Everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Dose of the Dental podcast.
The focus of this podcast is to share undergraduate and dental school experiences from dental
students and dental professionals through valuable discussions.
Through sharing the journeys and stories of current dental students and dental professionals,
our goals help you find answers or guidance for your own pre-dental journeys.
Joining us today is David Cruzotti, a dental student studying at the University of Connecticut
School of Dental Medicine.
David graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor's degree in biology along
with a studio art minor.
He's now an incoming second year dental student at the University of Connecticut School of
Dental Medicine.
During his undergraduate years, David was heavily involved with the Stony Brook Dental School,
participating in an intensive, discovered dental program during the summer of 2018, being
awarded scholarship distinction in 2020.
He's volunteered in both a dental outreach trip as well as in the Stony Brook School
of Dental Medicine clinics.
David also held various positions in the Stony Brook pre-dental society and has researched
experience as a data entry specialist.
Hey David, welcome to the podcast.
How's being able to say you finished one whole year of dental school feel and what are your
thoughts as you enter your second?
Hey Serge, that was a great introduction.
Thank you so much.
It feels really good being done with first year and getting into a lot more dental this
year.
It's been a really crazy journey so far, but I'm really excited to be continuing.
That sounds great.
So why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you're from, you
know, just kind of your background.
Sure.
So I'm from Long Island, New York.
And as Serge mentioned, I went to Stony Brook University for undergrad.
And now I'm here at University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine.
I was really involved with the pre-dental club and a few other organizations on campus
at Stony Brook.
I had a great time in undergrad and I think our pre-dental society really prepared me
for the application process and for getting into dental school.
So I think we're really lucky to have such a strong program there at Stony Brook.
So something we like to ask all our guests is like, why did you choose to go into Dentistry
in the first place?
Yeah, that's a great question and one that everyone gets asked on on the application
trail and all the interviews.
And it was one that I did a lot of thinking for when it was my turn to start interviewing.
And everyone has their own reasons and their own experiences that they've had throughout
their lives.
For me, I had a close family friend who was a dentist and his wife was a dentist as well.
They both still practice.
But I always knew I wanted to do something related to people and health care and interaction
with patients or however that may be.
Just people in general are what I'm passionate about.
And I come from a minority community.
I'm Hispanic.
And my first introduction to dentistry as a whole was when I went with this family friend
and his wife on an outreach trip in Mexico, actually.
And it was an amazing experience.
They both founded Smiles for Hope dental ministries and seeing them perform dental care on patients
who might not have been around a dentist in years due to financial reasons or accessibility
reasons.
It was amazing.
It really opened my eyes to what health care is and what it is about and also how it can
help me become the best person that I can be.
I can be doing something that is financially good for me and a future family maybe.
And it's also something that I can serve the community with.
And that's what I'm really interested in.
I actually went on a dental outreach trip recently to Guatemala.
And I saw the same thing as you did.
The inability for access to health care that we feel is so basic and where we live and
how fortunate we are.
So it's interesting and I hope you can see that kind of perspective.
So Dave, can you walk us through your experiences and reflect on how your goals may or may not
have changed as you progress?
Like when freshman year or sophomore year, it's like junior year.
Sure.
So for me, I was pretty young when I was first trying to decide what I was interested in.
And that family friend really helped me hone in on dentistry.
I guess that first experience I had with dentistry was actually pretty early on in my high school
experience.
So by the time I got to Stony Brook, I had kind of cemented my mind on where I wanted
to end up at the end of those four years at Stony Brook.
So throughout that time, my idea of the future didn't really change.
Before that, I had considered other medical oriented professions, other health professions,
including medical school, as a lot of students do.
But by the time I entered my freshman year, I knew that I wanted to do dentistry.
And that's why I became involved with the pre-dental clubs so early on.
I made sure to go to their first meeting that freshman year.
And from then on, I was very heavily involved with that.
Yeah, what other question can I answer related to that?
So yeah, so what is that distinction you made between dentistry and the Med route?
