Flushing Hospital – Dental Department
Although I live in Queens I had no idea that there was a dental clinic at Flushing Hospital. There I found out that the dental department offers many different type of services to people of all ages. Services the clinic offers are general dentistry, orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics and oral surgery.
Because I had never been to the clinic I believed that it was going to be difficult to find it, but that was not the case. It was right near the front entrance of the hospital. Once I arrived at the clinic I met Ms. Gutierrez, who then gave me a mini tour of the facility. She then introduced me to the receptionists, the dental assistants and the dentists.
The reason I decided on doing the internship was because I had no dental experience. Since I was eight, I have been going to the same pediatric dentist; a place where they only had dental assistants and dentists. I had no idea what a dental hygienist was or what they did. In addition, I did not know what a cavitron was until entering dental hygiene.
The very first day I went the dental assistants showed me where I can get PPE and where the instruments were kept. My first day here I did lots of observing. I saw an elderly person get an extraction, a denture in the process of being made, and composite fillings being done. After observing and helping the dentists, I was told that someone needed a scaling and root debridement. The dental assistants and dentists were very kind enough to show me how their ultrasonics worked and I was able to do it. On the very same day I also saw a 8 year old girl and polished her teeth. It was very interesting seeing how an adult and a child gets treated.
I enjoyed my time here and learned so much at the Hospital. It was rewarding to observe and participate in the management of dental patients of all ages.
