, memorizing.

With that in mind, I would still cover both dental decks but with different approach. I would try to find as many questions online as possible to check if I understand the material right and if I know how to apply it when I see patients. Doesn't have to be nbde questions. There's lots of mock questions out there I believe - the main goal is to check if you really understand what you just learn from books. I would not attempt to memorize those part 1 material - if I don't think it's relevant to dentistry at all (you know those topics where you have to scratch your head and ask why you have to know this). I would make sure I understand and master part 2 as much as possible especially when I run out of time for studying. My motto was - “I have limited time and limited brain so I will try to master whatever I can understand and remember - rather than trying to memorize everything and ending up forgetting it all”.

Last but not least, everyone has different set of questions. One may have more part 1-ish and one may have more part 2-ish. Just like with NBDE part 2, my friends and I had so many pharm questions and no restorative ones while another friend taking exam at same center, same day, same time had none pharm question. Obviously I did it so much worse than that one friend but we both passed. Why? They will compare your result with anyone sharing the same pattern - me with other candidates having the "pharm pattern" and that one friend with others having "restorative pattern". So same thing may happen with INBDE, one could have totally different experience comparing to mine. Just keep that in mind. My advice - keep checking all forums/groups to see anyone else taking the mock exam, reaching out to those to see if they had same experience with mine and deciding for yourself how you would study.

Wish you all the luck. Hannah.

Check out the 2nd post of the Q&A series here

If you have any question, no matter how big or small, please don't hesitate to reach out to me either by sending me a message at the bottom of this page or at our facebook page. Looking forward to hearing from you.

*USA Dentist License Requirements 2019

It has been a busy time for me with some excited change. I started working for a practice in Kent, Washington State and have recently moved to my new place. Now I am writing this from Irvine, California since my company sent me here for a week for some training. There has been lots of moving parts making me being quiet for some time. I miss DDS Journey. There are so many things I want to share with you all as I keep having new topics adding to my list.

Welcome gift from my boss. So thoughtful of him!

Recently I have got lots of questions about getting license to practice in USA. One question I had was “I am sending my transcript to ECE for evaluation, will I be able to practice after that?” I realized that this whole journey is still very confusing to most of you, and if you do not know the big picture, it won’t work no matter how many details I give out. I was just like that 5 years ago. Super confused. So here I will attempt to break down the journey to the core, hopefully it will make it easier for you guys to follow DDS Journey in the future.

Degree vs license.

Degree is the one you get after you finish dental school – both CODA-accredited and non-CODA-accredited schools. CODA is an organization accredits dental schools and dental programs. In general, CODA-accredited schools include only schools in the USA and Canada. Other dental schools – the ones you and I graduated from – are non-CODA-accredited. License is a totally different thing. One can have a degree yet not a license to practice. License is determined by each state. In general, after a dentist gets his/her degree, they have to apply to the state they want to practice to get the license. Then the state will decide if they are qualified for a license or not. Each state has different sets of requirements that one has to fulfil. This is not a secret information. They always have these requirements on their website. There is no way I know the requirements for all 50 states since I haven’t considered working anywhere except Washington State and Colorado. When my classmates and I were about to graduate, the school made it pretty clear that it’s our job to contact/call/email the state’s board directly to find out what we need to take in order to have the license.

With that in mind, if you know early on which state you want to practice in the future, keep checking their website. Simply googling “State WA/CO/CA/NY etc, dental license requirements” or some similar keywords should get you there. Although each state requires different material to grant a license, there is some key requirements that ALL state needs

1) Passing NBDE Part 1/2/ INBDE (theory test)

2) Having DDS/DMD degree from a CODA-accredited schools (aka US/CA schools)

3) Passing board exams (clinical test)

Other requirements can be finishing HIV course, passing ethical exam, paying fee, submitting personal bio and so on.

Passing NBDE Part 1/2/INBDE

I recently wrote a post about this topic. If you are interested in learning the difference between NBDE vs INBDE, click this link. In order to apply for the test, you will have to go through several steps such as signing up as member with ADA, sending your ECE evaluation to them, paying fee, etc. The purpose is to verify that you are really a dentist in your home country before allowing you to take the exams. This is the first stage in the US DDS Journey in order to apply for Advance Standing Programs with a US dental school and also to apply for license after you graduate from there.