What kind of really pushed you towards dentistry?
Was it just the experience in Mexico or was it more like what it consists of?
So for me, it was a lot of things.
One thing that I would say is a big thing is the quality of life.
So my family friend who is a dentist and his wife is a dentist as well, they live in a way
that they still have, they make time for their family, they make time for extracurricular
things and well, for their children and community outreach and support, they do a lot in their
free time, which if they were still long term, if they were medical residents for four or
five years, that would be very difficult for them.
So I always admired how much time and energy they invested into their community and into
their children.
So that was something that was important to me in terms of how I want to live in the next
10 years.
Another thing I would say is the ability of a practitioner to do hands on procedures almost
every time you have some of the dental chair.
So if you're a family practitioner, a medical doctor, a lot of times you'll see people and
you'll ask them a lot about their personal medical history and you'll make assessments,
but you won't often do procedures as much as you would as a dentist.
So I always loved working with my hands.
As you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, I have a studio art minor, so I was very involved
in painting and drawing and the ability to use my hands to do dental procedures almost
every time I have a patient is something that I really look forward to.
Yeah, I think personally, I'm still like building my way up to where you are right now, but something
that really stood out to me about dentistry is like every single appointment or every single
patient you see, you're going to be working with your hands and you're going to be active.
And it's not just like what you know, it's kind of more like hand-eye coordination and
how to apply what you know to like dexterity and like your own, your hand skills, which
is really unique about dentistry, I thought.
Yeah, so did you have any experiences in undergrad that you kind of, that led you to this distinction
that like dentistry is working with your hands and really just kind of showed you that side
of it, like maybe shadowing or something like that?
Yeah, I shadowed and worked with a few different dentists, one of which is Dr. Herron, which
I believe you currently work with.
She especially was such an inspiration and such a hardworking dentist that clearly had
a great rapport with patients that clearly loved what they were doing and was very invested
in her career.
And that's something that I really, well, it really resonated with me.
And I would say a lot of the different events that we had as a pre-dental society there,
especially the ones involved with Stony Brook Dental were really eye-opening, including
the summer Stony Brook Dental Scholars Program.
That was something where essentially I applied and I was accepted to do a week's worth of
dental related events and activities at the dental school.
And I did that in the summer of my freshman year and already like summer freshman year,
that cemented like, wow, this is really something that I can explore different aspects of.
There's a lot of different procedures that require different skills that I may like this
side of dentistry more than this side, but it showed me the width and breadth of what
dentistry is.
No, for sure.
And you mentioned that that happened kind of freshman year.
So you kind of got a taste of what you wanted to do very early on, which is like something
that many people may switch into dentistry like in junior year and sophomore year.
So they feel like they have to rush through the process, but it feels like you had your
foundation ready like freshman year, you're kind of new, what you wanted to do.
So how did you go from knowing you wanted to go dentistry freshman year?
How did you order your experiences and how did you order your things you participated
in for the rest of undergrad to make sure that you were set up to go into the field?
That's a great question.
I would say I asked a lot of upperclassmen for advice a lot of times, especially when
making my schedule and working around different club events and meetings.
From the get go at the end of freshman year, I applied to be a member of the dental eboard
at our pre dental club.
So that was something that I really wanted to shoot my shot for and see if it went through
and luckily it did.
And from then on, I was involved with the eboard every year, which was really awesome,
a great experience.
And I was also involved with C-Step Club and C-Step as a whole, which is if you don't know
what it is, it's the collegiate science technology entry program, which is basically a program
in New York state that aims to help minority students find opportunities that are already
out there and also new opportunities in STEM related fields.
So that was something I was really involved in.
And then as the years went by and I went into my junior year, I kind of had to say, okay,
I really got to cure myself to what I want to do and how to get into dental school and
how to be the best applicant I can be.
So I was no longer heavily involved with C-Step and C-Step Club.
And I really focused on pre-dental society and what I can contribute to the student body
there.
So that's kind of what I did.
