DentaltownUK September 2017 - 82

Students

DentaltownUK Honorary
Associate Editor Kishan Sheth
Dear fellow colleagues, friends, ladies
and gentlemen: I was deeply and truly
honoured when I was appointed
as the student honorary associate editor
for the DentaltownUK publication,
back in January 2017.
The entire concept of Dentaltown
in the USA has empowered dentists
all around the world and has been an
extremely beneficial learning tool for
students, including myself, and I was
very excited to hear that the movement
was being brought to the UK.
It is indeed a cha nce a nd a n
opportunity to discuss important
matters and trends in dentistry and
share ideas, which lead to the spreading of
knowledge and generation of discussion
and debate.
The primary goal of the student
section is to empower undergraduate
dental students to write about topics
they are passionate about, and share
their experiences with all their fellow
dental students in the UK.
Is there an area within dentistry that
you have been reading about? Would
you like to put together a brief article
summarizing your findings?
Have you read a book recently that
you think has changed the way you
view something? Would like to write
up a book review?
Whatever empowers the profession
and begins discussion should be shared for
all to benefit from, and we all encourage
the discussion of ideas which will help us

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SEPTEMBER 2017 // dentaltownuk.com

to raise our standards and become more
effective providers of patient-centred,
evidence-based, minimally invasive and
holistic dentistry.
It has been exciting to witness the
great explosion in discussion which
DentaltownUK has sparked, and it has
been empowering to see that students all
around the UK have so much positive
feedback, and that so many wish to
get involved. In this edition we take a
look at a day in the life of Dr Gerard
Balague Viladrich, a King's College
London Dental School clinical teacher
and dentist.
We also take a closer look at dental
anxiety amongst dental students by
Keshana Kuru, BDS3 dental student
at King's College London.
I must congratulate both the
authors of these articles for doing such
a fantastic job. I also write a short article
on mastering your communication skills
as a dental student.
I am confident that DentaltownUK
will continue to deliver an unrivalled
service to the profession, and will
continuously play a pivotal role in the
way in which students and professionals
come together. Enjoy this edition of
DentaltownUK!

We almost always associate dental
anxiety with our patients who are terrified
of the dentist, but we fail to recognise the
daunting aspect of anxiety among dental
professionals, or dental students.
Anxiety is suddenly such a big elephant
in the room when it is associated with
healthcare professionals, and none of us
want to admit to it, or even talk about
it. However, why is it that we are not
reluctant to discuss this issue with our
anxious patients?
It must be noted that dental anxiety
faced by students should not only be merely
attributed to the content of dentistry and its
clinical practices, but it should be considered
that the anxiety could be accounted for by
the numerous emotional and psychological
factors that students have to face.
It has been shown that anxiety is the
most prevalent mental health issue that
students tend to experience (Brown, 2016).
As a student in general, I found it
difficult adjusting into my "new life". Our
new "university lives", as it were. Making
new friends who I could have a laugh with
in times of solitude, balancing the avalanche
of revision with my social life, and not to
forget the whole "being an adult" thing.
It is quite overwhelming for a mere
A-level student to transition between
studying a set syllabus; learning skills that
we may never end up using, to studying
Dentistry, in which we learn skills not just
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK September 2017