Having DDS/DMD degree from a CODA-accredited schools

So, to the follower asking me about license after ECE evaluation, this is the answer for her question. Unfortunately, no as you have to graduate from a CODA-accredited school to apply for license. This is why there are Advance Standing Programs in some dental schools for international dentists like us to graduate one more time but from a CODA-acc school. Is it an absolute NO? Nope. There is always exemption. The information below was screen-shotted from Washington State Department of Health’s website (read carefully the “non-accredited dental schools” part) So it’s safe to say that you should check with your state’s requirements early on and then once a year for any change.

Passing board exams

There are several regional board exams in the U.S. Regional boards are different and independent from dental schools or state. The most popular ones are WREB, CRDTS, ADEX, OSCE, etc. Each of them held exams every 1-2 months in different schools and each schools also held different board exams throughout a year. In Colorado we have CRDTS and WREB. If any student needs to pass other regional board like ADEX, he/she will fly out to another school where they have that board exam. Schools are hosting these board exams only, they do not determine who pass and who not. State also do not interfere on the result. State only decide on which board exams they prefer. This picture below is from ADA. Please check with your state because there are always changes each year.

In short, if you want to apply for license at the state you want to live/practice, you have to check with them either from website or through mail/phone. That is the end goal of our journey. I hope this post will clear up some confusion you have right now. Please don’t hesitate to ask me any question as even the simplest question can lead to a new topic and will help others as well. DDS Journey will not contribute much without your feedback and questions.

Information is Gold!

*How to score high on TOEFL – Listening and Speaking

When it comes to Advance Standing Program, we can all agree that the first barrier international dentists have to overcome is English - specifically, TOEFL. Being someone who could barely conduct a conversation in English 8,9 years ago, I would love to share with you some steps I took to score 104 points from 70 initially. If you are below 70, you can still benefit from these suggestions as I believe this is the right way to improve each of four skills – Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.

A bit about my English journey, my mom put me into English class when I was 3 years old until 6 years old. I am forever grateful for that because I never see English as a total stranger although I was struggling with it for a long time afterward. We do study English in school, but all we learn is grammar and vocabulary – which is almost useless for communication if you can’t pronounce them in a right way. When I was in 11th grade, wanting to study abroad, I went to one of the most popular English center in Saigon hoping to score 60 in TOEFL and I could not help but feel drowning. I did not know where to start as my skills were so bad except maybe reading. I quit after 2 months and then jumped from places to places – no class lasting more than a few months. I just never felt like I was getting anywhere better. “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” Most of the English classes only gave me one fish a day – I knew more vocabulary, I knew more complicated grammar structure but I did not get the “tool” to improve my English significantly. Until I met a teacher!

- READING -

He was the only one at that time who opened an English class that focused on one skill only – listening. He was the one giving me the foundation that helped me build my future on. He explained that listening is the most important skill one has to master in order to master other skills, like a baby first recognizes people’s voices before imitating what it hears and starts to speak. His method was simple. He gave us different cassettes – 1 “VOA”, 1 “Around town”, and 1 “CNN”. I went there 3 times a week, so each day we would work on a tape. “Around town” is daily conversation, “VOA” is more academic, slow and easier to guess, “CNN” is more modern but harder to understand. My homework is to play the tape and write down whatever I could hear. The part I could not guess the words, I would leave it blank. We also had to guess if it’s a comma or a full stop after each pause. When we came to class, the teacher would play the tape and wrote along on a board the whole piece before asking us which words or phrase we could not catch. He then would play the words again until we remembered how it was pronounced.

I could not believe how many familiar words I pronounced wrongly before and that’s why I did not recognize them. The whole process sounds so boring and super slow right? However, after a few months, I could hear clearly every single word and even after his tragic death, I could still practice that way on my own with any material as long as I have the listening part with full script. I tried to pass on this method with some of my friends but not everyone believed on how effective it could be or not everyone was patient enough to get through “the initial pain” of being so slow. It is interesting how you have to go real slow in order to move fast.

- SPEAKING -

Once I corrected my pronunciation through listening, my speaking skill got better also. Those words that people could not understand when I used before now are easier to understand. When you pronounce a word correctly, people will understand despite the accent. Tried to speak slowly, clearly and with correct pronunciation. The first time I took TOEFL, it was only a mock test as I knew I was not ready to take the real one. I scored 13/30 for speaking. It was a shocking moment to know how “good” I was. I expected less then 20 but 13 was an ugly truth that I had to accept. Determined to improve my speaking, I jumped from class to class again without obvious result. After I finished my dental school in 2011, I registered for a full-time 2-month-long class that helped people who were about to study abroad. It was expensive but one of the best choices I’ve made. The class helped me get over my anxiety/insecurity when communicating in English.