And I really dedicated myself to studying for the DAT over that summer, which I believe
was the summer before my junior year, so that I can perform my best and apply the following
year.
So I applied the summer before my senior year and did not take any gaping.
Yeah, so I kind of want to rewind a little bit.
So I know you did some research, right?
And I know that's a really big part of many people's applications.
Like they're really, it's very emphasized.
It's not like it's optional, but it's not, in a sense, it's like not because people,
you know, now everyone's doing research and like you kind of need it to just put yourself
a little bit ahead.
So can you talk a little bit about your research experience and like how it played a role in
your application?
Yeah, I can definitely do that.
So I was lucky enough to do research at Stony Brook Dental School.
And I was involved with some clinical trials, mainly in the PERIO department.
And I think I became involved with that in my junior year and stayed involved for about
a year, maybe a little more than a year.
And it's definitely something that I would say it's not for everyone, research in general,
but it was something that I, like you said, a lot of people wanted for their CV or wanted
to bolster their application.
And I was interested and I did do it because I was interested as well.
But I'm glad I did it because it actually helped me connect a lot with students who
were there in the building that I was working in and also with faculty members who became
very close to me, like mentors in my life, which I'm very lucky to have.
So I think research in general, it's not for everyone, but it is something that if you're
doing it in the field especially can really help you get to where you want to be.
And I'm actually doing research this summer.
So summer of my D1 year in a completely different type of study.
It's my own study and it's based in a wet lab.
So I wanted something different from the clinical experience and it's pretty different.
It's night and day.
I would say research, yeah, you can do it if you want to.
I know there is a lot of pressure like you mentioned to do it.
I don't think you have to do it to get into school, but it definitely doesn't hurt.
So how can like pre-dentals get involved in research and how instead of getting involved,
like what is your best, what is your advice to approach research and to choose the best
one for them, for themselves?
Yeah.
So research can be hard to get into.
It's hard to find an opportunity sometimes that you know is good.
One of the things that I tried was I would reach out to upperclassmen that I knew who
might be involved in research and see if they knew of any availability in their own labs.
And I think that's a good way of assessing what might be doable and reasonable for you
to do is if you have an upperclassman friend who is involved and you know that they've
gone through it and they've done it and that it's doable because some research, PIs, they
might ask more of you or less of you.
So it's good to have kind of an already vetted opportunity that you know might be a good
one.
That's what I did.
And I would also reach out to any professors in a specific department you're interested
in.
Maybe if you email dental faculty and you look up what they're doing in research, that might
be a good way of doing it.
I know a lot of people did that my year.
Great.
And I don't know if there's, we had Zaid on for the first, I don't know if you remember
it.
We had him on for the first episode.
I kind of asked him, is there a second formula to it?
He's like, no, there's many ways you can get involved.
You can do like a variety of things and everyone can end up in research in different ways,
which is pretty interesting to me.
So now that you're in dental school and you said you're doing some research this summer,
how much of a role do you think doing research in undergrad played in how easy it is for you
to do research now?
What skills have you got that you get from undergrad that you can apply now?
Yeah.
So like I said, the research I'm doing now, it's very loosely related to like clinical
research.
So I'm in a wet lab.
I'm doing a lot of pipetting and working with different solutions and formulas.
And it's very different.
But I did, when I reached out to my current research mentor, I did list my previous experiences
in research and how I might be able to contribute to the project.
And I'm sure that helped, but I have a lot of friends in my class who did not do research
in undergrad and they still are doing some research.
So it's definitely not a requirement.
As a first year faculty here, they know that you may not have experience or even if you
do, you might not in the same type of research that they're doing.
So I think everyone is very welcoming and accepting.
If you're interested, there will likely be a project that you can find.
Awesome.
Yeah, it's great advice, definitely.
So yeah, I wanted to go back now to the one thing all pre-dentalists should really be
aware of is the dental school application.
So can you just walk us through your application and some things that pre-dentalists should
consider when they start doing the application and kind of prepare for mentally, even as
a freshman?
