Before COVID-19, studying dentistry or dental hygiene demanded a strong work ethic, keen study habits, and perseverance. Returning to campus in the midst of a global pandemic, however, has required resilience and adaptability and students are demonstrating plenty of both.

This month, students are returning to the Dentistry Building, masked, sanitized, and ready to begin an academic year like no other.

Fresh start

Olu Brown, a second-year dentistry student, says the return to school is a welcome change for her and her classmates. The return-to-campus transition means more time in the simulation and bench labs fine tuning pre-clinical skills, while complying with distancing and PPE measures at the same time.

“I’m not someone who prefers distance learning,” says Olu. “I had to adapt, but the entire world had to adapt.”

All students are now required to wear masks and scrubs in pre-clinical areas and – new this year – they must change out of their scrubs before leaving the building. It also means returning home to attend online lectures, some pre-recorded (asynchronous) and others live (synchronous), as in-person lectures are not being delivered in the building.

The glass is half full

Online lectures are also the new reality for the dental hygiene program. Second-year students like Jennifer Johnson must now travel to the clinic to see patients before moving to a computer off campus for their next lecture.

“We always have a lot of work to do and that hasn’t changed,” says Jennifer. “Scheduling group work has become a lot more difficult because we are not all in the same place at the same time.”

Jennifer is adjusting to wearing a face shield during all patient appointments, which can be a hinderance to some, but if you look at it through Jennifer’s eyes; “It serves as a reminder to keep good posture.”

Picking up where we left off

In the Dr. William Murphy Dental Clinic, fourth-year dental students such as Ryan Callahan have to find solutions for patients who were undergoing treatments when the clinic was shut down in March.

“A treatment plan can change greatly over the course of six months,” Ryan says. “If a patient was getting a crown, for example, and their provisional fell off a couple of months ago, that needs to be addressed.”

Ryan also explains that one minor adjustment to get used to in the COVID-19 era is making sure you have everything you might need before you begin a procedure. A forgotten item would mean the removal of all PPE, going to collect what they didn’t have, and then re-dressing before a return to their cubicle.

Both Jennifer and Ryan agree that learning COVID-19 infection protocols as a part of their clinical curriculum in their final year is knowledge they will be able to apply in their professional lives. Developing these habits early will prove to be helpful if the protocols remain in place for a long period of time.

New students

New students who joined the Faculty this year received the best welcome students, faculty, and staff could manage, given COVID-19 guidelines, including virtual welcome meetings. The second-year dentistry class, for example, planned many orientation activities, to help their first-year colleagues become acquainted with the program and each other. You can view the video they created here: https://youtu.be/F5xhWi6kB6g.

Moving forward together

Whether they are entering a new learning environment with limited socializing, facing the isolation of online learning or adapting to new clinical protocals, students are showing their resilience and moving forward together to embrace the new academic year.