Speaking English all day long in 2 months definitely helped but mainly with daily conversation. Speaking in TOEFL is a different story. You can look up the format of TOEFL Speaking online, but generally they have 6 parts and you have to quickly answer the questions in 45s – 1 min with only 30s-45s to prepare. I could communicate but within that time frame, my brain often went frozen. Fast back 2 years later, I was still struggling but it’s time to think of applying for advanced standing program so I decided to invest in a TOEFL class. I love that class because once again, they gave me a “fish hook”.

The part I am scared of the most is Question 1 & 2. I was good with listening so for Question 3,4,5,6 I could easily draft a note and answer based on that. For Ques 1 & 2 when I had a simple question and just answered it freestyle, I often had no idea what to say. The key is you have to practice thinking in English in order to respond that fast. I would do my normal daily activities and always think of random questions. For example, I would drive around and ask myself “Which color do you like and why?” when seeing red light. It doesn’t matter if I actually love yellow or Red. If I can find an answer easier with Green, I will go with that (Green is the color of nature so green makes me feel peaceful. Green is also my mom’s favorite so it reminds me of her blah blah blah). No one is here to judge you based on what you think, they only want to know if you can answer the question or not in 45s.

There are also lots of mock TOEFL questions on the internet that you can use to practice. On youtube, if you type TOEFL Speaking, there will be mock questions with timer so you can practice in the same concept of 30s/45s/1min timeframe. Practice makes perfect. Don’t think that you can improve your English quickly just by going to class and doing homework as teacher says. Everyone has different ways of absorbing knowledge, teacher will teach you in a general way that can fit majority people, but you need to understand what is your weakness and find a way to improve it.

- to be continued -

*How to nail an interview

Back in 2011 after I graduated from dental school in Vietnam, I was thinking “man, I have job interviews now and I haven’t done any interview before. What to do?”. In 2013, I got called by University of Connecticut for AEGD program, I thought I was good with interview since I got THREE job interviews before so I went with an innocent belief (of course I did not ace it). In 2015, I got called by University of Colorado for ISP program. I was so stressful for the interview as I knew my skill was nowhere close to the level I needed to be. It was a full month of intense preparation and I did it! Now 2019, I thought I was good now with interview and gee, I still learn a ton after so many job interviews (with many failed ones of course). Lesson learned – interview skill is one of the most important skills you can equip yourself with, no matter which stage of life you are in right now and there is always room to improve.

I got called by UCDenver in early April for the interview in May 2nd. The failed interview in 2013 sent me back to the Earth so I knew I must do everything I could to nail this one. No more fun time. No more joking around. Focus! First thing I did was to collect every question possibly showing up. I googled “job interview”, “medical school interview”, “dental school interview”, etc. This part was easy. The most popular questions are

1) What is your strength?

2) What is your weakness?

3) Why should we hire/accept you? /What differs you from others? / What makes you stand out?

4) What are your short-term/long-term goal?

5) Where do you see yourself at 3/5 years from now?

6) If we don’t hire/accept you, what will you do next?

7) What is your hobby?

8) What do you do to relieve stress?

9) Who are your role model?

10) What will your friends/coworkers describe you?

11) Tell me about yourself

12) What do you know about the school/company? Why did you choose us?

I wrote everything down in a small notebook – one question a page. Then, I tried to write down the answer for each question and changed it as I saw fit. Believe it or not, the first two questions are the most basic but trickiest ones. It’s already 2019, and I think that good interviewers won’t use these basic questions as often anymore as they are tired with “Oh I am too much a perfectionist” for question #2. However, these questions are still truly important not for them – but for you. You cannot nail an interview if you are not confident in yourself. You cannot be confident in yourself if you do not know who you are.

I wrote the answers down then scratched and wrote and scratched again. I read in some articles that we have to “sell ourselves” in front of the interviewers. But how can you sell and still stay true to yourself at the same time? I realized that people always have so many sides - each side they will show to certain groups of people. Should I show my humble/kind/shy self? Or maybe I can show my ambitious/goal-driven/ risk-taking self. Then how’s about my young/carefree/love-to-laugh self? You must decide which side or which combination you want to "sell" and want the interviewers to see. It can be humble/goal-oriented/love-to-laugh as you can pick one characteristic of each side. There is no rule for that.