Definitely.
So I would say it's never too late to be interested in dentistry.
I have a lot of close friends, a lot of classmates who became interested, like you mentioned earlier,
in their later years, maybe junior year, maybe end of junior year even.
And that's great.
If you're interested in dentistry, I say do some shadowing, look into it, and if you're
really passionate about it, go for it.
So I would say a piece of advice I have would be to take opportunities as they come.
As I mentioned before, I did that summer program the summer of my freshman year, and that was
something I was even uneasy about.
I was like, oh, should I even go for it?
I'm a freshman.
Maybe it's not really something that would be that applicable to me yet, just taking
general classes.
But it was an awesome experience, and it was something that, like I mentioned, cemented
my want to go into dental school.
So if you see an opportunity and it looks good and it fits in your schedule, I say go
for it.
And that's what I did when it came to applying for different eboard positions.
And even getting into dental school, I try not to limit myself.
I was looking at a lot of different dental schools, and I ended up going to one Yukon,
which is an amazing place.
I'm really happy that I'm here, but it wasn't even the one I was considering the most when
I was originally applying.
So I think it's good to keep an open mind and to not limit yourself, to go for whatever
you want to go for.
So can you touch a little bit upon, like the DAT, the personal statement, stuff like that,
things that people start considering before they pile up on them?
Definitely.
So for my personal statement, I talked a lot about my background and that first summer
trip that I mentioned where I went on an outreach trip.
And I just tried to be real on it.
And I think that's what they're looking for in general when you're writing one of these.
They want to see that you're a real person and that you have real experiences and that
even maybe that you're not afraid to be vulnerable.
So I was very real on my application.
I talked about emotions that I felt and people that I connected with on this trip.
And I think that was very valuable.
I think that's what made my final draft of my personal statement special as compared
to my first draft where I just wrote everything that I could think of about dentistry.
They're not looking for you to say a special keyword and then boom, you're in.
They want to see that you're a person and that you're really passionate about what
you're going into.
And as far as my DAT went, like I said, I blocked out a lot of time for that.
I studied a lot that summer.
I tried not to let anything really prevent me from studying.
That included I didn't work a lot.
I shadowed a little bit, but like I said, I really prioritized my exam.
And I think that really helped because I felt confident in my first score.
I didn't feel like I had to take it again and it went well for me.
And I did use DAT Bootcamp, which I know a lot of people use these days.
And I didn't use any other paid sources, but I would say that alone was enough to get me
prepared.
No, definitely.
I think in going back to the personal statement, I feel like many people are trying to find
this perfect letter that kind of encompasses everything they've done in their life and
trying to convince them that they did this.
But as you said, I feel like focusing on one thing and really just being real in it so
that when it comes time, if you're lucky enough to get the interview, you're the same person
they thought you were during the letter.
And I think that's really important.
And for the DAT, yeah, definitely taking time out of a couple of friends going through
the process right now, taking all summer to study for it.
Definitely, we just want to get one time if you can, just get it over with.
There's no reason to let it dwell on you throughout the whole year.
So yeah, so now you've finished the DAT, you've done the personal statement.
How did you narrow down the schools you wanted to choose?
Did you do some good research on them or did you kind of just word of mouth or you're just
kind of like, yeah, so what did you do?
That's another good question.
I didn't apply to as many schools as a lot of people do, mainly because it is expensive
and I didn't really want to waste the time and effort and resources on a school that
I really wasn't interested in going to.
So I kept most of my schools on the list to close northeastern area schools, a lot of
district one and district two schools, mainly.
And I did rely a lot on word of mouth on where previous students have gone and maybe I reached
out to a lot of people.
I reached out to former eboard members from our club and asked them what their experiences
were and that helped me narrow it down somewhat.
And I also definitely took into account price and I really didn't even add the very expensive
schools to my list because I wanted to be practical and I told myself, if I can get
the same degree at a school that's maybe only two thirds of the cost, why would I go all
the way with the really expensive schools?