It will be also helpful if you kinda know your interviewers. Everyone will match with some personalities and won’t with some others. If you are lucky, you can easily click with the interviewers. With the ISP program at UCDenver, there are always 4 interviewers in the room with you with 4 different personalities so it’s impossible to “know” your interviewers. But well, if you somehow know in general what they are looking for – someone who will do everything to achieve their goals or who will get along with people or who has a remarkable background, etc – you will be more likely to nail the interview.

The second tip was that I listed down almost every aspect of my life – family, job experience, dentistry, volunteer experience, remarkable life stories. One thing I learned from my ex was that people love STORIES! He told me “that’s why we have magazine like PEOPLE”. If you search on youtube, you will find videos of people showing you how to be a better story-teller (and you should watch those). With job experience, I prepared some fun stories and some not-so-fun stories that taught me something. The same with volunteer experience – why I did that/ what was my role/ memories, etc. With family or life stories, everyone loves stories about hardship – overcome – defining moments – happy ending kinda thing. I don’t say that you should fake it because it will never ever end well for you. For sure your life has many good stories to tell already as everyone has ups and downs moments. You just need to remember and tell it well.

My old note - I keep it as a reminder how far I've come and that I should be thankful every single day. (These were the questions I would ask the interviewers)

I always give this advice to people – get your stories together! Who are you? What do you want? What are your goals? Which steps did you take toward it? Which steps will you take to achieve? What is your plan? Why you did what you did? etc. One small example to better explain what I mean. True story – I learned crocheting because I was very clumsy, and I hope to train myself to be more dexterous. I indeed have better hand skill now than before and hand skill is so important for a dentist. Therefore, it’s safe to say, “I want to be a better dentist, so I picked some hobbies that can help me train my hand skill like crocheting and knitting”. I did say so during my interview. I don’t know what the interviewers thought, they may think that it was fake (I hope not) but it is true. I wanted to prove that I commit to dentistry and will take even the smallest step to make myself a better dentist. See, somehow, I linked my hobbies to dentistry – hence – have all your stories together and they will combine to show the interviewers the side that you want to sell. They may not believe when you say you are goal-driven, but they will believe when you tell them a story to prove it.

The third tip was body expression. You may have the most interesting story but if you tell it with a monotone, people will sleep before you reach the end. I watched a lot of youtube videos especially those Ted-talk ones about human behavior, human psychology, human expression, etc. I even watched videos like "how to make a good impression when you meet your in-law" because, well, if you can pass your in-law's interview, pheww you can pass any interview. There are so many small tips out there that it’s hard for me to list every single ones. Just wander around and pick the ones that work for you. I recorded myself answering questions, telling stories then watched the records again until I picked what were the most natural for me.

One phrase that sticked with me since then “Fake it till you make it”. I was not born confident. That is hard-earned. On the interview morning after I dressed up and was ready to head out, I looked at myself in the mirror and said “You will nail it! Nobody wants this more than you. Go and prove it! This is the moment you dream for your whole life. You will shine today. You will be the most confident person out there. You will get in the program”. I think that prep talk gave me extra adrenaline enough to get me through a whole brutal day. I was literally “high” that day. I was not confident enough back then, but I faked it so well that I actually believed in it and showed it right on time.

I also read that thank-you note/card/email is extremely important. Throughout the whole day, I was picking which details I could add to that email. I tried to remember the name of the students who showed me and other candidates around the school as well as the students in the student panel (there was a session with them when we could ask these students as many questions as we wanted). Our interview day was done around 4.30pm. Right after I reached my hotel room, I opened my laptop and wrote the thank-you email right away before I picked up my phone to call mom. Please research “how to write a great thank-you note” or click here. It will help you a ton just like it helped me.

This post is much longer than I expected, and I hope I did not bore you to death. Everyone has different way to prepare for an interview. I don’t say mine is the best way to do and I only hope that maybe this will work for some of you. I always say that I have great respect to not only my classmates but also anyone going through this route. I know how committed you are and how much you sacrifice for this dream. If I can help just a bit to make it easier, I am very happy to do so. Best of luck on your journey and let me know if I helped or can help.

P.S To all my past interviewers, when I said my biggest strength was well-prepared and my biggest weakness was over-prepared, I was true to myself :P

*INBDE or NBDE Part 1&2?

I recently got a question of taking the NBDE part 1&2 or waiting until 2020 to take INDBE. I write this post to share with you some information I have regarding this matter. My goal is to share information so YOU can make the decision.

According to ADA, the new format called INDBE will replace the old one starting on Aug 1, 2020. Anyone clearing part 1 before Aug 1, 2020 will have two more years to take part 2 until Aug 1, 2022. Anyone has not taken part 1 before the deadline will have to take the new format instead.

What is the difference between the two formats? First of all, the all format has two parts – NDBE part 1&2 while the new format will have only one exam. With the old format, you will have to apply for Part 1, pass the exam, apply again for Part 2, pass this exam and done. There is no restriction on how soon you can apply between Part 1 & Part 2. My friend took two exams within 2 months. However, applying twice, stress twice, taking exams twice and of course, paying twice is such a hassle that no one wants. With the new format, you only need to pass one exam. Passing one sounds much better than passing two, right?

In terms of cost-effectiveness, the new format will also be preferable. From the ADA website, the cost of Part 1 2018 is $425 and for foreign-trained dentists, they charge $210 more to process paperwork (like verifying information to decide eligibility of the candidate). For Part 2 2018, the fee is $475 for the exam itself and again, $210 for foreign-trained dentists. Therefore, the cost for both exams will be $1320 if you are not student of an accredited dental schools. For now I cannot find any information on how much it will cost to apply for INBDE but I am so sure it will be much less than that – half of the cost hopefully.

In terms of time-effectiveness, it takes 8.5 hours for Part 1 and 12.5 hours for Part 2 (2-day exam) so together it takes 21 hours sitting still for exams. I felt like half of my neurons were boiled after the exams. No one can be at their best sitting for that long honestly. Luckily the new INBDE will also cut half the time – 8.5 hours only. Woohooo!

In terms of exam content, the new INBDE also brings good news. The old format has about 450 items on each part which means about 900 items in total while the new format have 500 items. It’s not only about the length. I remember I struggled a lot with Part 1 because that required lots of recall knowledge while I study by understanding more than memorizing. Honestly, will it make me a better clinician if I can memorize the molecule of lipid? I guess not. Part 2 was better than Part 1 since it was more dental-related. Still, my brain was exhausted after two stressful days. The INBDE was promised “The new test relies less on rote knowledge and information recall than the current NBDE examinations do, and instead it emphasizes the relevance of the basic sciences through test items that link science and clinical application.” I took Part 2 in 2017 while they have the mock exam for INBDE so I was offered a chance to take the mock test to help ADA exploring the effectiveness of the new format. They did deliver what they promised. I think the questions were more clinical-based like how you will treat the patient or how you will proceed in the situation.

What else should you consider between NBDE and INBDE? I suggest you take advantage of this transitioning period. According to ADA, “Under the JCNDE’s Five Years/Five Attempts Eligibility Rule, candidates must pass the examination within a) five years of their first attempt or b) five examination attempts, whichever comes first. Subsequent to the fifth year or fifth attempt, candidates may test once every 12 months after their most recent examination attempt.”

Practically speaking, if you pass Part 1 but fail when attempting Part 2 the 5th time or the 5th year (hope not), you can take INBDE instead of waiting a whole year to take another Part 2. However, let’s hope that no one has to take this complicated route. I hope all my readers will pass in the first attempt!

Will it affect the application to Advance Standing Programs? I do not believe so. As long as you clear Part 1& 2 or the INBDE, you are eligible to apply for ASP. That will help schools actually. With the old format, some schools require only Part 1 to apply while others require Part 1&2. That can potentially cause some confusion for applicants. With this change, schools will require only INBDE so the process will have less paperwork and be less time-consuming.

So what is the conclusion? The INBDE is an excellent improvement. I do appreciate ADA’s effort to make things less stressful for us. However, we are one and half year away from the deadline so if you believe you can pass both Part 1&2 quickly, go for it. It’s like a no-brainer if we just sit and wait to take INBDE instead of clearing NBDE and applying for the next cycle. In case you do not see yourself clearing both part before Aug 1,2020 due to certain situation (finance problem, young kids to take care, working full time, visa issue, etc) then INBDE will worth the wait.