So there was a few different parameters that helped me narrow it down.
And eventually I came to a list that was under 10 and I applied to those.
I sent out letters of interest to a lot of them when the time came and just waited for
responses, mainly.
So letters of interest, do you mean like after you've already applied to the school, you
kind of show them that you really want to go there?
Yeah, that's essentially what I did.
You can find a lot of information about that on pre-dental sites and forums on when you
should send a letter of interest and to what schools they might welcome it or maybe not
welcome it.
But it's basically just saying that, and these letters I usually sent out after I had an
interview and I sent basically my reasons for wanting to go to the school and things
that I really appreciated about the schools on interview day and just asking that I be
considered and it worked out in a few cases.
Right, so when you got those interview emails, did you begin preparing immediately or did
you kind of just let it sit for a little bit?
Yeah, so a lot of schools will tell you weeks and weeks in advance.
Some will tell you maybe a week in advance.
It depends on what school.
Whenever I got an email about interview season, I would basically do just like a preliminary
research on the school because I was interested because I just received an email, but then
when the time came to interview, maybe in the two days before, I would try to search
more information on the school and also talk to other applicants and other people who might
go there already that I knew.
I know there's a few other podcasts and different resources out there for pre-dentals to listen
to what different interview experiences are at different schools, so I did that as well
on YouTube.
How many interviews did you get?
Did you go to each one?
How was the whole process like?
Yeah, so I interviewed at almost every school that I applied to, which I was very fortunate
of.
During my interview season, most schools were still doing only Zoom interviews.
I'm not sure exactly what the percentages are now, but out of the ones that I interviewed
at, only one of them offered me in-person interview.
I interviewed at every school that offered it because I wanted to see what they could
bring to the table and what I might be interested in.
I basically just showed up ready to interview as ready as you can be.
I know that first one was very nerve-wracking because you don't know what to expect, but
once you start, usually you can develop a good rapport and you can see that they're
not your enemy.
They're not trying to grill you.
At least I never had an experience like that.
It becomes kind of comfortable and fun going to these different schools and talking about
yourself and hearing what they pride their schools on.
What exactly is it like?
Do they just show you around the school?
Do they just tell you how it's going to be like, how it's going to be like, how it's
experiences, stuff like that?
Yes, so my only in-person interview was Toro and I loved the experience.
It was actually my first interview, which was exciting for me to go in person.
They did a little bit of everything.
They had us interview with faculty in about the middle of the day, but initially they
gave different talks about how excited they were for us to be there, different facts about
their school, different rates of success that they've had, really trying to sell you on
the school.
I know that they gave us free breakfast there and we also had a tour of the school, which
was fun too because they had very new facilities.
They're one of the newest in the country.
I think later that day we had a Zoom conference call with uppered classmen where they just
told us what the school was like and what to expect as a student there.
The same was basically true of every school that I interviewed with, except a lot of
them were online and had pre-recorded tours of their facilities or pictures.
How did you go from interviewing almost every school you applied to to narrowing it down
to just a few?
Where was that process at?
I know you ended up at UConn, so if you want to elaborate on exactly how that worked out.
Definitely.
I guess my process was about the same as narrowing down the schools on my list.
I basically was looking at price.
I was looking at distance from family, how often I might be able to visit.
I was looking at their programs and what students were saying about their programs and how the
programs compared to each other.
For me, it really came down to Stony Brook University Dental and the University of Connecticut
Dental.
I went with UConn for a few reasons, but one of them is that it's a pass bail school and
that it's non-ranked.
I think both of those things were really big when it came to talking to uppered classmen
about what their day-to-day life was.
They really, a lot of the uppered classmen I talked to at UConn loved those aspects of
the curriculum because it creates a really tight knit community and a good community
where they basically foster teamwork throughout their curriculum.
I've really seen that firsthand in my first year.
Just in general, the UConn students that I talked to were very enthusiastic about their
school and their program.
I love that.
I know Stony Brook and UConn are very similar in a lot of respects, including class size,
including integration with some medical students and medical classes.
I think UConn's pass bail curriculum and the non-ranked aspect were two big things.
What's the class size for your class?
My class is 50.
You mentioned the pass-fail thing.
How have you seen that?
I don't know if you have any friends at any other day-to-day schools, but how have you
seen that alleviate some of the stress that comes with the information coming in at you
to high rates and stuff like that?
Yes.
I guess there's a couple aspects of the curriculum that I can appreciate.
Number one is that our medical curriculum, which we're still in the midst of, but we're
almost done with, is broken up into blocks, which essentially function as semesters in
which we have a big final exam.
Throughout the block, we don't have a lot of exams or quizzes in between.
That means that the first half of each block is usually pretty low stress.
You're trying to get through the material, but you're also taking time for yourself,
taking time for social events.
Then the later weeks in the block, you really start to hunker down and study over the weekends
and start studying more often.
I would say I like that about the curriculum because it gives us a lot of free time comparatively
in the first half of each block.
I know a lot of schools have staggered curriculum where you'll have one class that ends maybe
the first week of the month, but then you have another class that drags on.
You might have finals throughout the month.
That's not how it is at UConn.
That's something that I like about UConn a lot.
In general, the pass-fail aspect, I think it's a good amount of the stress because you're
not staying late knowing that if you don't get maybe 100 on this next exam, that you
won't be top of the class anymore or that you won't be as competitive or something
like that.
It's all about knowing as much as you can, but learning to take care of yourself at the
same time in the process.
Right.
How did you feel going into your D1 year?
I know this was a year back, but what were those feelings?
Were you anxious a little bit?
Were you excited?
Was it a mix of everything?
It was a year ago and it's been a pretty long year given dental school and all of the classes
we've had, but it's not hard for me to put myself in those shoes again because I've been
a little involved in the orientation process here.
It's exciting seeing your D1s in the building.
I would say that I was very excited, also a little bit anxious, but in hindsight, I didn't
really know what was going to hit me.
I did pretty well throughout undergrad, but the sheer volume of information that we have
to cover in dental school is a lot and you'll get that probably at any dental school in
the country, but it was something that took some time to adapt to and I guess I wasn't
fully ready for, but I don't think anyone really is ready for it when they go in.
It's just something about learning how to function and how to study given the amount
of stuff that you're doing.
So how did you learn to manage your time when you got to dental school?
I know undergrad, even right now, I have classes, but I still have a lot of free time to do
things.
So I guess time management isn't as crucial undergrad as it seems to be in dental school,
so what are some tips that you have for there?
Yeah, so time management was difficult to get a hold of in the beginning of my year.
I guess I tried a lot of different study techniques and a lot of students do when they go into
dental or medical school.
I tried different techniques to see what worked best for me.
So for some classes, I do use Anki cards and Anki decks on my laptop and for other classes,
maybe I'll look at a study guide made by an upperclassman and still for other classes,
maybe I'll watch the prerecorded lecture.
So it really depends on what kind of information I'm looking at and in terms of when I'm going
through a lot of information in a short amount of time, such as when I'm reviewing for my
finals, I personally find that it works really well for me to stay with a group of friends
and talk through different objectives and ideas in a short amount of time.
It's something that keeps me on track personally and also something that makes it more bearable
for me as opposed to just sitting down and reading a textbook.
I like the face-to-face interaction of teaching someone else something and having them teach
you it back.
And I think that helps me cement a lot of the ideas in my head.
Right.
No, definitely.
I think even as an undergrad, I guess you can use a TA position as an example.
You've gone through the entire course, now you get to teach to somebody else and learn
it better.
So I guess that kind of skill would transcend dental school where you're talking with your
classmates about a certain subject and you can bounce off each other and kind of just
learn that way.
So can you just tap into a little bit of how the daily schedule was as D1?
How was the curriculum like?
Was it kind of like oriented towards medicine a little bit?
Because I know some dental scores don't like that where their first year is integrated with
the med school.