More questions that I did not answer in this post? PM me at https://www.facebook.com/ddsjourney/ or email me at hannah@ddsjourney.com

*Yay I graduated!!!

Hi guys, it has been a while since the last post. No, I am not forgetting about DDS Journey, I just want to spend the time to fully appreciate the result of years of hard work and sacrifice - my DDS graduation. Yes, I finally graduated from CUDenver. This is a milestone in my journey and I want to share this huge achievement with all my DDSJ friends.

Back in 2011 when I graduated in Vietnam, I told myself this was only the 1st step leading to my ultimate goal and that I had to continue studying and working hard toward it. I spent several months enjoying no-exam life, then started with NBDE and TOEFL right away. That sounded like I had a plan, that I was so determined, that I had a clear pathway to follow. None of those are true. I was lucky enough to actually know "someone" getting accepted into a U.S dental school and all I knew back then was that I needed to achieve a high score in TOEFL and clear the NBDEs. Still, I had tons of questions and every time I tried to answer one, that would lead to many more. I felt lonely and hopeless. I wondered every day if I only used this as an excuse to avoid real-life problems, or maybe I kept studying because I didn't really love dentistry enough to practice it. I wondered if I was being ambitious or impractical. I moved slowly forward to an uncertain destination. Sometimes I wished I would be brave enough - or coward enough to give up. I am glad I did not.

I believe all of us share more or less the same story - at least at the uncertainty future part. I know a lot of people have a journey that was way crazier than mine. I look at them every day and feel so humble. One of my friends told me once he had lived in an underground bunker for weeks during a war in his home country that sometimes he still felt magical to walk freely and breath fresh air. All the uncertainty and hardship are meant to break us or make us stronger. It is those experience that made you-you. Embrace your obstacles, make your story unique, and tell it well!

Now back to the graduation as I guess some of you would like to hear more about it. The graduation time was a mix of many feelings - happy, excited, emotional, sad (about departing from friends and schools). Most could not believe that two years had almost passed. My class held an appreciation lunch to acknowledge all the help and support from the faculties and staff members of the school during the past 2 years. We told each other that it's our job to serve today so we made sure that every guest ate before we started having lunch. There were many classmates standing near the entrance so when faculties and staff members passed by, they would be greeted with a round of applause.

Then it came the Flag Ceremony a week before our graduation. I love this ceremony (only for ISP program) as each student would pin their own flag to their "home country". This "home country" can be their birthplace, the place they grew up or the place they earned their 1st dental degree.

We came from 14 countries around the world and became a family - that should be how the world is instead of all the wars and killing. I felt so proud that the Vietnamese flag made it there for the 3rd time.

The last week of school was special. I saw my last patient at the school on that Monday to deliver an FDP and then wrapped up everything. I prepared some gifts so I was running around the school to deliver them. On Tuesday we had a CPR class then I went to the airport to pick up my aunt from Vietnam coming for the ceremony. On Wednesday we had a banquet at Hyatt when everyone dressed up nicely. We were discussing what to wear for like months before because we all wanted to look our absolute best. My close friends and I decided to rent a room at Hyatt that night to spend time together because, sadly, we all move to different states afterwards. That is one of my most favorite memories forever. Then Friday was our graduation ceremony. My mom is also a dentist in Vietnam so she accompanied me walking across the stage and hooded me. If you ask me how I felt, I would say it was like winning a Nobel prize.

Me and my mom - the tiny woman who sacrifices everything so I made it to the stage

Me and my mentor - Dr. Nguyen - who lead the way so I could follow. She is a Pros faculty at UC Denver.

Me and my family

elp. Who knows maybe 2,3 years from now you may send me your graduation pictures! Best of luck and Happy New Year!l survive. I am applying for Washington State license and still looking for jobs. As I am lucky to have green card, I am not in a rush and want to find a place best fit me. I hope that I will have more exciting stories to share with you guys once I start practicing. It will be not only how to get US license but also how a foreign-trained dentists' life is in the US. By the way, I recently made a facebook page as I want to hear more from all of you and connect to you better. Don't hesitate to pm me with questions or feedbacks - I read everything you guys sent me on this website and love it. Find me at DDS Journey facebook page. Please let me know how I can help. Who knows maybe 2,3 years from now you may send me your graduation pictures! Best of luck and Happy New Year!