So if you want to elaborate a little bit, how was?
Yeah, definitely.
So that also leads me into something that makes UConn really unique amongst a lot of
medical and dental schools is that we have a heavy focus on team-based learning and flipped
classroom style learning, which essentially means most of our classes were given a syllabus
beforehand that has links to different lecture videos and different resources that we have
access to that have the bulk of the information we need in the course for each time we need.
And then in class, most classes test us on our knowledge and ability to take that information
we already reviewed alone or with friends and put it into practice.
So it's very different from a lot of dental schools, at least for the first year and a
half.
Because for the first year and the second year up until Thanksgiving, we're very integrated
with the med school and we have medical students in most of our classes.
So a typical day, I guess, in the life of a D1 is maybe one or two classes for between
an hour and a half and two hours at a time.
And then you go home and prepare for the next class for most of the rest of the workday,
I would say.
So a lot of my time was spent in classrooms with just my peers, with other friends talking
through what we're going to do tomorrow in class or just watching videos and doing on
computer.
So it's very different, but I would say the curriculum does help you cement a lot of things
in your head, maybe better than if you were just sitting there being lectured to most
of the day.
Yeah, so you talked about the flipped classroom setting.
I'm actually one of those classes now.
I've actually never had one of those classes and I think it's a really good way to kind
of get to know your classmates and also just you kind of learn the material better just
because you're the one that's the formula, the thought process and actually speaking
about it, which is really important.
So it seems like most of D1 year is kind of just learning and things like that.
Do you know when you guys are going to just hand pieces and just kind of get to the more
clinical side of it?
Yeah, so we started in free clinic in the spring of our first year where we started
with dental morphology and making wax up some teeth and then we end up drilling and filling
on typhoidonts.
And then spring of our second year is when we start having our own patients in clinic
and doing cleanings and all of that fun stuff.
So we do start preclinical in the second half of our first year and as do a lot of other
dental schools who have a similar integration with medical schools.
And that may be a little late for other dental schools, but it's what works for our school.
Nice.
So what are you, I know your semester must have just started, right?
So we're actually back next week.
Next week?
Okay.
So like what are your goals and what are you guys like planning on doing this year if you
guys know?
Yeah, so we are finishing with the medical curriculum almost entirely by Thanksgiving.
And at the same time, we have a couple dental classes throughout the fall, including our
second restorative dentistry class, where we'll be doing other types of drillings and
fillings.
And after that, we're mostly in dental classes every day.
And for those, a lot of them are not flip classrooms.
So there'll be a little more traditional style classroom settings where we come in from like
eight to 12 and we have a lecture.
And then after that, as I mentioned, in the spring, we get to start working on patients,
which is right around the corner.
Right.
Are you a little nervous towards working on a patient in terms, in a, as opposed to like
a mannequin or something like that?
I would say I'm really excited.
One of my favorite aspects of dentistry is human interaction.
So I really liked meeting and talking to patients when I was shadowing and working in a dental
office.
And I'm really looking forward to doing that again and trying to hone in my hand skills
before that.
I think like one thing you might experience is like how, you know, I think Dr. Diana Kim
from Sonia Burke, she's in residency right now at Sonia Burke University at the dental
school.
And she, one thing she said was like a restoration on a mannequin.
They teach you how to do it one way, but then like when you actually get into like a patient's
mouth, it's not going to be the same.
And she was like, the way to learn is through failing.
And like the more you fail, the better you'll be.
And she said that in some instances she hasn't, she felt like she hadn't failed enough in
dental school.
So that when she actually got to, you know, actual patients, she needs to rely on other
coworkers and kind of collaborate and try to figure out how to get around these obstacles.
So I don't know, that might be something you might have to face in the future.
So I guess fail as much as you can while you're in dental school right now.
Yeah, I definitely feel like that's already true in the preclinical stuff in general,
but that's something I look forward to.
So I kind of want to go back a little bit again.
So what was your biggest obstacle during undergrad and what kind of mindset do you feel like
pre-dental should start developing as they go through this whole process?