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King

https://www.facebook.com/ddsjourney/

*Who are my idols?

Just like everyone else, I grew up admiring certain people and wishing to become just like them. I think idolizing someone is a necessary step in developing your own personality and finding your own identity. Luckily, I grew up not admiring celebrities just because they are pretty or can sing very well or simply marry to money. I grew up finding myself discussing with my parents during dinner about how exciting school was or when would be our next charity trip, and how I could contribute. They were willing for me to take a day off school to join in those activities – with me promising I would make up for that day by studying/ doing homework on bus – because for them “education is for a lifetime, not only a day or two”. I think that’s the root why I always admire people having an impact in community no matter a small one like in class/school/neighborhood or a big one like an area/a city/a country, etc.

Me keeping my promise to focus on study in one of those charity trips while other people had fun

First and foremost, you can tell I admire my parents. My dad was the smartest person I’ve ever met. No wonder why he became a neurosurgeon! I’ve heard from my mom that there were only two students in each class chosen to follow the path and he was the only one without some “relationship”. I’ve been told by his friends that when he was a 4th-year student, he would always go to some hospitals nearby every night to shadow and later assist in surgery. He was so good that he got to mentor some 5th-year medical students during their rotation. He was so smart that he could remember the whole book after reading it in a day. Sadly, what I realized is people that smart most likely will have big trouble in their personal life – maybe their brains just function in a different way I guess. I know my dad was not a perfect parent but I know he loved me and my siblings the perfect way he could.

My late dad in one of his last charity trips

I admire my mom for her strength and perseverance. She moved to the U.S at her 50s, gave up her career as a dentist in Vietnam just so her children can have a better life. With all the trauma from the past, adding up being estranged in a new country with a new language and 2 growing-up boys that she needed to care for, she still managed to graduate college as a licensed practical nurse with 3.98 GPA. I am on the easy route, with a better start thanks to her sacrifice. Without her, I don’t think I ever made it here let alone living my dream. I never allow myself to give up because she never give up. Somehow at her 50s, I feel like she has more energy than me. You can find her organizing potluck or holding birthday/retirement party for her colleagues at the cardiovascular department at Madigan Army Medical Center. While I’m the introverted one in the house and love sitting in my corner thinking about the universe, she is so outgoing and love to be around people. Maybe that’s why she found the charity organization (that I mentioned in my post about passion) more than 15 years ago.

My mom, my two brothers and one of my best friends during one of the activities

My mom in one of the trips

When I was a kid, I always jumped of joy when my granduncle visited. He could just share with us his knowledge in no matter which subjects we discussed about with great sense of humor. He has been a writer for his whole life – a very talented one. He lived through 3 wars – the Indochina war, the Vietnam war and then a smaller war along the border between Vietnam – China. He witnessed the loss of his beloved family and friends, took care of his friends’ family just like his own. At one time he worked to provide food and shelter for 15-20 people. After the Vietnam war, people with history of working for the Southern government (aka Saigon's government) or U.S. government had a hard time with finding a job if they were lucky enough not to be sent to “re-education camp” for years. I don’t know how he managed to find a job to provide for himself let alone providing for his friends who couldn’t work. For the longest time, he had to use different pseudonyms and used personal relationship to hide identity only then his articles got published. I still remember the first time he got one article published under his real name, he bought the newspaper and delivered it to all his family and friends (it was around year 2000). I feel like he is a living Vietnam history. He is a real-life saint who sacrifice his own happiness for others. Fortunately, he is now a well-known translator in Vietnam who translated so many books from The Godfather to Eragon. One of his readers commented “I couldn’t believe the translator was 80 years old. I thought this was someone in their 20s. How could he know all the youngster’s slang?” He is the one guiding me to my writing. I helped him with translating sometimes and although I suck at it, writing becomes my favorite creativity activity. And if you wonder why I love history, especially Vietnam history, it came from him. So if you live in Vietnam and happen to come across any books from "Đặng Phi Bằng", please check them out ^^ Thanks in advance.