I would say one obstacle that I faced in undergrad was feeling like I wasn't doing enough.
It can be pretty intimidating when you see other applicants around you or even just
friends who are really into different clubs and different publications and maybe they're
already working in a lab.
I think that can be scary.
And that is something that I would advise people not to worry about too much.
And instead, definitely take opportunities when they're available to you and when you
can handle them and make sure it's something that you can invest your time in.
And if it's something that just maybe you're not getting out of it, what you think you
could, move on to something else and see if that's something that you're passionate about.
So I would say, yeah, just don't get bogged down in the details.
Just keep an open mind and do your best in the things that you like.
Right.
And I think a lot of times even personally, I feel like if I'm just sitting around or
something and just relaxing, I feel like I'm not doing anything in that moment to get me
closer to applying to dental school, which can be like a bad thing to think to have in
your mind because you need that time to relax and just kind of be yourself and do things
you enjoy to do.
So what kind of things do you like to do besides that industry?
Yeah.
So I would say, like I mentioned, I have a steer art minor, so I really like artwork
and making artwork and appreciating artwork.
So that's one thing that I like.
I also in general am very much a people person.
I really like going to social events and get togethers and parties and being involved
in outreach things and volunteer events.
So I try to keep myself busy in that way and that's because that's how I recharge.
And that might not be how you recharge or someone else does and that's fine.
You got to do whatever keeps you afloat.
Right.
So I like doing that.
I like artworks a lot.
I like movies and TV shows.
I'm a really big film buff.
So I can probably name a lot of random useless facts about movies.
And I also just like to play video games and whatnot.
So there's a lot.
So one last question about you, Con.
How was the environment over there?
How are people like?
How is living there?
How is the entire experience of moving to Connecticut?
Yeah.
So it was a big change for me because I lived on Long Island all my life and I commuted to
Stony Brook.
So it was really different.
And at first I would say I was definitely nervous about being in a new environment and not knowing
anyone and starting this new rigorous program.
But I would say everyone was super welcoming.
Everyone was so nice.
My classmates are all amazing.
I think that's one of the strongest things about our school is the applicants that they
pick.
A lot of them are now some of my best friends.
And that's something that I really cherish and I feel like I'm lucky to be a part of
here at UConn.
So I'm happy to be here.
A lot of my dental faculty in particular are wonderful and will take the time to explain
things to you and are very approachable in their off hours.
So I would say my experience has been great.
So what are your future goals now from here?
What do you think you're going to be in a couple of years?
In terms of specialization or like, you know, where do you see yourself going from here?
Yeah.
So in second year, I'm hoping to do a lot more shadowing of different specialties because
that's something I really want to be exposed to before I start gearing towards one specific
specialty.
So I'm keeping an open mind.
I'm really interested in general dentistry.
And that may be because I was around a couple of general dentists when I was shadowing.
So I'm interested in that, but I'm also interested in perio and endo and pediatric just because
I think that would be really fun.
So I'm keeping an open mind and I'm going to try to find out what I like most.
Sounds good.
It's good to hear that even someone who's already in dental school still has things to
do and just kind of working towards the other part of your life.
That's really exciting.
I'm happy for you.
So wrapping up here, how can pre-templates reach out to you for any further advice or
questions?
So you can feel free to reach out to me at my email, which is just my name, David Cruz
Adi at gmail.com.
And I'm available on Facebook.
I'm on Instagram, which is also just my name with a period in the middle.
And I'm always open to giving advice or talking to people.
All right.
So that sounds good.
So that concludes our episode of the Delsa Dental Podcast.
Thank you, David, for joining me and sharing your experiences with D1.
Your insight was definitely very valuable, and I hope our pre-dental listeners will feel
the same.
Everyone, please feel free to reach out to David at his socials if you have any further
questions.
And lastly, I thank everyone for listening.
And if you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to follow us on Instagram and Spotify.
In all platforms, we will see you next time for another Delsa Dental.