I am so proud to call him my granduncle

Last but not least, my ”newest” idol is one of the most successful Vietnamese abroad. I first knew about her when I watched a show for Vietnamese abroad called “Paris by night”. She’s strong, she’s talented, she’s successful, but the thing that struck me the most was her pride in being a Vietnamese and her passion to bring education to less fortunate children in Vietnam. Her goal is to break the gap, build the connection between Vietnamese abroad and Vietnamese in homeland and to help young Vietnamese born abroad understand more of their root. Her speech was so inspirational that I kept watching it for so many times. When I was down, I would watch her and tell myself “That’s it! You have to be successful, so you can help others just like she does”. It’s not that being not successful yet is an excuse to not helping people. You can always help others – a kind word that can lift someone’s spirit up, or helping someone to cross a street. What I mean is she impacts so many more lives at her level. A few years ago I learned that she was my mom’s high school friend before she escaped Vietnam (yes she was one of the boat people). How awesome is that! My mom was invited to her house for a high school reunion last year in Houston, Texas and of course my mom took me with her. You can imagine how excited I was. Her name is Duy-Loan Le and I’m pretty sure there are tons of her videos on youtube if you are interested in learning more.

I am very fortunate to get to know so many inspirational people. Everyone is unique and I believe everyone has been fighting a battle that I may know nothing about to get to this day. I learn from you all and admire you all.

- Be smart! Be brave! Be fabulous! -

*ADA annual meeting 2018 - Oct 18-22 - Hawaii

I haven’t posted anything in like almost 3 weeks and I am sorry for my laziness. I came home for a few days after 6 months being incredibly busy then took some time off clinic again to attend the ADA annual meeting in Hawaii. Hawaii! Yes, yes, I know. I am writing this while being at the paradise. These days sitting at the Waikiki beach watching the sunset, I am so grateful for being where I am and who I am right now. For all of you who follow my journey, I wish that you will always have a life full of choices.

Sunset at Waikiki beach

from Diamond Head lookout

Going back to our main conversation here – dentistry. Do you know that you can easily sign up to ADA as an international member then sign up for these meetings with that status? ADA annual meeting is open to dentists from all around the world. You will have to pay some fee to register for the meeting (about $115) but if you fail to have the visa to attend, they will return the fee (I’m not so sure about the deadline though). I registered for the meeting in Washington D.C in 2015 but decided not to go later and had no trouble getting the money back. The ADA also gave me an invitation letter to help with the visa interview and I think it is super awesome.

So is it worth to attend? Absolutely. With that small fee, you can attend so many free courses. Of course you have the option of paying for some expensive courses too. The whole meeting is normally about 3-4 days full of courses from $0, $25, $50 to $500. Pick wisely and you can attend 5-6 hours of lecture all 3-4 days for $0! What’s a better way to update yourself, network with other colleagues and have some great stories to tell in the interview day? As I said it multiple times, make your profile look better in every possible way you can, show schools that you really commit to dentistry. If you can’t afford to attend those post-doc courses (they are normally around $20k), can’t take 1 year off work for public health program or preceptorship program, then at least put in as much effort as possible to expose yourself to dentistry here in the U.S. If you have any more questions about the ADA meeting, please feel free to contact me. Hope to see you all next year at the meeting in San Francisco!

Then, how to register for the meeting. Now this I think you may have to apply to the ADA first as an international member (I am not so sure if you can register without being a member first). It is super easy to register to become an ADA member. When I did it years ago, I was like “what? That’s it?” All you need to do is to fill out a form, pay the fee ($100/year), send them the scan copy of your degree and done. They will contact you in two weeks after verifying your eligibility (which means you really graduate with DDS/DMD degree from a dental school). They then will mail you a certificate of the membership status. Within this one year you will have full access to their JADA journal online, other resources and of course the opportunity to attend the ADA meeting happening around September/ October every year.

Some information:

ADA FDI World Dental Congress 2019 – Sep 4-9 in San Francisco, CA

ADA 2020 – Oct 15-19 in Orlando, FL

ADA 2021 – Oct 11-15 Las Vegas, NV

ADA 2022 – Oct 13-17 Houston, TX

More information on how to join ADA as international members:

https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/international-activities/for-international-dentists-information-and-program/join-the-ada-as-an-international-member

P.S. It's not that only ADA meetings count. As I've said, any effort to expose yourself to dentistry counts especially for those who are not practicing right now. There are a lot of dental conferences out there for you to choose. Choosing not only because you want to look good on your profile but because you genuinely love dentistry.

The exhibit hall at ADA meeting 2018

Me and my friend Dr. Rojas Lock at the New Dentist Reception